Journal twitter's Journal: Monsanto Whistleblower Details GM Hazards and Wrongs. 1
Those of you who think GM is being done in a careful and precise way need to read this. The author weaves a shocking story of incompetence, corruption, deceit, and ignored warnings of public health dangers. The whistle blower attempted to work with Monsanto to correct problems through practices he learned from other jobs. He was ignored and ostracized.
It turns out that the damage done to DNA due to the process of creating a genetically modified organism is far more extensive than previously thought. GM crops routinely create unintended proteins, alter existing protein levels or even change the components and shape of the protein that is created by the inserted gene. Kirks concerns about a GM crop producing a harmful misfolded protein remain well-founded, and have been echoed by scientists as one of the many possible dangers that are not being evaluated by the biotech industrys superficial safety assessments.
GM cotton has provided ample reports of unpredicted side-effects. In April 2006, more than 70 Indian shepherds reported that 25% of their herds died within 5-7 days of continuous grazing on Bt cotton plants. Hundreds of Indian agricultural laborers reported allergic reactions from Bt cotton. Some cotton harvesters have been hospitalized and many laborers in cotton gin factories take antihistamines each day before work. The cottons agronomic performance is also erratic.
Kirks concern about GM crop test plots also continues to remain valid. The industry has been consistently inept at controlling the spread of unapproved varieties.
... Some contamination from field trials may last for centuries. ... Even GM crops with known poisons are being grown outdoors without adequate safeguards for health and the environment. A corn engineered to produce pharmaceutical medicines, for example, contaminated corn and soybean fields in Iowa and Nebraska in 2002. On August 10, 2006, a federal judge ruled that the drug-producing GM crops grown in Hawaii violated both the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
This reminds me of the more callous early users of radio isotopes. They risks were known but the company neglected the health of their workers through a combination of ignorance, carelessness and legal intimidation all the way into the 1960s. Their 1929 site is still a public health hazard and the places they moved to in Canada are still a mess after demolition in 1967 and 1984.
What Monsanto is doing is worse. The products are worn and eaten without enough testing. Worse, they are making hazards that are alive and will propagate. Radium dials mostly harmed those who made them or abused them.
nice (Score:2)