GMO Research
Abstract: Potential health effects of agricultural pesticide use include reproductive outcomes. For the Ontario Farm Family Health Study, the authors sampled Ontario farms from the 1986 Canadian Census of Agriculture, identified farm couples, and obtained questionnaire data concerning farm activities, reproductive health experience, and chemical applications. Male farm activities in the period from 3 months …
Abstract: We consider ecological safety as environmental safety and protection of vital interests of citizens, society and the state from the action of internal and external factors, negative processes and trends, which pose a threat to people’s health and biosphere. From this perspective, a number of technogenic phenomena are discussed, which create ecological dangers at …
Abstract: Virus-resistant transgenic squash are grown throughout the United States and much of Mexico and it is likely that the virus-resistant transgene (VRT) has been introduced to wild populations repeatedly. The evolutionary fate of any resistance gene in wild populations and its environmental impacts depend upon trade-offs between the costs and benefits of the resistance …
Text: If one were to pick the most notified pesticide of the turn of the millennium, the choice would most likely be glyphosate. Although DDT remains to be the all-time star in the Hall of Fame of pesticides, the second most admitted pesticide active ingredient must be the phosphonomethylglycine type compound of Monsanto Company, glyphosate. …
Abstract: Experimental studies were performed on healthy, 80-100 g carp (Cyprinus carpio). Fish were exposed by emersion in Roundup (205 mg of glyphosate/l or 410 mg of glyphosate/l) in concentrations of 40- to 20-fold lower than those used in practice. Electron microscopy revealed that the herbicide caused appearance of myelin-like structures in carp hepatocytes, swelling …
Abstract: Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) is a live microorganism that kills certain insects and is used to kill unwanted insects in forests, agriculture, and urban areas. In a purified form, some of the proteins produced by B.t. are acutely toxic to mammals. However, in their natural form, acute toxicity of commonly-used B.t. varieties is limited to …
Abstract: качестве сырья для пищевой промышленности, в России разрешено использование 16 видов генетически модифицированных линий пяти сортов культивируемых растений, в том числе сои. ГМ (генетически модифицированная) соя и её субпродукты широко используются при производстве большого числа продуктов питания для человека и кормов для сельскохозяйственных и лабораторных животных. Однако возможные негативные последствия такого широкомасштабного использования ГМ …
Text: The findings of Richard et al. (2005) are an important addition to our understanding that the health and environmental effects of formulated pesticide products are not fully reflected in tests conducted on the active ingredient(s) alone. It has been long known that the adjuvants (commonly and misleadingly called “inert” ingredients) may be toxic and …
Abstract: This article examines the biotechnology industry in the area of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in foods through the lens of globalization and national sovereignty. Does the World Trade Organization (WTO) have the authority to compel the EU to lift GMO bans, or should another supranational organization be formed to regulate the world’s food supply …
Abstract: This article explores the ethical implications of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in food that originate from plants that have been genetically altered through bioengineering. Despite noble goals to increase the food supply on the planet, biotechnology has not been applied towards that end. Instead, companies have developed “terminator” seeds that cannot reproduce, forcing farmers …
Text: Biotechnology is big business.1 As such, the use of biotechnology to engineer plants, and the regulation of the resulting food crops, involves economic and trade issues, as well as science and health issues.2 Through modern biotechnology, selected individual genes are transferred from one organism into another, sometimes between nonrelated species, using recombinant DNA (rDNA) …
Book abstract: Genetic engineering suggests new avenues for constructing useful products, but it also poses hazards to the health of the environment and the public. Delineating those hazards is complicated, difficult, and important at every level of risk assessment and risk management decision-making. Risk assessment and risk management may be further complicated by the need …
Abstract: It points out the need to change the mentality of the technologies used in agriculture, default chemicalization, use of pesticides and animal growth biostimulatorilor and beyond.These have to be tempered first under biological laws, and after that under economic criteria and not vice versa as it has been done before. The technologies used to …
Text: Business has been arguing that governments should override the precautionary principle in favor of an “innovation principle.” The new genetic engineering techniques (sometimes called “new breeding techniques”)1 provide the perfect cover for this argument. Proponents assure us that these new techniques are essential to address the crises we face and will provide economic benefit, …
Abstract: This article analyzes all of the food safety-related aspects related to the use of genetically modified organisms into agriculture and food. A discussion is provided as to the uncertainties related to the insertion of foreign genes into organisms, providing examples of unforeseen, undesirable effects and of instabilities of the organisms thus artificially fabricated. Data …
Abstract: Literature on maternal exposures and the risk of epigenetic changes or diseases in the offspring is growing. Paternal contributions are often not considered. However, some animal and epidemiologic studies on various contaminants, nutrition, and lifestyle‐related conditions suggest a paternal influence on the offspring’s future health. The phenotypic outcomes may have been attributed to DNA …
Abstract: The effects of sublethal concentrations of Roundup [glyphosate] (4, 6, 8 mg/litre) in water on non-specific immunity and the liver and kidneys was investigated in 120 healthy carp weighing 60-80 g. Non-specific immunity, phagocytic activity of blood and kidney neutrophils and macrophages, and lysozyme level all decreased during the experiment. Histopathology revealed degenerative changes …
Abstract: The aim of the research was assessment of mutagenic activity of the genetically modified product (a commercial product from soybean) in an experiment on laboratory animals. In the course of work in experienced groups the parameter of “unsuccessful” incubation of embryos in females of white not purebred rats is revealed. In control group the …
Abstract: Glyphosate is the active ingredient in the pervasive herbicide, Roundup, and its usage, particularly in the United States, has increased dramatically in the last two decades, in step with the widespread adoption of Roundup®-Ready core crops. The World Health Organization recently labelled glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic.” In this paper, we review the research literature, …
Abstract: Effects of glyphosate based herbicide, Excel Mera 71 at a dose of 17.20 mg/l on enzyme activities of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase (CAT), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and protein content were measured in different tissues of two Indian air-breathing teleosts, Anabas testudineus (Bloch) and Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) during an exposure period of 30 days …
Abstract: The present study was designed to evaluate if genetically modified (GM) maize (Bt maize, event MON810) compared with the near‐isogenic non‐modified (nGM) maize variety, added as a starch source at low or high inclusions, affected fish health of post‐smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. To evaluate the health impact, selected stress‐ and immune‐response biomarkers …
Abstract: Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has a crucial role in microbial evolution, in shaping the structure and function of microbial communities and in controlling a myriad of environmental and public-health problems. Here, Barth F. Smets and Tamar Barkay assess the importance of HGT and place the selection of articles in this Focus issue in context. …
Abstract: Introduction. The prolonged and uncontrolled use of genetically modified foods represents the adverse potential effects and threats to human health. Discussion. Discovered the toxic and allergenic influence of number of transgenic proteins on the human organism. The inhibitors of alpha amylases are strong allergens which form complexes with the ferments of the salivary glands …
Abstract: A technical herbicide containing isopropyl amine salt of glyphosate was tested for induction of chromosome aberrations (CA) and sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) in cultured bovine peripheral lymphocytes. Cultures were exposed to a glyphosate formulation at concentrations ranging from 28 to 1120 micromol/l without and with metabolic activation. No clastogenic effect of the herbicide was …
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acute glyphosate (active ingredient) exposure on the oxidative stress biomarkers and antioxidant defenses of a hybrid surubim (Pseudoplatystoma sp). The fish were exposed to different herbicide concentrations for 96 h. The thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), protein carbonyls and antioxidant responses were verified. The …
