The first in a series of articles on Food Safety in the United States.

The Lyme Induced Autism Foundation (LIA) has called on doctors to avoid genetically modified organisms and prescribe non-GMO diets to patients due to the documented health risks associated with these controversial gene-spliced foods.  Following in the wake of a similar announcement by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) on May 19, 2009, which can be viewed at www.aaemonline.org, the LIA Foundation has cited a growing number of animal studies which suggest that genetically modified foods may be contributing to the rise of disease in the American population as well.  In addition, Genetically Modified (GM) foods may create an extra burden for those already suffering with chronic illnesses such as Lyme disease and Autism.   

Genetically modified foods were introduced into the American food supply in 1996 by Monsanto corporation and others without any independent studies for negative animal or human health effects because of the FDA’s notion of  “substantial equivalence.”  This says that, “if a new food is found to be substantially equivalent in the composition and nutritional characteristics to an existing food, it can be regarded as safe as the conventional food.”  These genetically modified foods consist of 5 major U.S. crops:  soybeans (currently 91% of all soy produced in U.S.), corn (88%), canola(80-85%), cotton 85% (cottonseed oil and other derivatives being the foodstuff), and sugar beets (90%) according the U.S.D.A..  In addition, there are 3 minor U.S. crops which are genetically modified:  papaya from Hawaii, zucchini, and crooked neck squash.  All eight of these major and minor U.S. crops are genetically modified specifically to resist heavy quantities of Monsanto Corporation’s other product, Round-up herbicide, so that farmers can spray in massive quantities by air or automated equipment over the enormous crop fields without having their crops die while they eradicate weeds.  Biotech industries claim that they are having more productive crop yields with this farming method, however, according to R. Lofstedt, “the several thousand field trials over the last 20 years for genes aimed at increasing operational or intrinsic yield of crops indicate a significant undertaking.  Yet, none of these field trials have resulted in increased yield in commercialized major food/feed crops, with the exception of Bt corn.”  It was further stated that the increase in corn yields was likely due to traditional breeding improvements and not the genetic modification process.  So, incredible amounts of Round-up are on these food sources, and therefore, being ingested by the American public.  And, there is residue in our land which can affect our water supplies and runoff into lakes, streams, rivers, and eventually the Gulf and oceans.  The Mississippi Delta already has a dead spot the size of the state of Massachusetts caused by runoff pollutants from Midwestern farms.  There are no large, double blind, independent scientific studies that show that Round-up, nor any other herbicide, is safe for human or animal consumption.   

In the cases of cotton and corn, there is an additional gene inserted to cause these plants to become pesticides in and of themselves, by allowing them to internally produce a pesticide at the cellular level called Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt toxin,.  Bt toxin causes death when insects bite into the crop.  Therefore, these corn and cotton products in and of themselves are pesticides and are actually registered with the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) as pesticides.  Somehow, even as registered pesticides, the normal EPA registration number is not present on these foodstuffs.  Each time you eat corn, cotton seed oil, soy, canola, or sugar beets in the U.S., it is questionable as to the dose of unlabeled herbicide or pesticide you are consuming.  In fact, there are counties, states, provinces and countries worldwide that have banned planting of GM products, including Zambia, Venezuela, Germany, France, and Mendocino/Marin/Santa Cruz/Trinity counties in California. There have, however, been several independent and European-government funded studies that have shown that genetically modified foods have caused significant health problems in lab animals as well as in livestock that are fed GM foods.  Investigative journal reports by leading Indian newspapers,  medical investigations by Indian doctors,  and interviews around India, have found that countless farm workers have developed allergic reactions when exposed to Bt cotton varieties,  but suffer no negative health effects when exposed to natural, non-GM cotton.  In addition, workers who toil on genetically modified food farms in South American countries show classic pesticide poisoning symptoms as portrayed in the DVD, “The World According To Monsanto,” by Marie-Monique Robin.  This DVD is an eye-opener for anyone who wants to learn more about genetically modified foods and corruption in the biotechnology industry.  This video clearly demonstrates that even in countries where GM crops and foods are banned, the natural, indigenous crops have been infiltrated by GM crops via cross-pollination.  It also shows how the neighboring communities and their people are suffering as a result of the GM crops and spraying of Round-up. 

Amy Dean, D.O., Member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine indicates that, “Animal studies irrefutably show GM foods cause serious disease processes.  Due to these health risks, the AAEM has called for a moratorium on GM foods and for physicians to educate their patients, the medical community and the public to avoid GM foods.”  According to the AAEM position paper on genetically modified foods, based on animal feeding studies, causation as defined by Hill’s criteria, has been established between GM foods and, “infertility, immune dysregulation, accelerated aging, dysregulation of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis, insulin regulation, cell signaling, protein formation, and changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system.”

The introduction of GM foods to the U.S. food supply in 1996 might explain the surge in ailments such as:  asthma, Autism, Lyme’s disease, food & other allergies, gastrointestinal disorders and even specific types of cancer.  According to a January 6, 2009 article by Reuters, based on government survey data, in 1996 (the year GM’s were introduced in America’s food supply), 7% of Americans suffered from 3 or more chronic health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, cancer, arthritis, heart failure and others.  In 2005, nine years after GM foods were introduced into our food supply, 13% of Americans were diagnosed with 3 or more chronic medical conditions.  This is an astronomical, greater than 84% increase in only nine years and needs to be researched more carefully and not just written off as sedentary lifestyle being the sole factor.  Since chronic disease accounts for three quarters of the $2 trillion spent each year on health care, this possible GM causation must be investigated.  Lyme disease, Autism, as well as adults who have suffered unrelated Chemical Injuries and exhibit the same symptomatology, deserve independent funding and investigation to discern what role GM foods may be playing in their inception, spread, and disease processes. 

Jannelle Love, M.D., founder of the Autism Relief Foundation, states that, “The worldwide rate of autism is alarming and should be acknowledged by our society.  These children are our future.  It is known that children on the Autistic Spectrum suffer from fragile immune systems, significant digestive and brain inflammation, and the environmental toxin overload.  Putting foreign entities such as GMO foods into such a fragile child may indeed cause further deterioration and perhaps block the delicate biochemical pathways needed for appropriate functioning and possible recovery.” 

According  to Tami Duncan, Co-Founder & President of LIA Foundation, www.liafoundation.org, “Parents should take special care and educate themselves about what is safe & best to feed their children, in particular, any child with Autism or Lyme’s Disease.”  Heidi Noyer, Research Coodinator for LIA Foundation says, “I feed my children organic and locally grown produce and protein that I know come from sources that do not use genetically modified crops, nor spray herbicides or pesticides on my family’s food.”  The best way to avoid genetically modified foods is to buy either buy organic food, since the certified organic label cannot be applied to these genetically modified foods, and assures you your food doesn’t have pesticides or other unnecessary chemicals in it, or to look for the non-GMO labels from individual companies. 

As a patient advocacy group, the Lyme Induced Autism Foundation suggests that, “patients take responsibility when shopping for individuals with chronic illness so as take special care to extricate GM ingredients such as non-GM soy, corn, cottonseed oil, canola oil, and sugar from sugar beets in addition to papaya from Hawaii, zucchini, and crooked neck squash.  It is possible that these foods may exacerbate or even cause the chronic illnesses for which they are being treated.”  According to www.centerforfoodsafety.org , “70% of foods in grocery store contain GM food ingredients,”  so avoiding GM foods in America is an onerous task.   

GMO health expert, Jeffrey Smith, who has documented the 65 health risks of GM foods in his book, “Genetic Roulette,” says, “Documents made public from a lawsuit revealed that the consensus when the US GMO policy was being created were that these foods were unsafe as these foods had the potential to create allergies, toxins, and new disease.  Unfortunately, the political FDA appointees at the time ignored the scientists and the science and allowed the GM crops onto the US market without the required safety studies.  Without proper government protection, it is up to the individual consumer and their physicians and advocacy groups to educate themselves on measures to avoid these high-risk foods.”  Smith offers a comprehensive non-GMO shopping guide which may be downloaded on his website, www.responsibletechnology.org . 

The potential link and even more disturbingly, perhaps the underlying causation factor, between genetically modified foods in our food supply and the incredible increase in disabling illnesses in both our child and adult populations due to chemical injury needs to be studied as part of the Obama administrations health care policy.  The revolving door between industry and the FDA needs to be broken.  Special interest groups have clearly been put ahead of common sense, America’s food supply safety, and therefore, America’s health.  A position was created at the FDA for Michael Taylor to be in charge of agency policy while GMOs were discussed prior to their introduction.  Mr. Taylor was the former attorney of biotech giant Monsanto, then worked at the FDA, and then after the “substantially equivalent” case definition was met by internally influencing policy at the FDA, he rotated back to work at Monsanto as a Vice President.   Taylor’s policies while at the FDA over-ruled the FDA staff scientists and scientific analyses they had made with regard to GMO’s and allowed them on the market in the U.S without any safety studies or labeling to inform the consumer.  In July 2009, Michael Taylor was appointed as a “senior advisor to the FDA commissioner”  in the Obama administration on food issues.  Loosely translated, he’s our new American Food Czar.  Perhaps if so many people were not being sickened by our own food supply we could dramatically cut healthcare costs de facto and we wouldn’t have to indebt future generations to clean up the negative health effects of this inbred mess. 

It is clearly paramount that foods in American grocery stores not only  be labeled with country of origin, as is required as of 2009, but also that GM foods be labeled as just that, GM Foods, so that consumers may readily identify GM foods and make the individual, educated choice as to whether or not to consume them.  This is not a Democratic or Republican issue as biotech firms have been coddled by the Bush, Clinton,  and Bush Jr. administrations so far.  However, the Obama administration has the opportunity to correct this lobbyist nepotism that gained them the presidency by allocating funding for independent research on genetically modified foods and their negative human and animal health effects.  This research should not supervised by current or former employees of biotech firms nor from inside of any administration.  Americans and the safety of their food supply should come first, not lobbying dollars or political favors.  And when the doctor tells you that the cause of your illness may in fact be genetic, well, he might not at all be referring to mom, dad or any other family ancestor, but rather, the genetically modified foods you eat.

Kimberly Wilcox is currenty freelance writing about financial politics, as well as Healthcare policy, specifically, Chemical Injury and its medical & lifestyle consequences.  She is a lifestyle coach to others with chemical injury, chronic fatigue, autism, Gulf War Syndrome & Fibromyalgia, as well as to professional athletes desiring peak performance without use of illegal PED's.  She is an expert on Green Living and her new book will soon be published about the Green Life that she has been forced to live for the last decade.