Pregnant women may pass toxins in GM foods to babies
May 20th, 2011 - 5:59 pm ICT by IANSLondon, May 20 (IANS) Pregnant women, beware! The milk you are drinking to nourish your unborn baby may be harmful.
Toxic pesticides which are implanted into genetically modified (GM) food crops have been found lodged in the blood of pregnant women and their unborn babies.
Scientists in obstetrics and gynaecology, at the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre, Quebec, Canada, took dozens of samples from women.
Traces of the toxins were found in 93 percent of the pregnant mothers and in 80 percent of the umbilical cords.
The research suggested the chemicals were entering the body through eating meat, milk and eggs from farm livestock which have been fed GM corn, reports the Telegraph.
The findings appear to contradict the GM industry’s long-standing claim that any potentially harmful chemicals added to crops would pass safely through the body.
Until now, most of the global research which has been used to demonstrate the safety of GM crops has been funded by the industry itself.
It is not known what, if any, harm the chemicals might cause but there has been speculation it could lead to allergies, miscarriage, abnormalities or even cancer.
One of the researchers said: “This is the first study to highlight the presence of pesticides associated with genetically modified foods in maternal, foetal and non-pregnant women’s blood.”
Pete Riley, the director of GM Freeze, a group opposed to GM farming, described the research as “very significant.”
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Tags: eating meat, farm livestock, foetal, food crops, global research, gm corn, gm crops, gm food, gm foods, gm industry, harmful chemicals, obstetrics and gynaecology, pete riley, pregnant mothers, quebec canada, toxic pesticides, umbilical cords, unborn babies, unborn baby, university of sherbrooke