Talkback Nonsense

I was listening to BBC Radio Jersey's Talkback which was interesting as for a change it did not have politicians present but Kevin Keen and Stephen Le Feuvre.

Stephen Le Feuvre spoke a lot of sense about the local economy, but some nonsense slipped passed. On GM food, he said it was banned in Europe, but present in Australia where he had been, and he said "the food still tastes fine, the people still look like normal people, the cows still look like normal cows".

This was facile and stupid. I couldn't believe he had said it. Everyone with any sense knows that if there are problems with GM foods, they will probably not show up on the physical level, like the mutants with giant heads so beloved of pulp science fiction.

It is more likely that, as with the discovery of prions causing BSE in cows and CJD in humans, it will be a slow discovery of any problems which will only become apparent after many generations.

In India, a recent report has highlighted the kinds of long term health problems which could emerge. A report on GM brinal (eggplant) notes that:

"If only 1 in 1,000 of exposed people later gets ill, or has an underlying illness made worse, then over a thousand million Indians would be ill and requiring treatment. This would result in a huge cost to the Indian government and community. It is therefore important to ensure that the safety assessment of GM brinal is sound and thoroughly covers all the major concerns of toxicology, allergy, and reproductive health. The studies presented by Mahyco are simply inadequate to determine these matters"

Another comment notes that:

"The changes in bilirubin indicate effect on hepatic functions. Study with lactating cows showed increased milk production indicating hormonal effects. If this is so, what are the implications on pregnancy, foetal health, reproductive functions etc. There is an obvious requirement for longer term studies especially on reproductive health. Absence of these aspects in Mahyco's dossiers is not acceptable, the doctors said. "

Regarding Australia and New Zealand, a recent report (January 2009) by Dr Judy Carman of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research, Australia focuses on the flaws in current research that has been submitted on the safety of GM foods. The report makes the following points:

While it appears the Mahyco has conducted a number of studies to show that Bt brinjal is safe to eat, in fact none of the studies are of any real use, for the following main main reasons:

* The type of studies undertaken are insufficient to be able to determine if GM brinjal is safe to eat. For example, there have been no reproductive studies and the studies that have been done often use animals and/or measurements that are inappropriate or insufficient measures of human health.

* Of those studies undertaken, the methodology and results are often insufficiently reported to be able to determine what the studies were actually measuring or how various variables were measured. Included in this, the statistical results have not been reported to a suitable standard. For example, means, standard deviations, and p-values, which would be required for any peer-reviewed scientific journal, are usually omitted.

* The sample sizes are insufficient to be able to find statistical difference for many measurements even if real clinical differences are occurring between groups. Indeed, much of the research presented by Mahyco could be regarded as being burdened with Type II error. This type of statistical error occurs when sample sizes are so low that the study cannot realistically be expected to find a difference between groups of animals even if clinical differences are occurring.

Links:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Apropos-of-Vilsack-and-Mon-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090116-419.html