By Elizabeth Renter, Natural Society, http://naturalsociety.com/former-gmo-advocate-speaks-dangers/

Image from gmosummit.org

As mounting evidence shows genetically modified foods have dangerous  health and environmental repercussions, the number of scientists willing to step  forward and speak out against them is similarly growing. Dr.  Thierry Vrain is just the latest of many scientists to buck Monsanto and  their hired goons, changing his stance on GMOs and shouting their dangers to  anyone that will listen.

Dr. Vrain is a former research scientist for Agriculture Canada. It was his  job as scientist of his institute to address the public and others, assuring  them of the safety of genetically engineered crops and foods. Now, 10 years  after his retirement, he’s changed his tune.

“In the last 10 years I have changed my position. I started paying attention  to the flow of published studies coming from Europe, some from prestigious labs  and published in prestigious scientific journals, that questioned the impact and  safety of engineered food.

I refute the claims of the biotechnology companies that their engineered  crops yield more, that they require less pesticide applications, that they have  no impact on the environment and of course that they are safe to  eat.”

The studies commissioned by Monsanto understandably come to the conclusion  that genetically modified foods and crops are both safe for the environment and  safe for people. They are commissioned by the people who want that outcome.  Studies from objective researchers, however, often come to very different  conclusions.

Read: 800  Scientists Demand Global ‘GMO Experiment” to End

Vrain says we should take these studies seriously and demand that our  governments replicate the studies rather than take the word of biotech giants  like Monsanto.

“The Bt corn and soya plants that are now everywhere in our environment are  registered as insecticides. But are these insecticidal plants regulated and have  their proteins been tested for safety? Not by the federal departments in charge  of food safety, not in Canada and not in the U.S.”

Long-term feeding studies on these foods simply don’t exist. We do, however,  have studies that indicate disastrous outcomes in rats, where animals fed  genetically engineered foods die prematurely.

Vrain argues that the entire paradigm of genetic engineering being used in  GMO technology is flawed and based on a misunderstanding.

“Genetic engineering is 40 years old. It is based on the naive understanding  of the genome based on the One Gene – one protein hypothesis of 70 years ago,  that each gene codes for a single protein. The Human Genome project completed in  2002 showed that this hypothesis is wrong.”

It’s this single misunderstanding, compounded with greed, that has created  plants that could be toxic to our health.

As researchers like Dr. Vrain come forward to voice their opposition to  genetically modified foods, we can hope governments and consumers alike will pay  attention and demand accountability from corporations like Monsanto.

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