New Russian studies reveal serious damage to mice (9/5/2007)

1.RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS PRESENT NEW DATA ON THE IMPACT OF GMOs ON ANIMAL HEALTH
2.Russian researchers present new data on negative influence of GMO on human health

NOTE: Two reports - via Dr Brian John - of a new study in Russia - reported at a news conference last month for the Russian media and now reported for the first time in English thanks to GM Free Cymru.

EXTRACT: Russian biotechnologist Maria Konovalova... said the Monsanto Roundup Ready GM-soy used during the tests on rats and mice caused serious mutilations of their internal organs (liver, kidneys, testicles) and in histological and cellular construction. Besides, it influences the number of babies in a litter, caused increased death rates among descendants, and results in increased aggressiveness and loss of maternal instinct. (item 2)

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1.RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS PRESENT NEW DATA ON THE IMPACT OF GMOs ON ANIMAL HEALTH
By Eremurus Club

"The results of new research of the impact of GMOs on living organisms question the idea of their safety" said Alexander Baranov, president of All-National Association of Genetic Safety at the press-conference that was held on the 16th of April in Moscow. At the event the results of new experiment made in the Vavilov's Agrarian University of Saratov (regional capital on Volga river) by the members of the association were presented to public. The research demonstrated serious pathological defects in experimental mice fed on GM-soy.

As Maria Konovalova (engineer-biotechnologist, post-graduate who conducted the experiment under the supervision of doctor of medicine, professor V.Blinov) reported at the press-conference, a herbicide resistant RoundUp Ready Monsanto soy (variety 40-3-2), approved for human consumption in the Russian Federation and in many other countries, induced serious changes in the morphology of viscera (liver, kidney, testis) of mice, in their histological and cell structures. GM-soy also is found to impact the size of litters, and the mortality of the young. Soy is already assumed to provoke an increase in aggressiveness and a loss of maternal instinct.

"Mice that were fed by protein from GM soy demonstrated different behaviour. Some of the females in the GM soy group suffocated their young and then ate their brains. And it is also very sad that we identified abnormalities in the young mice whose mothers were fed on GM soy," said Maria Konovalova.

At the press-conference Baranov reported that his association has sent an Open Letter to the Chief sanitary doctor of Russia Gennadi Onischenko, whose department is responsible for controlling the safety of GM food. The NGO urged him to temporarily revoke the authorization of approved GM food in Russia and to declare a moratorium on the registration of new varieties until full data related to GMO impacts on human health is available.

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2.Russian researchers present new data on negative influence of GMO on human health
http://www.regnum.ru/english/813298.html

(translation from several sources)

"Results of our research on the effects of GMOs upon living organisms indicate that they are not harmless," President of the National Association for Genetic Safety Alexander Baranov said at a news conference held at the REGNUM press center in Moscow today. "This research must form the basis for serious reflection at official governmental institutions," Baranov said.

Members of the association presented the results of research conducted at Vavilov Agriculture University (Saratov). The research registered pathological deviation in experimental animals that ate GMO. As author of the test, Russian biotechnologist Maria Konovalova, who was personally conducting the research, said the Monsanto Roundup Ready GM-soy used during the tests on rats and mice caused serious mutilations of their internal organs (liver, kidneys, testicles) and in histological and cellular construction. Besides, it influences the number of babies in a litter, caused increased death rates among descendants, and results in increased aggressiveness and loss of maternal instinct.

"In mice fed on a protein isolated from GM-soy, there has been an increase in the weight of internal organs," she says. In addition, there has been an increase in aggressive behaviour by females towards their young. The really sad thing is that we found deformities and abnormalities in mice whose mothers drank GM-soy."

Maria Konovalova submitted a photo of a typical mouse from the GM test group which had been fed on GM soy for 5 months, and another photo of a mouse from the control group fed on normal soy. The difference in bodyweight and general condition was apparent, with the GM-fed mouse apparently in very poor condition.

At the press conference, President OAGB Alexander Baranov also said that the association sent an open letter to the chief sanitary doctor of the Russian Federation Gennadi Onishchenko. "The letter asks for the suspension of already approved GMOs in food products and the declaration of an interim moratorium on the registration of new GMOs to fully determine their effects on the human organism," said Baranov. "It was surprising to see that in our country, where a number of GM lines is allowed in the food supply, none of those lines have been fully explored," concluded President OAGB. According to him, the RAMN Nutrition Research Institute recently confirmed that the overwhelming majority of GM-lines have been tested in only one generation of rats.

"Only in one case was there a two generation study," said Alexander Baranov. "Methodical medical-biological guidance on assessing GM food products was signed by the same Onishchenko in 2000, and researchers are encouraged to check 5 generations of the test animals. But at the moment, there is a terrible situation: we feed our children food which no one can claim to be one hundred percent safe," says President OAGB Aleksandr Baranov. "We do not want to seek scapegoats. In our letter to Gennadi Onishchenko, we propose concrete measures for a speedy solution to the problem."

As REGNUM reported earlier, in October 2005, Russian reseracher Dr. Irina Ermakova made public the results of her experiment that showed that genetically modified soy affects posterity in rats.

See: http://www.gmfreecymru.org/pivotal_papers/ermakova.htm


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