Genetically modified crops safety assessments

Environmental Sciences Europe has published their rewiew: Genetically modified crops safety assessments: present limits and possible improvements. 19 studies of mammals fed with commercialized genetically modified soybean and maize were reviewed, which represent, per trait and plant, more than 80 % of all environmental genetically modified organisms cultivated on a large scale, after they were modified to tolerate or produce a pesticide. The raw data of 90-day-long rat tests was also obtained, following court actions or official requests. The data obtained include biochemical blood and urine parameters of mammals eating GMOs with numerous organ weights and histopathology findings.
 

Several convergent data appear to indicate liver and kidney problems as end points of GMO diet effects in the above-mentioned experiments. This was confirmed by a meta-analysis of all the in vivo studies published, which revealed that the kidneys were particularly affected, concentrating 43.5 % of all disrupted parameters in males, whereas the liver was more specifically disrupted in females (30.8 % of all disrupted parameters). The 90-day-long tests are insufficient to evaluate chronic toxicity, and the signs highlighted in the kidneys and livers could be the onset of chronic diseases, according to Environmental Sciencees Europe. However, no minimal length for the tests is yet obligatory for any of the GMOs cultivated on a large scale, and this is socially unacceptable in terms of consumer health protection. It is suggested that the studies should be improved and prolonged, as well as being made compulsory, and that the sexual hormones should be assessed too, and moreover, reproductive and multigenerational studies ought to be conducted too. More information is available here