Are genetically modified foods making you sick and fat? Monsanto’s genetically modified creations have been pegged for causing a plethora of environmental and human harm, but are they also contributing to one of the country’s fastest growing health problems? A study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences shows that GM food is indeed contributing to the obesity epidemic.

While being one of the first to report on a comparative analysis of blood and organ system data of rats fed GM corn, the study effectively ends the debate as to whether GMO foods are safe regarding health. The study found that GM corn fed to mice led to an increase in overall body weight of about 3.7 percent, while also increasing the weight of the liver by up to 11 percent.

“Crude and relative liver weights are also affected at the end of the maximal (33%) GM maize feeding level as well as that of the heart which for corresponding parameters to a comparable extent, showed up to an 11% weight increase…Additional statistically significant differences include … higher … overall body (3.7%) weight.”

But this 2009 study sheds much more light on GMO dangers than mere weight increase.

“There is a world-wide debate concerning the safety and regulatory approval process of genetically modified (GM) crops and foods. In order to scientifically address this issue, it is necessary to have access to toxicological tests, preferably on mammals, performed over the longest time-scales involving detailed blood and organ system analyses.”the introduction states. “For the first time in the world, we’ve proven that GMO are neither sufficiently healthy nor proper to be commercialized…Each time, for all three GMOs, the kidneys and liver, which are the main organs that react to a chemical food poisoning, had problems,” indicated Gilles-Eric Séralini, an expert member of the Commission for Biotechnology Reevaluation.

Needless to say, Monsanto’s GMO crops are causing numerous other problems in our world. While contributing to weight gain, the company’s GM corn has been shown to be creating resistant rootworms — causing farmers to use even more threatening pesticides on GMO crops. Of course the use of Monsanto’s Bt  biopesticides has also been shown to to be aiding in decline of our health, recently being found to wreak havoc on human kidney cells. This is an indirect, but very real way GMO crops are causing damage.

GMO crops are known to cause short term damage to nature and your biology, but it is perhaps the long-term consequences that are most concerning. We currently have information and research regarding the detrimental effects of GMO foods in the short term, but they continue to be used while long-term effects are still a mystery even to supporters of GMOs. It is for these reasons, among many others, that GMO crops are continually being banned around the world. Hungary, France, Peru, and others have taken all action against GMO crops and GM foods altogether due to safety hazards these products pose on human health, the ecosystem, and the environment. 

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