Home › Blog › GMO Food Research: Pigs Fed Genetically Engineered Crops are Quite Messed Up

GMO food research is finally starting to accumulate despite industry push back. I’ve blogged on the possible dangers of Roundup Ready crops and how this may be linked to gluten sensitivity and arthritis. Now a researcher who is funded by the Australian Government (and not big Agriculture) is reporting startling findings about what happens to pigs fed genetically engineered crops like Roundup soy and corn. Their GI systems and sex organs are messed up.

First, to review, Monsanto produces a line of genetically engineered crops that can withstand the nasty weedkiller Roundup. For example, you can spray the snot out of a field with Roundup Ready corn and every living thing will die except the corn. The company also manufactures genetically engineered crops that produce their own pesticide. Pigs are fed these crops (usually soy and corn) based on assurances from the company and regulators that these crops are safe and will have no ill effect on the pigs nor on the people consuming the pigs. Getting research done in this field is very difficult because of the close ties between industry and major universities. In addition, even asking a farmer for some seeds or feed to test is illegal, violating his end user license agreement for the material. As I wrote awhile back, as a result, you usually see researchers in this field who either come from other backgrounds (like Stefanie Seneff) or who have made tremendous sacrifices to get their research done, like the author of this most recent paper, Judy Carman.

First, if you haven’t yet seen Judy’s web-site, it’s a great read not only about the uphill science she’s pursuing, but also about the struggles of fighting the university-industrial complex. Second, her most recent study is scary in it’s implications. She took 84 pigs and fed them genetically engineered (GE) feed and 84 pigs and fed them organic feed. The pictures on her site of the stomachs of the GE pigs tell the story, they are a red hemorrhagic mess. As above, they were almost 3 times as likely to exhibit stomach inflammation. In addition, the fact that the uteri of the female GE pigs were 25% larger is really disturbing.

The upshot? Not only do we have no idea about the safety of the GE crops and the GE fed meat that 90% of Americans eat, the scarier story is that the ability to do the science that would definitively answer the safety question is almost impossible. In the meantime, shop organic!

Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile