Below is a summary of Mr. Colin Dring's presentation on Genetically Engineered Foods hosted by Brio Integrative Health Centre during Naturopathic Medicine Week 2014.
Thank you to Colin for his fantastic presentation and for sharing his slides with the Brio community.
Dr.Lee: Colin, please introduce yourself:
My name is Colin Dring and I am the executive director of the Richmond Food Security Society. Our non-profit works to ensure that all people in the community have access to safe, nutritious, culturally and personally appropriate foods that are produced in sustainable and socially just ways. Our website is http://www.richmondfoodsecurity.org/
Dr.Lee: What concerns you about Genetically engineered foods?
•We do not know what, if any, impacts eating genetically engineered foods will have on our health.
•No mandatory labelling of GE ingredients in Canada
•No post-market surveillance to help us determine if there are already impacts.
•In the interests of public health, the precautionary principle needs to be applied
•GE foods are approved for human consumption based on industry-produced science that is not peer-reviewed and cannot be accessed by the public or independent scientists.
Dr.Lee: Are there studies showing the impact of GE foods on humans or animals?
The first-ever study of mixed GM feed on pigs – a long-term toxicology study published June 2013 – observed negative health impacts. The study's authors – Dr Judy Carman, Adelaide Australia, et al. – conclude that "Pigs fed a GMO diet exhibited heavier uteri and a higher rate of severe stomach inflammation than pigs fed a comparable non-GMO diet.
Given the widespread use of GMO feed for livestock as well as humans this is a cause for concern.
Humans have a similar gastrointestinal tract to pigs, and these GM crops are widely consumed by people, particularly in the USA, so it would be be prudent to determine if the findings of this study are applicable to humans."
The first GM animal feeding trial conducted over the lifetime of laboratory rats to test Monsanto's GM corn NK603 and their herbicide Roundup found tumours, multiple organ damage and premature death. (Séralini, G.-E., et al. "Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize." Food Chem. Toxicol. (2012)
