Feb. 27— Scientists investigating a spate of illnesses among people
living close to GM maize fields in the Philippines believe that the
crop may have triggered fevers, respiratory illnesses, and skin reactions.
If preliminary results are confirmed, it would be one of the first recorded
cases of serious health problems associated with GM crops, and could
damage the reputation of the biotech agriculturial industry, which is
rapidly expanding in developing countries.
The scientists’ findings were immediately challenged by Monsanto,
the world’s leading GM company, and by the Philippine government.
The concern surrounds an unnamed village in northern Mindanao, where
39 people living near a field of Bt maize -- which contains a pesticide
in the gene -- started suffering last autumn when the crop was producing
pollen.
Doctors thought they had an infectious disease, but when four families
left the village and recovered, and then showed the same symptoms on
return, an environmental cause was suspected.
Terje Traavik, scientific director of the Norwegian Institute of Gene
Ecology, was asked to investigate. Blood tests showed the villagers
had developed antibodies to the maize’s inbuilt pesticide.
Professor Traavik, who issued a summary of his results on Feb. 26, said
more tests were needed, but felt his preliminary findings were reliable.
His studies suggest that a virus promoter -- which is like a motor driving
the production of the genetic message -- was unexpectedly found intact
in human cells.
His team also said it had found that genetically engineered viruses
used in the GM process recombined with natural viruses to create new
hybrid viruses with unpredictable characteristics. If confirmed, this
could suggest that they could cause new diseases.
Prof Traavik said tests so far showed evidence of an immune reaction.
He will return to the Philippines this week to continue the research
before publishing full results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
But he rejected accusations that he was trying to scare people with
data not yet reviewed by other scientists. “Publication of results
typically requires a waiting period of up to one year or more,”
he said in Kuala Lumpur.
“With such evidence of possible human health impacts of foods already
on the market, we believed that waiting to report our findings through
publication would not be in the public’s interest,” he continued.
Monsanto said it was “extremely unlikely” that the limited
production of the GM crop in the Philippines would have produced such
results.
“There have been no documented cases of allergic reactions to Bt
maize after seven years of broad commercial use on millions of hectares
in the US, Canada, Argentina, Spain and South Africa, starting in 1996,”
a spokesman said.
The company was backed by the government in Manila, which approved GM
cultivation last year.
“It’s absurd -- no biology student will believe it,”
said Artemio Salazar, the director of the maize program of the Philippine
department of agriculture.
“The implication of the study is that the resistant gene got inserted
into the human gene, which is impossible.”
Greenpeace called for more research. “There is such a huge amount
of uncertainty around these crops,” a spokesperson said.
But Willy de Greef, a biotech law consultant formerly employed by the
Swiss agrochemicals company Syngenta, expressed surprise at Traavik’s
findings, saying research showed Bt maize pollen did not carry the toxin
so no reaction should occur. “One would want a scientific panel
to look at Traavik’s results,” he told Reuters.
Source: Guardian (UK)
