Are GM foods really safe?

Greenpeace (Greenpeace) and France's Independent Information Research Committee (CRIIGEN) have reaffirmed that MON863 genetically modified corn produced by US Monsanto Company poses a risk to the body's mouse.

According to the two organizations, 400 mice consuming this corn variety for 90 days have left traces of toxicity in the blood, liver and kidneys.

Professor Gilles-Erice Séralini, president of CRIIGEN, said this is the first reevaluation that revealed traces of toxicity in a genetically modified food marketed.

The researchers noted that in female mice that fat and blood sugar levels increased, liver weight increased compared with the body, causing kidney dysfunction. In male mice, the signs are more severe with decreased kidney weight, affecting the chemical composition of the urine, causing liver problems and losing weight.

Another study was carried out in 2005 by a group of Italian researchers at Urbino University who confirmed that mice fed with genetically modified soybeans modified their liver cells. However, when it stops eating genetically modified foods, this phenomenon disappears.

Protests in Germany in May 2005 opposed the cultivation of genetically modified corn.(Photo: mittelbayerische)