A new clinical report issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) – the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States – to provide guidance to clinicians in providing pediatric care addresses concerns raised by families about GM foods. It focuses on the risks of the herbicides sprayed on GM food and feed crops – especially glyphosate. The AAP report authors, three eminent pediatricians, note that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen and may be an endocrine (hormone) disruptor in humans. They also point out the link between high urinary levels of glyphosate in pregnant women with an increased risk of premature births. They add that other herbicides used on GM crops – dicamba and 2,4-D – are "possible" carcinogens, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). They give advice on how to avoid GMO foods in order to minimise glyphosate exposure – and it's not as hard as some might think. GMWatch

 

 

A laboratory recently discovered 92 unknown compounds in an alternative dairy product produced using a “precision fermentation” process that involves the use of genetic engineering. Iowa-based Health Research Institute (HRI) tested a Bored Cow product, which is described as “a milk alternative made with milk protein from fermentation instead of cows”. Using full spectrum molecular analysis technology, HRI found 92 small molecules in the product that are unknown to science, according to John Fagan, chief science officer at HRI. “They’re completely novel to our food,” he says. “They are things that we haven’t consumed as human beings.” Fagan scanned scientific literature and databases to determine whether the molecules had nutritional or other beneficial properties and found nothing.“I couldn’t even find the scientific name for the vast majority of the molecules present in the Bored Cow product. They are nutritional dark matter,” Fagan says. HRI’s testing also found residues of a fungicide at a substantial level. The Organic & Non-GMO Report

 

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