New Canadian Study on GMO -- Bt-toxin in Corn

[MBombardier]

I know this is a blog, and not technically a news release, but for those of us concerned about GMO foods, I thought I would post it:

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/blog/1412

What I found particularly interesting was the link between the Italian mouse study of Bt corn and elevated interleukins associated with autoimmune disease.

[tex]

Marliss,

That information appears in numerous blogs, all over the internet, and all of them appear to have plagiarized each other. Interestingly, the only one that cites a link to the alleged source, is the Farmworkers Forum, and they list this as the source of their information:

Jeffrey M. Smith is the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, author of the #1 international bestselling book on GMOs, Seeds of Deception, and of Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods. To avoid GMOs, which is the advice of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, visitwww.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com.

For references to this blog, go to: http://www.responsibletechnology.org/blog/1412

That link, of course, is the link that you cited. Soooooooooo, is there any truth to this or not? I don't know, but I do know that Jeffrey Smith has a heck of a lot of motivation in this issue, (selling books decrying GMO foods is an extremely lucrative business, to say the least). I'm not saying that the research article that he mentions does not exist, but I couldn't turn it up in a search. Considering all the research done on this topic in the past, and the fact that all of it previously showed no risks, suggests that if the article does indeed exist, the researchers were, let's say, "highly motivated, with a predetermined agenda", and as we all know, most published research findings are wrong:

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/inf ... ed.0020124

Personally, I suspect that the author of that blog is making far too much money promoting the GMO issue in general, so that objective thinking is probably not even on his radar.

Of course, I could be all wet. Consider this, though:

Bacillus thuringiensis (or Bt) is a Gram-positive, soil-dwelling bacterium, commonly used as a biological alternative to a pesticide; alternatively, the Cry toxin may be extracted and used as a pesticide. B. thuringiensis also occurs naturally in the gut of caterpillars of various types of moths and butterflies, as well as on the dark surface of plants.[1]

Spores and crystalline insecticidal proteins produced by B. thuringiensis have been used to control insect pests since the 1920s.[11] They are now used as specific insecticides under trade names such as Dipel and Thuricide. Because of their specificity, these pesticides are regarded as environmentally friendly, with little or no effect on humans, wildlife, pollinators, and most other beneficial insects.

Overall, Bt-modified crops appear to be environmentally safe.[21] The proteins produced by Bt have been used in sprays for agricultural weed control in France since 1938 and the USA since 1958 with seemingly no ill effects on the environment.[22]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis

BT constitute a very environmentally-friendly, naturally-occurring, biological pesticide, and their use over the decades, has saved farmers all over the world from having to apply many, many tons of conventional pesticides that would have unquestionably had negative effects on the environment. The only reason that Mr. Smith has glommed onto them is because they represent another opportunity for him to promote his agenda, and his books. The bottom line is, these bacteria have always been here, (they exist in nature - they're not a hybrid, or a synthetic creation), and they have always been in our food, in one way or another, so naturally, if researchers are meticulous enough, they're going to find traces in most of us. But so what?

Tex