International best selling author on the health risks of genetically engineered foods Jeffrey M Smith visited Brock University on Thursday, October 2nd. Smith has spent much of the past few years on the road as the Executive Director for the Institute of Responsible Technology a popular keynote speaker, has traveled to over 30 countries where he has been consulting with scientists and governments regarding the adverse health effects of genetically engineered foods.
Smith discussed some of the over “65 health risks of GMO and linked them to thousands of sick, sterile, and dead livestock, thousands of toxic and allergic reactions, damage to virtually every organ in virtually every system studied.” The Canadian and American governments have based their policy on false, inaccurate assumptions based on “industry sponsored studies that are designed to avoid finding those problems. There is more than enough evidence … overwhelming, irrefutable evidence right now that GM foods are inherently unsafe.”
Smith discussed how Dr. Arpad Pusztai conducted one of the most comprehensive studies done to date on the effects of GMO on mammals in 1996. Pusztai and his team of 20 scientists at the prestigious Rowett Institute in the United Kingdom received a 3 million dollar grant by the British government to create the new safety protocol to test new GMO foods. He found that the inherent process of genetic engineering was unsafe and created numerous health problem with the rats in his study within only ten days, including; potentially precancerous cell growth in the digestive track, smaller brains, livers and testicles, partial atrophy of liver and damage to the immune system. Dr. Pusztai with permission went on television to warn against consuming these products. After an alleged phone call from UK Prime Minister’s office Dr. Pusztai was fired after 35 years. His study was published in the Lancet Medical Journal in Vol. 354, Issue 9179 August 1999.
This prime example is one of the major reasons why European are very concerned about GMO foods. North American media conveniently gave little to no attention to Dr. Pusztai’s work. In fact Project Censored ranked this story the 7th most censored story in 2001. As European consumers became hostile to GMO foods, within a week of Dr. Pustai’s television appearance virtually all-major food companies including McDonalds, Nestlé, and Burger King in Europe promised that their products would be GMO free. However their North American brands would continue to use them.
Smith believes that the tipping point of GMO rejection in North America is coming within the next couple years, as the health risks become known. As some countries such as Peru, Ireland, trying to become the first GMO Free Country, within the past two years consumer rejection in the United States to the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone has reached a tipping point. Many major brands including Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Ben and Jerry’s and 40 of the 100 largest dairies all publicly committing to not having dairy products contaminated with the growth hormone.
There are four things consumers can do to stop eating GMO foods:
1) Buy organic
2) Buy products that are voluntarily labeled GMO Free
3) Buy products listed on a Non-GMO Shopping Guide
4) Avoid at risk ingredients: Corn, Soy, Cotton Seed, Canola, Hawaiian Papaya, and as of the Autumn of 2008 Sugar Beet, and all products made from these derivatives. ie: soy lecithin, high fructose corn syrup. Read full list
| GM Watch List Serve | Eat Local Niagara | Canadian Organic Growers |
| The Seasoned Spoon: Food Related Resources & University Student Initiatives |
OPIRG-Brock is happy to be hosting Smith's books for use in our alternative resource library. We are also excited to be able to offer, for sale, copies of two films, endorsed by Smith, from the International Institute for Responsible Tecnology: "The GMO Trilogy", and "The World According to Monsanto" - both available in the OPIRG-Brock Resource Library.
For more information on the films, or books, which are also available for sale in the Brock Bookstore please contact us.
