Study: GMO Soy Accumulates Cancer-Causing Formaldehyde
by Christina Sarich
Posted on August 30, 2015
Should the GM crop be deemed unsafe?
In a groundbreaking new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Agricultural Sciences, researchers have found that when soy is genetically engineered, it disrupts the plant’s natural ability to control stress and even sparks the production of carcinogenic formaldehyde.
This new research led by an MIT trained biologist, Dr. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, Ph.D., an MIT-trained systems biologist, utilized a method to integrate 6,497 in vitro and in vivo laboratory experiments from 184 scientific institutions, across 23 countries. The researchers discovered that the accumulation of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, and a dramatic depletion of glutathione, an anti-oxidant necessary for cellular detoxification, is the result of genetic tinkering with soy plants.
“The results demand immediate testing along with rigorous scientific standards to assure such testing is objective and replicable. It’s unbelievable such standards for testing do not already exist. The safety of our food supply demands that science deliver such modern scientific standards for approval of GMOs.”
Dr.Ray Seidler, a former EPA Senior Scientist, said:
“The discovery reported by Dr. Ayyadurai reveals a new molecular paradigm associated with genetic engineering that will require research to discover why, and how much formaldehyde and glutathione concentration, and what other cellular chemicals relevant to human and animal health, are altered. We need the kinds of standards Dr. Ayyadurai demands to conduct such research.
Formaldehyde is a known class1 carcinogen. Its elevated presence in soybeans caused by a common genetic engineering event is alarming and deserves immediate attention and action from the FDA and the Obama administration. Soy is widely grown and consumed in the U.S., including by infants fed baby food products, with 94% of soy grown here being genetically engineered.”
The study abstract reads:
“…The results predict significant accumulation of formaldehyde and concomitant depletion of glutathione in the GMO, suggesting how a “small” and single GM creates “large” and systemic perturbations to molecular systems equilibria.
Regulatory agencies, currently reviewing rules for GMO safety, may wish to adopt a systems biology approach using a combination of in silico, computational methods used herein, and subsequent targeted experimental in vitro and in vivo designs, to develop a systems understanding of “equivalence” using biomarkers, such as formaldehyde and glutathione, which predict metabolic disruptions, towards modernizing the safety assessment of GMOs.”
These findings should completely reverse the FDA’s regulatory protocols that call GMOs ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GMO counterparts. This stance allows the FDA, in cahoots with biotech, to continue to give green-light, fast-track approval to more varieties of GM soy, corn, and other crops that are only meant to be used with ever-greater doses and mixtures of carcinogenic chemicals, like the new glyphosate, 2-4D combination which the Environmental Protection Agency just recently approved.
Perhaps the FDA and the EPA should get together and have a GM soy-eating party. If they won’t eat their own creations, why should we be expected to?
by Christina Sarich
Posted on August 30, 2015
Should the GM crop be deemed unsafe?
In a groundbreaking new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Agricultural Sciences, researchers have found that when soy is genetically engineered, it disrupts the plant’s natural ability to control stress and even sparks the production of carcinogenic formaldehyde.
This new research led by an MIT trained biologist, Dr. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, Ph.D., an MIT-trained systems biologist, utilized a method to integrate 6,497 in vitro and in vivo laboratory experiments from 184 scientific institutions, across 23 countries. The researchers discovered that the accumulation of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, and a dramatic depletion of glutathione, an anti-oxidant necessary for cellular detoxification, is the result of genetic tinkering with soy plants.
“The results demand immediate testing along with rigorous scientific standards to assure such testing is objective and replicable. It’s unbelievable such standards for testing do not already exist. The safety of our food supply demands that science deliver such modern scientific standards for approval of GMOs.”
Dr.Ray Seidler, a former EPA Senior Scientist, said:
“The discovery reported by Dr. Ayyadurai reveals a new molecular paradigm associated with genetic engineering that will require research to discover why, and how much formaldehyde and glutathione concentration, and what other cellular chemicals relevant to human and animal health, are altered. We need the kinds of standards Dr. Ayyadurai demands to conduct such research.
Formaldehyde is a known class1 carcinogen. Its elevated presence in soybeans caused by a common genetic engineering event is alarming and deserves immediate attention and action from the FDA and the Obama administration. Soy is widely grown and consumed in the U.S., including by infants fed baby food products, with 94% of soy grown here being genetically engineered.”
The study abstract reads:
“…The results predict significant accumulation of formaldehyde and concomitant depletion of glutathione in the GMO, suggesting how a “small” and single GM creates “large” and systemic perturbations to molecular systems equilibria.
Regulatory agencies, currently reviewing rules for GMO safety, may wish to adopt a systems biology approach using a combination of in silico, computational methods used herein, and subsequent targeted experimental in vitro and in vivo designs, to develop a systems understanding of “equivalence” using biomarkers, such as formaldehyde and glutathione, which predict metabolic disruptions, towards modernizing the safety assessment of GMOs.”
These findings should completely reverse the FDA’s regulatory protocols that call GMOs ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GMO counterparts. This stance allows the FDA, in cahoots with biotech, to continue to give green-light, fast-track approval to more varieties of GM soy, corn, and other crops that are only meant to be used with ever-greater doses and mixtures of carcinogenic chemicals, like the new glyphosate, 2-4D combination which the Environmental Protection Agency just recently approved.
Perhaps the FDA and the EPA should get together and have a GM soy-eating party. If they won’t eat their own creations, why should we be expected to?
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