Russia: GMOs are harmful to mammals

The annual Days of Defence against Environmental Hazards in Russia are taking place from April 15 to June 5, 2010, the Voice of Russia reports. On this occasion, results of independent research were published: GMOs are harmful for mammals. Concerning the experiment which led to this conclusion and was carried out by the National Association for Gene Security and the Institute of Ecological and Evolutional Problems, Dr. Alexei Surov expained that the scientists selected several groups of hamsters and kept them in pairs in cells. One group was fed on soya available on the market, a further group was fed on soya that definitely contained no GM components, the third group was given feed with some content of GMOs and the fourth one with increasing amounts of GMOs. The behavior of the animals was monitored, as well as their weight gain and when they give birth to their cubs. Originally, everything seemed normal.
 

But a quite serious effect was noticed when they selected new pairs from the first generation cubs and continued to feed them as before. These pairs’ growth rate was slower and they reached their sexual maturity slowly. Then it was tried to form some of their cubs in new pairs of the third generation. This failed - it was proved that these pairs lost their ability to give birth to cubs. The scientists who carried out the experiment said that it was too early to make far-reaching conclusions about the health hazards of GMOs, but insisted that there was a need to carry out comprehensive research. Consequently, scientists suggested imposing a ban on the use of GM foods until they were tested for their security, and implementing a project on the subject.

The Voice of Russia