Of sterility and mouth razors (Ah—GMOs!)

Hamsters continually fed GM-soy diet are sterile by the third generation

This article was published on 09.20.12

“This GMO cookie tastes OK, but is it going to make me sterile and cause thick bundles of mucous-covered hair to grow inside my mouth?”

GMOs, infertility and other fun things
I just read an interesting piece at www.readersupportednews.com (RSN) on the connection between the consumption of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and infertility.

A group of researchers, including Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov, fed Monsanto’s GM soy to hamsters for two years. “Originally, everything went smoothly,” Surov was quoted as saying.

“Surov and the researchers fed the same diet to three generations of the hamsters, and that’s when they noticed things going awry,” wrote RSN writer Lisa Garber. The offspring of the original hamsters in the study that were fed GM soy experienced slower growth and “reached their sexual maturity slowly,” Surov noted.

The third generation of GM-soy-fed hamsters were infertile. Garber also pointed out that “[f]armers using GM feed have reported infertile pigs and cows.”

Additionally, many of the hamsters on the GMO diet “displayed rare, strange pathologies like hair growing in recessed pouches inside their mouths,” said Garber.

“Some of these pouches contained single hairs; others, thick bundles of colorless or pigmented hairs reaching as high as the chewing surface of the teeth,” Surov said. “Sometimes, the tooth row was surrounded with a regular brush of hair bundles on both sides. The hairs grew vertically and had sharp ends, often covered with lumps of mucous.” The rate of hamsters with hairy mouths was higher in the third generation of GM-fed hamsters.

One of the signs held in front of Chico’s Walmart store Sept. 8 by Prop. 37 advocates calling attention to Walmart’s decision to carry Monsanto’s genetically engineered Bt sweet corn.
photo by christine g.k. lapado-breglia

So, eat GMO-containing foods, feed them to your kids and grandkids, and help the world by controlling the population and creating jobs in a whole new industry at the same time—mouth razors! (Monsanto should take out the patent on that one right away, if it hasn’t already.)

Go to http://tinyurl.com/hamsternokids to read the RSN article.

Get yer 2013 Master Gardener Calendar!
Just got word that the Master Gardeners of Butte County have come out with their 2013 calendar, titled “Gardening with Edibles.”

“Enjoy 12 months of useful articles, gardening tips, and beautiful photographs,” reads the Master Gardeners press release. The calendar features a planting guide on warm- and cool-season veggie gardening.

Calendars will be available for sale at the Saturday farmers’ market in downtown Chico and at the University of California Cooperative Extension Office in Oroville (2279-B Del Oro Avenue). Cost is $6. Proceeds go to help support the Master Gardeners volunteer organization, which helps educate the public about gardening via various public events. Call 538-7201 for more info.

“The perception that everything is totally straightforward and safe isutterly naive. I don’t think we fully understand the dimensions of whatwe’re getting into.” – Philip James, director of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, on the safety of genetically engineered foods

“Over the last 15 years, I and other scientists have put the FDA onnotice about the potential dangers of genetically engineered foods. Instead of responsible regulation we have seen bureaucratic bungling andobfuscation that have left public health and the environment at risk.” – Dr. Philip Regal, professor of ecology, evolution and behavior, University of Minnesota (1998)