Gut Health | GMO SCIENCE https://gmoscience.org A public platform where genetically engineered (GE) crop and food impacts are openly discussed and thoughtfully analyzed. Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:39:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.1 https://gmoscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-fav-icon-32x32.png Gut Health | GMO SCIENCE https://gmoscience.org 32 32 The State of our Children’s Health https://gmoscience.org/2023/10/09/the-state-of-our-childrens-health/ https://gmoscience.org/2023/10/09/the-state-of-our-childrens-health/#respond Mon, 09 Oct 2023 23:36:20 +0000 https://gmoscience.org/?p=4759

Rhetoric, regulatory capture, and the lack of governmental action have created and fueled one of the greatest crimes of the times which is the allowance and acceptance of the chronic poisoning of our children.  Although the root causes of this health-crisis-tsunami can be blamed on many factors, the overarching culprit began with the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the 1990s, developed with their associated pesticides.  The usage of a greater variety of GMOs in combination with more toxic pesticides has only been increasing secondary to weed resistance.  Coupled with companies profiteering from the patent-parade of more and more genetically engineered foods, this is the cocktail for the present health disaster played out in real-time. 

The end result is that the state of our children’s health is the true pandemic.

A Look at the Stats

According to a research publication in 2011, 54% of American children were diagnosed with a chronic health condition.  A recent examination of the statistics reveals startling information regarding the status of our children’s health:

  • 1 in 6 to 1 in 8 children have asthma (higher in African American and Latino children
  • 1 in 5 children have eczema, often affecting 60% of infants
  • 2-3 in 6 children have seasonal allergies (many children believe this is typical, with ‘sick being the new normal’)
  • 1 in 3 children have food intolerance and 1 in 12 children have a “true” food allergy
  • 1 in 3-5 children are overweight, variable by state in which they reside
  • Additionally, educators, legislators, and practitioners cannot ignore the elephant in the room: The unprecedented rise of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in our children.  Many of those affected have now become adults, so the issue has transcended into the population at large.  In the short time between the years from 2020-23 alone, ASD rose significantly and the following numbers should sound the alarm: 1 in 22 children  (CDC, 2023) in California and 1 in 36 children (CDC, 2023) are now on the autism spectrum.  These numbers do not address the millions of children also experiencing ADHD, neurocognitive/neurodevelopmental disorders, mood dysregulation, and anxiety/depression.  Diagnoses are not pigeon-holed, and many children may cross-over manifesting elements of different disorders.  It is a hot mess.

This is an incomplete list of disorders, and nor does it acknowledge the millions of children who are undiagnosed, many lacking resources and support.

Covid Impacts

There is no longer just one elephant in the room, but the herd.  The Covid Era has ushered in layered and more complicated issues upon our children, reflected in a decline their well-being.  Several years of social isolation from peers, masking, closure of schools and childcare centers, reduced access to playgrounds, and overall familial stress have fueled a national mental health crisis.  These changes also were noted in the behavior of children, also documented in their microbiome as well.  (The microbiome is directly responsible for the development of immune function, the first line of defense for detoxification, production of vitamins and neurotransmitters, etc.)  During the early stages of a child’s life particularly in the first 3 years, the gut microbiome has been shown to be shaped by environmental influences.  These changes impact future mental and physical health throughout the child’s life.

Image credit: Sandra Montanez/Getty  

Children and Mental Health

There are definable factors that have changed mental health in children during the Covid Era.  The effects on the microbiome have been mentioned, and this is important in terms of understanding the relationship between the gut and the brain, referred to as the gut-brain axis.  Additionally, the factors that have created the increase in mental health stressors include:

  • Disruption of routines
  • Social disconnection
  • Increased stress in parents and family members
  • Messaging regarding continual dangers and threats to once normal activities
  • Loss and grief of important relationships outside the immediate family

It must be emphasized that children do not have control over their environments, and a year of their lives is extremely significant in the context of their short lives.  Recently released data shows that pandemic-related disruptions and mental health in our youth has produced an increase in anxiety and depression, suicidal ideation, and suicidal attempts compared to before the pandemic, exacerbated in vulnerable populations.

A pivotal study from the UK, the Myriad Project, involved more than 28,000 children, 650 teachers, 100 schools, and 20 million data points.   They published a comparative analysis of the mental health of thousands of UK secondary school pupils presently to those prior to the Covid pandemic.  A summary of their findings is concerning:

  • Young people who went through the pandemic were more likely to experience increased depression, social, emotional and behavioral difficulties and worsening general mental well-being.
  • While mental health declined in both groups over time, those in the pandemic experienced a worsening in their mental health:
    • Cases of depression increased 8.5% in those going through the pandemic versus 0.3% in the pre-pandemic group.
    • Cases of high/very high social, emotional and behavioral difficulties increased 7.9% in the pandemic cohort vs 3.5% in the pre-pandemic cohort.
    • Cases of possible/probable mental health difficulties increased 12.8% in the pandemic group versus 4.5% in the pre-pandemic group.
  • Girls and those who were initially at low risk of mental health difficulties experienced greater deteriorations during the pandemic.
  • Having a positive school climate, good relationships at home and having a friend to turn to for support during lock-down were protective factors.
  • Even partial school attendance during lock-down was better for the subsequent adjustment when coming back to school than no attendance at all.
  • The financial impact of the increase in mental health costs soared 26% higher during the pandemic than previously, led by anxiety and ADHD, recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Additionally, Telehealth services were used 30 times more often than prior to the pandemic.

Back to School

It is clear that children going back to school is a key factor for the recapture of overall health losses sustained during the Covid pandemic  The message here is that the optimization of the school environment is a essential in regaining children’s well-being, and reversing the disastrous mental health deteriorations experienced.  One of the key ways to regain and strengthen the health of our children is via nutrition.

School nutrition is one of the best ways to support children’s transition back-to-school and back-to-health.

Optimal nutrition in children’s diets can used as a measure of health resilience, (especially during peak viral seasons).  Maximizing nutrition impacts affect every aspect of a child’s health, particularly in regard to learning.  An adequate amount of minerals (i.e., iron, zinc, magnesium), B vitamins, omega 3s, and quality macronutrients in terms of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, will improve the learning capacity of children.  Many American children receive the bulk of their meals from school lunches.

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free lunches to children, operating in over 100,000 schools/child care facilities.  Many of the increased meals provided during the Pandemic, have since expired in 2022.  Common sense dictates that participation in the USDA’s school lunch program can significantly reduce food scarcity facing many of America’s youth. Children from homes with food insecurity are more likely to eat school meals, receiving the majority of their nutrition from the meals provided.

The question is do the school lunches provide the necessary nutrition to feed children, especially those children who are more vulnerable?  Presently, school meals must meet Federal nutrition standards.  Those dietary guidelines published in the 2020-2025 Executive Summary state the following:

“…Nutritional needs should be met primarily from foods and beverages—specifically, nutrient-dense foods and beverages. Nutrient-dense foods provide vitamins, minerals, and other health-promoting components and have no or little added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium. A healthy dietary pattern consists of nutrient-dense forms of foods and beverages across all food groups, in recommended amounts, and within calorie limits.

The core elements that make up a healthy dietary pattern include:

  • Vegetables of all types—dark green; red and orange; beans, peas, and lentils; starchy; and other vegetables
  • Fruits, especially whole fruit
  • Grains, at least half of which are whole grain
  • Dairy, including fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese, and/or lactose-free versions and fortified soy beverages and yogurt as alternatives
  • Protein foods, including lean meats, poultry, and eggs; seafood; beans, peas, and lentils; and nuts, seeds, and soy products
  • Oils, including vegetable oils and oils in food, such as seafood and nuts”

This is an excellent summary of the nutritional needs of our children and should be commended in the government’s approach to school-based nutrition.

However, is this what our children are actually receiving in school lunches?

Moms Across America National School Lunch Testing Study

The nonprofit organization, Moms Across America (MAA) in Sept. 2022, published their own research regarding what is actually in school meals, disproportionately feeding underserved children.  Forty-three school lunches were sampled from across the US.  The MAA findings are stunning:

  • 95.3% of the school lunch items contained carcinogenic, endocrine disrupting, and liver disease-causing glyphosate, as well as its toxic breakdown product, AMPA.
  • 74% of the samples contained at least one of 29 harmful pesticides.
  • 4 Veterinary drugs and hormones were found in 9 school lunches samples at levels up to 130.76 ng/g.
  • 100% of the school lunch samples contained heavy metals at levels up to 6,293 X higher than the EPA’s maximum levels allowed in drinking water.
  • The majority of the samples were abysmally low in nutrients.

School lunches contain many genetically modified foods, such as corn, soy, canola and soybean oils, and sugar from sugar beets.  GMO foods, designed to resist the spraying of pesticides (Roundup®-ready) are heavily doused with chemicals such as glyphosate-based herbicides. GMOs are engineered to resist dying from spraying from pesticides.  Hence, the weeds die, but not the crops. Many crops (such as wheat, oats, and legumes) are sprayed with an off-label usage of herbicides prior to harvest to dry the crops (applied as a desiccant). Therefore, those foods that our school children commonly consume are even further laden with extremely elevated levels of pesticides.

Additionally, what may not be recognized is that GMOs in themselves cause harm.  The first study of the effects of GMOs in rats showed that GMOs (without concomitant pesticides) caused gastrointestinal disruptions, immune dysfunction, and reproductive harm in rats.  There have been no peer reviewed, blinded studies regarding the harmful effects of GMOs on human health.  Remember, GMOs are not consumed alone, but with their associated pesticides.  Our children are the science experiment.

The introduction of GMOs and their associated pesticides are the main drivers of the chronic poisoning of America’s children.

What harms do glyphosate-based herbicides (including the undeclared toxic “inert” ingredients in formulations), pesticides, heavy metals, and veterinary pharmaceuticals found in American school lunches do to our children?

  • Half of the gut microbes are sensitive to glyphosate, (a patented antibiotic), causing an imbalance in the microbiome with overgrowth of pathogens, leading to disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome and other gut inflammatory conditions.
  • Maternal glyphosate exposure causes ASD in their offspring.
  • Glyphosate is a metal chelator, binding the essential minerals needed for children’s optimal function.
  • Glyphosate is linked to fatty liver disease (NAFLD), affecting 25% of the worldwide population; approximately 13% of children, and 17% of adolescents.  This number rises significantly in children that are overweight.  NAFLD is now the most common form of liver disease in children and can silently lead to more serious steatohepatitis, and ultimately fibrosis.  Extremely low doses of glyphosate have caused NAFLD.
  • Pesticide formulations are contaminated with heavy metals, such as arsenic, chromium, cobalt, lead, and nickel.  Heavy metals cause neurocognitive, respiratory, and cardiovascular disorders, as well as cancer.   The highest levels in school lunches were cadmium at up to 46.8 micrograms/kg and lead up to 94.4 micrograms/kg.
  • Toxic effects of pesticides (glyphosate) on children’s health (i.e., ADHD) has been known and studied in the growing region of the Salinas Valley for 20 years.
  • The “inert” formulations (i.e., POEA) increase the toxicity and are endocrine disruptors:
  • 29 different pesticides were present in 74% of the school lunches.  There are NO studies looking at the toxicity of combinations of pesticide formulations.
  • Veterinary drugs and hormones (anti-fungals, anti-parasitics, and birth control hormones) can have innumerable health effects on children.

Pesticides cause a depletion of vital nutrients.

Robust nutrient levels in foods can offset toxic stressors, however, the depletion of nutrients in the soil have resulted in abysmally low levels in the school lunches tested.  Our children are overfed and undernourished.  Many are constantly hungry since their bodies have not received sufficient nutrition.  Livestock have also not fared well since they, too, are fed contaminated grains which lead to illness.  Children then consume toxic meat.

Solutions

Changing children’s diets to organic regenerative food creates rapid improvements in children’s health, documented in clinical practice as well as in several research studies.

The Nutrinet Sante study looked at 240,000 individuals whose health improved making dietary changes. Local heroes exist.  As documented in What’s Making our Children Sick?, A Central Valley, California family dad living in the heart of pesticide spraying, on the dialysis list, regained kidney function to nearly complete changing from a conventionally grown to an organic regenerative diet.

Our government must do better.  Individual states have taken up some action  on behalf to the protection of children, including California, with the recent passing of    AB 418, banning brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, or red dye #3.  Although this type of state-directed legislative action is a good first step, it is not enough in terms of immediate action needed to change the course of health-history and protect our children nationally from the assault by the unregulated ingredients of school lunches.  Legislation is required at the Federal level in order to provide a national standard.  The requirements can look as follows:

  • Support local organic, regenerative farms to supply school lunches, which would also address social equity.  These strategies are presently being addressed in Wisconsin.
  • Support the farm-to-school movement, which is already happening in various states: Pennsylvania, California, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
  • Senator Cory Booker is launching a bill to place restrictions on toxic contamination residues in school lunch, matching European standards.  The only way to achieve those goals is supplying our children with food from regenerative, organic farmers.
  • Support school gardens.  Rodale Institute in Kutztown, PA, has already created and implemented a healthy start school curriculum, My First Garden.
  • Activating local communities raising healthy food consciousness (Las Vegas, Nevada)
  • Support local development, creating neighborhood food networks

The Ask

The expectation is an urgent call-to-action for our policy makers to immediately switch to organic regenerative school lunches for America’s children, reducing pesticides to less that 10 ppb, over the next 3 years.  The stronghold of conventional agricultural practices and businesses on our agricultural practices must be ended.

Our children deserve better.

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GlyphoWHAT? The Daily Poisoning of Our Children https://gmoscience.org/2022/12/28/glyphowhat-the-daily-poisoning-of-our-children/ Wed, 28 Dec 2022 16:53:20 +0000 https://www.rhi.bio/?p=677674 Our children are consuming a daily dose of poison. Parents are unaware of the great harm befallen our most vulnerable. And for those parents who attempt to thwart the daily dose of poison, children consume it at school.

If you are awake and aware of the harm of glyphosate, the declared main ingredient in Roundup, now a household word thanks to the dissemination of toxic seeds by Monsanto-now-Bayer, skip on down to the, “…So what do we do now?” section. If you need to be convinced, read on.

Monsanto’s product history includes DDT (think Rachel Carson and The Silent Spring), Agent Orange, GMOs, saccharin, PCBs, nuclear weapons, polystyrenes, aspartame, bovine growth hormone (rBGH), etc. Certainly healthy children did not make the Monsanto’s Who’s Who list.

Fun glyphosate facts:

•Nearly 1 lb of glyphosate for every person in the US is sprayed per year
•It’s water soluble, so our rain and groundwater are also contaminated
•It’s a patented antibiotic by Monsanto, killing off the beneficial microbes and promoting the growth of the pathogens
•It binds crucial biologically important metals, such as zinc, magnesium and manganese
•It’s used off-label as a crop desiccant (drying agent) which means at harvest, crops like oats, wheat and legumes take up whopping amounts of glyphosate
•Roundup-Ready crops are GMO and do not die when sprayed – that’s the only reason for the development of GMOs: They will not save the world 🙁
•Once farmers get on the Monsanto/Bayer hamster wheel, it is difficult to get off

What you may not know is how the GMOs and their associated pesticides show up other than on the dinner plate. Gauze pads? Sanitary products? Infant formula? Yes, yes, and yes.

Are Regulators Regulating?

The EPA says glyphosate is safe, yet the literature says otherwise. A study published in 2019 showed how glyphosate caused autism in lab animals. The offspring of moms exposed to ambient pesticides showed an increased rate of autism as well. The courts also disagree with the EPA. Bayer has had significant financial losses and payouts to the victims of glyphosate-based herbicides.

Do You Know Someone Who Doesn’t Have a Gut Problem? 

Glyphosate destroys the gut by interference with the gut tight junctions. This disruption causes intestinal leakiness and is responsible for toxic substances entering into the bloodstream, causing inflammation and oxidative stress, and disrupting hormones. What happens in the gut doesn’t stay in the gut.  There is a two-way pathway called the gut-brain axis. Injury to the tight junction membrane in the brain by glyphosate can also disrupt the blood brain barrier and create neurologic mayhem.

However, as we end the glyphosate assault, the trick is not to let Big Ag introduce equally or more toxic substitutes, like 2,4-D. The combo of this one-two knock-out punch has been shown to have non-targeted effects on wildlife.

So What Do We Do?

1. Stop and Shop!
Stop our daily poison and shop organics! Avoid processed foods and stick to the outer aisles of the supermarket.

2. Go Italian!
Think onions and garlic and Include a rainbow of veggies, bone broth soup, apple cider vinegar and fermented foods in your diet.

3. Get dirty!

Get outside in nature and move away from the screens.

4. Grow your own!

Plant herbs, microgreens or veggies in your window or garden.

5. Filter your water!

Decrease the toxic tap water load and your body will thank you.

6. Shake the tech addiction!

Shut off the router when not in use.

Make Health Regeneration Your Health Hobby

Everywhere you turn, more folks are moving away from the Pharmacy to the Farmacy, which concurrently supports your local farmer! Be part of the movement where the regeneration of your health and your family’s health is your hobby.  Here are some links to help you get started:

https://regenerationinternational.org/regenerative-farm-map
https://neighborhoodfoodnetwork.com
https://nontoxicneighborhoods.org

 

Dr. Michelle Perro is the author of the acclaimed book, What’s Making our Children Sick?, Co-Founder and Executive Director of www.gmoscience.org, and Advisor to the popular website on regenerative health, www.rhi.bio

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Reading Scientific Studies: With a Perspective on a Mock GE Study https://gmoscience.org/2022/12/17/reading-scientific-studies-with-a-perspective-on-a-mock-ge-study/ https://gmoscience.org/2022/12/17/reading-scientific-studies-with-a-perspective-on-a-mock-ge-study/#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2022 00:22:10 +0000 https://gmoscience.org/?p=4052 by Dr. Michelle Perro, MD, DHOM

Dec. 2022

There has never been a more important time than the present to understand not only genetically engineered organisms, but the research behind their propagation and promotion. The science of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or genetic engineering (GE) is rapidly evolving, and their introduction has altered and affects all aspects of our well-being, including:

  • Our health and the environment
  • Agriculture
  • Food manufacturing
  • Medical products

New applications of existing tools are constantly being developed, with access by professional and amateur scientists, both in the lab and in home garages. While still novel, claims of precision are unfounded and continue to prompt new questions about the environmental and health impacts.

To say that the understanding of GE technology is clear is arrogant. It is a complex challenge to understand the risks, performance, and costs of new developments, such as CRISPR. Market excitement, accompanied by profitable patents grab supersedes precaution and a thorough understanding of what is at stake is ignored or discarded. The argument of “safety” remains murky in the case of many GE crop technologies.

As physicians, scientists, and farmers, we read health-oriented scientific studies every day, looking to gain a deeper understanding of the root causes of dis-ease, while attempting to uncover better ways to restore and preserve health. The content of websites such as Regeneration Health International and GMOScience draw upon not only our boots-on-the-ground experiences, but our collective wisdom in interpreting science and how we help to understand and offer solutions on how to optimize health.

The Scientific Method and How Science Advances

The scientific method involves making a hypothesis and designing a study to test, support, or contradict the hypothesis. For example, if a substance is given to test animals in a long-term feeding trial, and we find that their organs such as the liver and kidneys have normal weight and appearance by the end of the study period, all we can say is that under the conditions of this experiment, there was no evidence of an adverse or toxic impact on these vital organs.

However, a study that delves more carefully into liver and kidney function, and not just the appearance, may reach a conflicting conclusion. Therefore, the first step in any quality study is to carefully review research protocols, records, and analytical and statistical methods in order to identify why the study results differ. It usually takes additional studies to further comprehend what happened and why. In some cases, questions linger even after dozens of studies, investments, and time spent in specialized studies. More questions may be raised than answered.

In the case of the rat feeding trial prior to the launch of GMOs, Monsanto studied rats for a 3 month period, fed a GMO diet. A confounding factor not identified was the quality and sourcing of their diet. Abnormalities were found, for example, in blood chemistries. Rather than performing the recommendations noted above, the conclusion in their study was that the findings were “not of clinical significance”. Both scientists and non-scientists would agree that this is faulty logic. Despite this concerning finding, GMOs were released.

The consequence of any study that demonstrates unintended consequences should have been further studies to analyze the problems found and/or to have withdrawn the product completely.

Are Regulators Regulating?

The challenge for policy makers is to specify the rules that govern what happens in the face of uncertain science and potential risks of severity, reach, and longevity.

With advances in analytical technologies and risk assessment tools, we can look at entirely different aspects and interactions between genetics and lifestyles, and between biology and health. These advances should be welcomed and are needed, and will allow public health scientists and regulators to do their jobs and avoid any uninvited surprised following the present rapid approval and release of GE crop and animal technology.

The Nuts and Bolts of Sound Risk Assessment

The top-shelf type of an experiment is a double-blind, placebo-controlled study in a well-characterized human population. For example, if RHI or GMOScience wanted to assess the safety of a GE corn trait to be introduced into the market, the collective team would need to do the following:

Nutrients and Minerals

In addition to harmful toxins, MAA also tested for various beneficial nutrients and minerals. They found the school lunches to be deficient in almost every category, most significantly copper, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus. Around 50% of samples lacked sufficient magnesium, zinc, and manganese. All of these minerals are vital to proper body function.

Nutrition is essential to our children’s physical, mental, and developmental health. The MAA study has revealed not only low nutrition in school lunches, but a host of actively harmful toxicants with myriad negative health consequences. This particularly impacts low-income children, for many of whom school lunch may be the only meal they eat that day.

  • Assess a large number of people which gives the study “power”
  • The people would be separated randomly into two groups
  • A specific strain of GE corn grown under typical conditions would be studied
  • One group of individuals in the study would consume a defined amount of the GE corn over a specified time period
  • The other group would consume the same amount of corn, but from ears harvested from a field planted with the GE corn’s isoline, meaning the same background genetics, but without GE traits
  • The control group would be comprised of corn uncontaminated with pesticides
  • The two groups would be blinded as to which group they were enrolled and what they were consuming
  • The teams conducting the trials would also be blinded as to which individuals were in the two assigned groups
  • The team would designate which types of impacts from the ingestion of the corn that warrant tracking and perform comparisons between the groups
  • Sample parameters might include changes in weight, metabolism, blood pressure, issues in the gastrointestinal tract, etc.
  • Different tests could be utilized to look at organ function, changes in physiology and biopsies, or special tests (i.e., to assess the microbiome)
  • When including laboratory tests, before and after studies are desirable for comparison

One of the most important aspects of a study is to avoid bias. Researchers on the teams examining any data or lab samples need to be unaware of which group the samples came from, and this is the second blinded aspect of a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

The team would then analyze the data and perform the following:

  • Compare impacts in the two study groups
  • Assess treatment-oriented differences
  • Record all findings which may or may not go against what they originally thought the results might reveal.

Human feeding studies are difficult, but are the gold standard. Straying from diet protocols dilutes what is called the statistical power of the study (i.e., the ability to detect differences in outcomes, if they indeed exist). For the best quality outcome, if one is doing a GE corn consumption study, the following would be need to be done:

  • The setting is controlled, meaning in this case, the food is provided
  • Intake is controlled and carefully measured  
  • Blinded researchers would be responsible for data collection during the study
  • Study supervisors would require technical training

It is obvious the inherent difficulties and expenses one would encounter in trying to create this type of study needed to assess GE products. While the above type of study is desired as outlined-above, such studies have not been conducted on GE crop traits because who will be willing to pay for them? Without this evidence, assertions that foods derived from GE crops are safe are premature and inherently faulty. We have relied on rodent studies with many study shenanigans at play that manipulate data, such as using only a certain healthy population (i.e., juveniles), shortening the course of a feeding study, using contaminated feed in both groups which would diminish the impact of the findings and dismissing abnormal results, and the conflagration of absolute and relative risks. Sound familiar?

What Does Top-Tier Journalism Look Like?

Debate and re-examination of assumptions and accepted conclusions should be ongoing and active. Critical analysis of research methods is essential. However, even study types that appear powerful or invincible can have drawbacks, such as studies called meta-analyses which employ a statistical technique for aggregating data from multiple studies on a topic of interest. These types of studies are very important in healthcare settings because of their ability to weigh in on various degrees of evidence supporting different health strategies.

Conflicts of Interest

The more comprehensive the research the more expenses incurred. Bias can find its way into studies through many avenues, both inadvertently and intentionally. That is why all reputable, high-impact journals utilize rigorous peer review and have conflict-of-interest as well as funding disclosure requirements. These mechanisms can serve to promote transparency and alert both study reviewers and readers to be on the lookout for the “devil in the details”.

While journals make efforts to combat bias and to disclose conflicts of interests, this does not make up for the lack of sufficient quality studies presently on GE crops. Often, the companies promoting the engineered foods are in charge of their own studies, injecting immediate bias. Neither the EPA nor FDA independently carry out risk assessment studies.

Teams of independent technology developers are necessary and industry-sponsored studies should be eliminated. The quality of studies conducted by GE technology developers has been uneven, with evidence of inappropriate methods, problematic data collection and fraud. A study is 2 to 5 times more likely to be favorable to a funder with a vested interest in a particular outcome, compared to a similar study on the same subject funded by a neutral source. Over time, the steady pressure of conflicts of interest has done much to skew the focus and quality of science supporting regulatory and public health decision-making, but this is far from what is should be for novel food products. Once they are released into the environment, recall is impossible.

RHI recognized that the restoration of integrity in the assessment and regulation of agricultural biotechnology is a complex and difficult mission, but vital if we are to prevent unintended consequences. Understanding study basics is a key part of this recognition. Our intention is to promote solutions-based platforms to regenerate health.

First, Do No Harm – Primum Non Nocere

An endeared principle to physicians is, “First, do no harm”. Thus, when doctors read scientific studies, they look hard for evidence of potential harm.

If a study does point to possible harm, obvious next questions include:

  • Was there a follow up study that looked at the issues
  • Did that study resolve or reinforce concerns over risk
  • Is there any biological plausibility to a link between certain health problems and the consumption of GE foods and/or their pesticide components
  • Can doctors extract from the published literature insights regarding who might be at risk (population cohorts) or who might be most responsive to an intervention

In order to be recommended by a physician, a substance must demonstrate evidence of benefit that clearly outweighs its potential for harm.

While we are presently referring to an invented GE study, one can extrapolate how this type of analysis is relevant to any population threat.

When less harmful alternatives with similar benefits exist, the choice is simple. This should be the basis of all FDA new drug approvals, but is rarely discussed in the context of GE crops and its oversight agency, the EPA. Whether the regulatory agencies are adhering to their own protocols is questionable.

Pressing Recognition of the Need for Excellent, Non-compromised Science

Different global agencies and medical institutions have stated that there are inadequate studies that show that GE foods are unequivocally safe. The scope and kind of studies necessary to support definitive safety findings are not required by the FDA or the EPA and have not been conducted on a single GE trait or crop. The GE plant-based Impossible Burger, now being consumed across the world especially in vegetarian communities, is based on one faulty study showing harm to the scanty number of rats studied, dismissed as inconsequential. We deserve and must demand better. Understanding the science is a key component in determining food policy. The goal of the RHI team is to provide readers, eaters and policy makers regarding what good science tastes like.

Note: This is a previously published article study by GMOScience.

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Making our Children Well with Children’s Health Defense TV https://gmoscience.org/2022/11/14/making-our-children-well-with-childrens-health-defense-tv/ Tue, 15 Nov 2022 00:25:13 +0000 https://www.rhi.bio/?p=677630
RHI Advisor, Dr. Michelle Perro, in conversation with Children’s Health Defense TV, featuring Polly Tommey.   Dr. Perro reveals the precipitants causing ill health in our children offering pragmatic, affordable solutions.  A focus on applying the principles of health derived from the kitchen, this is an excellent demonstration between examining the links and benefits of regenerative, organic farming from our food to the family dinner table.

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India Takes Steps to Reduce Glyphosate Use in Agriculture https://gmoscience.org/2022/10/31/india-takes-steps-to-reduce-glyphosate-use-in-agriculture/ Mon, 31 Oct 2022 20:54:18 +0000 https://www.rhi.bio/?p=677623

A Commentary By Dr. Stephanie Seneff

I was thrilled when I first heard that the president of Mexico had decreed a ban on glyphosate use in agriculture beginning in January 2024. However, the industry fought back hard, and while it looked for a while as if they weren’t going to be able to stop the ban, the latest news I have is that the Sixth District Judge in Administrative Matters granted an injunction against the decree that was instigated by Bayer, the producer of glyphosate. This was stated in an article published on April 5, 2022.  So maybe Mexico won’t be able to protect its population after all, but Mexico is fighting back legally, and the game is not over yet.

But we can always hope.  Now there is news that India has decided to ban glyphosate use in agriculture. Well, not quite ban, but make its use restricted to “Pest Control Operators (PCOs).” It appears that PCOs are in short supply in rural areas, and so the expectation is that most farmers in India will be unable to use glyphosate on their crops. But we’ll have to wait and see if the industry figures out how to get around this restriction, as they have TRIED TO DO in Mexico.

It is gratifying to see governments of large countries like Mexico and India take serious steps to try to reduce glyphosate exposure to their populations, even though it often happens that the industry figures out how to get around the legislation.

I am waiting for the day when we see some action from the US government. But I’m not holding my breath!

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