$25 Million Russian-backed Study of GMO and Pesticide Safety

[RiverLover]

$25 Million Russian-backed Study of GMO and Pesticide Safety
11/20/14

A Russian nongovernmental agency is funding a $25 million, 2-3-year study in Europe to examine whether a genetically engineered, herbicide-tolerant maize and the glyphosate herbicide it is designed to be grown with create any ill health effects.

"Factor GMO [the name of the study] will investigate the health effects of a genetically modified (GM) crop that has been in our food and animal feed supplies for many years. It will answer the question: Is this GM food and associated pesticide (glyphosate/Roundup) safe for human health?" says a news release announcing the study.

"Farmers, retailers, governments, scientists and consumers have been involved in a heated international debate since GM foods were introduced in 1994," the release continues. "However, there has never been a scientific study that is comprehensive enough to give them a clear answer regarding the safety for human health of any one GM food – until now." Or until 2-3 years from now.

Saying it will deal with "real-world levels of consumption and exposure," the project will test the corn on more than 6,000 rats. The animals will be fed the GM food and pesticides according to a protocol whose scale, rigor and range of measurements will meet and exceed current international standards for testing the toxicity of GM foods, pesticides and other chemicals. It will yield a five-generation projected outlook at toxicity and other factors.

The Russian National Assn. for Genetic Safety (NAGS) is the initiator and coordinator of the Factor GMO experiment. NAGS was formed in 2004 as a non-governmental, non-profit organization based in Moscow, “to contribute the protection of biological and genetic safety of humankind and the environment, and to promote sustainable development.”...

http://www.foodprocessing.com/industrynews/2014/russians-study-gmo-safety/

[djean111]

1. Good!

Sadly, any findings will be ignored here, especially if/when the TPP and TTIP are inflicted upon us.
Because not allowing GMO and Roundup affects profits. And that is not allowed.

[Igel]

5. The group is a Russian NGO.

Founded by a meat producer who benefits from keeping GMOs out of the Russian market and headed by a bit of a loony. (Granted, this is ad hominem.)

At the same time it's much less transparent in its dealings than Monsanto is, having large role in some discussions in a society in which such discussions are state approved or strongly discouraged. It plays into the state's "everybody's against us, everything bad in the world is a Russian plot."

This includes the attempted genocide of Russians using NGOs. That's why Monsanto makes them, dontcha know. To kill Russians.

The study will produce the appropriate results, be trumped in the official media sources like RT and RIAN, and continue the great bifurcation of international discourse and datasets on the topic. There'll be the oddball French researcher and others supported by those wanting to preserve their state-held advantages, and large megacorporations on the other. The vast majority of scientific research looked at by the other side of the bifurcation will be deemed simply invisible. Or biased, corrupt, or somehow morally or intellectually stunted and therefore not worthy of being noticed.

[lovuian]

2. Geopolitics of Organic Food: Russia, China and France Ban GMOs

http://www.globalresearch.ca/geopolitics-of-organic-food-russia-china-and-france-ban-gmos/5380228

[ffr]

3. I have a problem with their methodology and think that 6,000 rats is too small a sample size

And 2 -3 years!? Is that enough time? I don't think so. I'd be more satisfied with a test that could cover tens of thousands of years to be accurate.

Seriously!

Wouldn't that tell us a little more about how genes and DNA pass from generation to generation at a slow
pace? I fear the predictions of these so-called experts, these strange scientists who make these hysterical discredited claims, the results of which will cost lives for people who need more food, the volume of food that only GM foods can deliver. Are we willing to accept the loss of millions of lives in countries like India simply because of some irrational beliefs about GM foods? I'm not saying they're charlatans or that they're dishonest, but some say that these so-called experts truly are just scaring people needlessly with their Frankensteinesque predictions, when the evidence continuously shows no meaningful harm from GMOs.

And the shocking expense of organic foods! True, we should take seriously what we put into our bodies, but it takes an irrational & erroneous belief system to understand why anybody would pay more for food they think is better, when the people who are claiming that organic foods are healthier are the same people who are pushing such products. Of course they're going to say it's healthier, because it's about the money!!11!1!!!

The bottom line is that GMOs are no less healthier for you & your family than organics, without gouging your bank account.

Trust me.

[RiverLover]

4. Wow. At first I thought you were punking us.

Not! Wow. I'm going now to see if I can find a scientist to lead "a test that could cover tens of thousands of years to be accurate."

Later

[ffr]

7. Indeed! Like John Engle, I am just asking the questions

Stop worrying about these movements away from GMOs and brief studies. There is so little serious evidence of the negative side effects of GMOs.

Like I said, it comes down to money, who's self-serving their interests and who you can trust: hysterical claims made by so-called expert scientists or the GM food industry that can supply food and chemicals to feed a hungry world and maximize crop yield?

[RiverLover]

6. And by the way its the PESTICIDES, prolific pesticide use specifically caused by GMO

crops that is killing bees, birds, etc & they want to know its effect on humans. Its sad the US couldn't lead on this effort.

Now I'm off to call on some similarly minded RW clients of mine & I'll have to pretend I agree with their ignorance.

But thank you for confirming some things for me here.

[ffr]

9. Yeah, well, the jury is still out on that one as well.

Let's separate fact from fiction! It's mites and the use of organophosphate pesticides that are causing CCD. Newer Neonic pesticides are extremely effective when applied to seeds and have genuine sustainable benefits.

...Neonics are a new class of systemic pesticide popular in the US, Australia, Europe and elsewhere to help corn, soy, cotton and canola farmers. They were adopted over the past 20 years as a less toxic replacement of organophosphate pesticides, which are known to kill bees and wildlife, and have been linked to health problems in workers. By universal agreement, neonicotinoids are extremely effective. Applied to the soil, sprayed on the crop or used as a seed treatment, they eventually reach the pollen and nectar, which is ingested by insects, discouraging pests from wrecking havoc on crops. The seed treatment lowers the amount used 10 to 20 fold, decreasing the need for open spraying of the plant, a genuine sustainability benefit.

Neonics were phased in without incident in the 1990s. But an age-old problem in the bee world—a periodic and unpredictable dramatic rise in bee deaths in one region or another—reemerged in 2004. Bee death rates approached 60% in California Beekeepers called it the vampire mite scare because of its likely link to varroa mites—parasites that feed on the bodily fluids of bees... - Forbes.com

The explanatory fictional narrative you're referring to is being spread throughout the World by anti-biotechnology activists and media outlets like CBS, NPR, Dan Rather and popular media in general, in what amounts to nothing more than a rhetorical and circumstantial argument against the use of GMOs and embedded pesticides.

Trust me and people like Jon Entine.

[KT2000]

8. the Russians have produced

some of the best research on chemicals and effects on human health. America? - not so much.