THE FRENCH CONNECTION
W
hile Americans debate labeling genetically modified foods as
a matter of consumer empowerment, in Europe, the GMO issue has taken a much darker tone. French researchers late last
year published the results of a controversial study linking genetically altered corn with cancer. The Caen University study, led
GROWING CONTROVERSY From left: Proponents of GMO labeling rally in San Francisco in support of Proposition 37, which was defeated in California’s November elections. Monsanto’s chief technology oficer, Robert Fraley, stands in a test field in Woodland, Calif.
than half of the industry-donated funds went into a radio, television, and Internet ad blitz that warned consumers that GMO labels would result in higher prices at the grocery store. The industry also touted statistics
showing that GMO crops would help U.S. farms during the current drought conditions plaguing many regions. GMO crops have up to 8 percent higher yields during dry conditions, according to Monsanto’s Chief Technology Officer Robert Fraley. With the Proposition 37 loss
behind it, groups like GMO Inside have taken to inexpensive social media efforts to get out their message, and it appears to be paying off. GMO opponents forced General
Mills to scrub the Facebook page of its popular Cheerios cereal in December after thousands of comments chided the company’s $1.1 million donation to “No on Prop. 37.”
COUNTERATTACK The Coalition of States for
Mandatory GMO Labeling meanwhile expects to push petitions
and referendum questions similar to Proposition 37 in a number of states across the country in 2013 including Arizona, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. Other advocacy
groups including The Center for Food Safety, Food Democracy Now, and the Institute for Responsible Technology are taking the GMO fight to the nation’s capital. The Center for Food Safety filed
a petition last October as part of an effort to file suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to force federal regulation and labeling requirements for GMOs. Such labeling exists worldwide:
Fifty other countries, including all of the European Union, as well as Japan, China, Australia, and New Zealand, require GMO labeling.
by molecular biologist professor Gilles-Eric Seralini and published in the U.S.-based journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, found that rats eating corn genetically modified to withstand the main chemical in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer developed cancerous tumors and organ damage. The research was the first of its
kind to study GMO health effects over the entire life of the rats. Specifically, the French study concluded: 50 to 80 percent of female rats
fed the GMO corn and pesticide combination developed as many as three large tumors within two years. Only 30 percent of the control rats developed such tumors. Up to 70 percent of female rats
tested died prematurely. Tumors in rats
of both sexes were three times larger than in the control group.
GMO expert Dr. SERALINI
Michael Antoniou, a molecular biologist at King’s College in London, said in an interview that
the study “shows an extraordinary number of tumors developing earlier and more aggressively, particularly in female animals. I am shocked by the extreme negative health impacts.” Critics have dismissed the Caen
University study, saying the sample size of 200 rats was too small and that its findings are invalid.
MARCH 2013 | NEWSMAX MAXLIFE 87
FRALEY/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES / SERALINI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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