HEALTH EFFECTS OF GMOs

By
Romeo F. Quijano, M.D.
Professor, Department of Pharmacology and
Toxicology
College of Medicine, Univ. of the Phils. Manila
 Modifying Genes
• Also called recombinant DNA technology,
molecular cloning, and genetic engineering.
• Restriction enzymes are used to “cut” DNA
segments from one genome.
• DNA ligases are used to “paste” them into
another genome.
Foreign
DNA
 Genetically modified foods.
• Also called genetically modified
organisms(GMOs)
• Involves the insertion of DNA from one organism
into another OR modification of an organism’s
DNA in order to achieve a desired trait.
4 5

A strawberry
+ = resistant to frost

Arctic fish DNA strawberry

 Examples of GMO’s
• Golden rice – rice that contains beta-
carotene (Vitamin A), which is not found in
regular rice.
• Bt corn – corn that contains a chemical
normally found in a bacterium (Bacillus
thuringiensis) that is toxic to insects but
not to humans.
• Herbicide resistant plants.
How common are GM foods?
48 foods
Products
have been Derived Products
Corn Corn syrup
approved for Canola
use by the Tofu
Potatoes Canned foods
Canadian Tomatoes Soya sauce
Food Squash Animals that feed
Inspection Soybeans on GMOs…
Flax
Agency. ….
Cottonseed oil AND MORE
Sugarbeets
How common are GMO foods?

Labeling of GM foods is not mandatory.

 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
1. Key assumptions used as the basis for safety
claims have been overturned and several
adverse findings show that GM foods are
unsafe. GM-fed animals had problems with their
growth, organ development and immune
responsiveness, blood and liver cell formation,
as well as damaged organs (bleeding stomachs,
excessive cell growth, inflammation in lung
tissue, sterility problems and increased death
rates, including among the offspring.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
2. Recorded Deaths from GM In 1989,
dozens of Americans died and several
thousands were afflicted and impaired by
a genetically altered version of the food
supplement – L-tryptophan. A settlement
of $2 billion dollars was paid by Showa
Denko, Japan’s third largest chemical
company. (Mayeno and Gleich, 1994).
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
3. Near-deaths from Allergic Reactions In
1996. Brazil nut genes were spliced into
soybeans by a company called Pioneer Hi-
Bred. Some individuals, however, are so
allergic to this nut, they go into apoplectic
shock (similar to a severe bee sting
reaction) which can cause death. Animal
tests confirmed the peril and fortunately
the product was removed from the market
before any fatalities occurred.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
4. In 1995, a scientific report in the Journal
of Food Science and Technology showed
that when yeast was genetically modified
to achieve a higher fermentation efficacy,
there was an unexpected tremendous
increase in the production of a toxic
metabolite called methyl glyoxal.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
5. Direct Cancer and Degenerative Disease
Links In 1994, FDA approved Monsanto's
rBGH, a genetically produced growth
hormone, for injection into dairy cows –
even though scientists warned the
resulting increase of IGF-1, a potent
chemical hormone, is linked to 400-500%
higher risks of human breast, prostrate,
and colon cancer.
Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
6. Viruses can mix with genes of other viruses and
retroviruses such as HIV. This can give rise to
more deadly viruses – and at rates higher than
previously thought. One study showed that gene
mixing occurred in viruses in just 8 weeks
(Kleiner, 1997). This kind of scenario applies to
the cauliflower mosaic virus CaMV, the most
common virus used in genetic engineering - in
Round Up ready soy of Monsanto, Bt-maise of
Novartis, and GM cotton and canola.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
7. Antibiotic Resistance – Much of genetic
implantation uses a marker to track where the
gene goes into the cell. GM maize plants use an
ampicillin resistant gene. In 1998, the British
Royal Society called for the banning of this
marker as it threatens a vital antibiotic’s use.
The resistant qualities of GM bacteria in food
can be transferred to other bacteria in the
environment and throughout the human body.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
8. Resurgence of Infectious Diseases - The
Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease journal
reported in 1998 that gene technology may be
implicated in the resurgence of infectious
diseases. This occurs in multiple ways. There is
growing resistance to antibiotics misused in
bioengineering, the formation of new and
unknown viral strains, and the lowering of
immunity through diets of processed and altered
foods.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
9. Increase in the incidence of allergic
reactions can also be expected with the
widespread release of genetically
engineered crops and food products.
Genetic engineering can produce
unforeseen and unknown allergens in
foods.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
10. Increased level of chemical residues in
genetically engineered foods. As 60% of
GE Foods is presently engineered to be
resistant to herbicides, there will obviously
be an increase in pesticides residues in
the food crop. Expanded planting of
soybean resistant to the herbicide “Round-
Up” has already resulted in a 72%
increase in the use of this herbicide on the
engineered crops.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
11. Interior Toxins - "Pesticidal foods" have
genes that produce a toxic pesticide inside
the food’s cells. This represents the first
time "cell-interior toxicity" is being sold for
human consumption. There is little
knowledge of the potential long-term
health impacts.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
12. Lowered Nutrition - A study in the Journal of
Medicinal Food (Dr. Marc Lappe, 1999) showed
that certain GM foods have lower levels of vital
nutrients – especially phytoestrogen compounds
thought to protect the body from heart disease
and cancer. On the other hand, another study of
GM Vica Faba, a bean in the same family as
soy, there was an increase in estrogen levels.
Monsanto's analysis of glyphosate-resistant
soya showed the GM-line contained 28% more
Kunitz-trypsin inhibitor, a known anti-nutrient and
allergen.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
13. Birth Defects and Shorter Life Spans -
As we ingest transgenic human/ animal
products there is no real telling of the
impact on human evolution. We know, for
example, that rBGh in cows causes a
rapid increase in birth defects and shorter
life spans.
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
14. When a foreign gene is artificially inserted into
a living organism such as a GM crop, the
preexisting natural gene of the organism can
unintentionally be deleted, switched off,
permanently switched on, mutated or
fragmented. Hundreds of natural genes may
change the way they generate their proteins
(basic molecules that form living cells), and even
the newly introduced protein may differ from
what was intended.
Toxicity Studies on Bt Eggplant
• Major health problems among test animals
were ignored
• The single test dose used was lower than
recommended
• Neurological function, behavioral effects,
reproductive performance and biological
resilience of test animals were not
evaluated
Toxicity Studies on Bt Eggplant
• Dietary equivalence of Bt eggplant and
control diets was not addressed
• Concentrations of the new insecticide
protein Cry1A(c) in the dried samples fed to
the rats were not measured
• important endpoints skipped, such as IgE
measurement to test for allergenicity
• tested only one dose that was lower than
estimated human consumption
 Toxicity Studies on Bt Eggplant
• organ and system damage
• ovaries at half their normal weight,
• enlarged spleens
• white blood cell counts at 35 to 40 percent
higher than normal with elevated
eosinophils, indicating immune function
changes
Toxicity Studies on Bt Eggplant
• The current food safety studies for Bt
eggplant were not conducted in
accordance with published standards,
• did not accurately summarize results, and
• ignored toxic endpoints
 Economic Hazards
• Corporate monopoly control
• GM seeds are patented
• Suicide seeds (Terminator genes)
– Plants with sterile seeds that are infertile are
created
– Farmers are forced to buy seeds every year
 Economic hazards
• Perpetuates the monoculture system of hybrid crops
dependent on toxic chemical inputs that they themselves sold.

• Shifts the balance of control in food production from the small,

largely self-sufficient farmers in favour of global corporations.

• The genetic engineering technology is the latest phase of

corporate-driven strategy of restructuring national economies,
global trade and finance, primarily for the benefit of big
business.

• The aggressive promotion and imposition of genetic

engineering technology, primarily by the U.S., plays a central
role in the WTO strategy of opening up markets and ensuring
the continued flow of profits to global corporations.
 Precautionary Principle

“Whenever there is serious threat to health and the

environment, lack of scientific certainty should not postpone
cost-effective measures to prevent harm.”

When there a re reasonable grounds to indicate potential harm

to health & environment, precautionary action should be taken
even if cause and effect relationship has not been established
scientifically.
 Elements of the Precautionary Principle
• P revention
• R everse onus
• E limination
• C ommunity oriented
• A lternatives assessed
• U ncertainty is a threat
• T echnically and scientifically sound
• I nformation unrestricted
• O pen
• N eed-based appraisal
 Adverse Health Effects of GMOs
" Recombinant DNA technology faces our society
with problems unprecedented not only in the history
of science, but of life on Earth. It places in human
hands the capacity to redesign living organisms, the
products of three billion years of evolution. …All the
earlier procedures worked within single or closely
related species... Restructuring nature was not part
of the bargain…this direction may be not only
unwise, but dangerous. Potentially, it could breed
new animal and plant diseases, new sources of
cancer, novel epidemics."

• Dr. George Wald: Nobel Laureate in Medicine, 1967

Higgins Professor of Biology, Harvard University