Dr Michael Antoniou Michael Antoniou, PhD, is a Molecular Geneticist. He is reader in molecular genetics and head of the Gene Expression and Therapy Group, King’s College, London School of Medicine. His work and experience with genetic engineering is comprehensive. He has worked in the field for almost three decades, making him well placed to highlight the dangers and shortcomings of genetically engineering our crops. Health risks from GMO foods and glyphosate- based herbicides. MADGE Talks: Sydney on 24 March 2015 Pleasure to be here and thank you all for coming. I’d like to extend my own personal thanks to Madge and to the sponsors of this event because I know without their generous support we wouldn't all be here this evening. As Fran mentioned, my background is in basic molecular biology. I use genetic engineering methods as a routine — virtually [a] daily method in my research of gene organisation and control and development of human gene therapy applications. And it is from that background that I view also the developments of genetic engineering; the use of genetic engineering within an agricultural context. And I hope to illustrate to you this evening why I am very concerned about the way that genetic engineering, genetic �1 ‘GM produces combinations of genes that have never evolved to work together in a harmonious integrated manner.’ modification as has been used in agriculture — and why we do need to decide if we do need these crops at all, and that's highly questionable in the first place — then we need to go forward with these products extremely in a very cautious manner. So what I will do this evening: I will look at the sources of mechanisms of the health risks that are associated from GM foods and also their associated pesticides, focusing particularly on glyphosate-based herbicides. Obviously we only have a short period of time this evening. If you wish to follow up any of the points that I'll be raising this evening in greater detail please go onto the Internet… to the Earth Open Source website and download for yourself a free copy of the report that I co-authored, GMO myths and truths, which was released last summer [or at least my summer; your winter]. Why should we be concerned about GM foods? I'm sure we've all heard from industry, regulators, governments even, that actually GM foods are the most thoroughly tested foods ever produced in human �2 history and that they have been passed as safe and that we should consume them with no fear of harm. Is that true or not? Well, first of all I would like to consider genetic modification GM as a technology. The first thing we need to realise about GM is that it is a purely artificial technology for producing a new crop variety. The fact that it is artificial of course doesn't automatically make it unsafe. It is the consequences of the GM transformation process that gives us cause for concern. And by us I mean scientists like myself around the world. The key points to recognise about the GM transformation process is that, as summarised on this slide, it allows the transfer of genes between totally unrelated organisms — normally transfer of genetic material is between related organisms: strawberries with strawberries; potatoes with potatoes; or wheat with wheat. But with GM you can transfer genes into a crop from any organism that you like: bacteria, viruses, unrelated plants, animals and so forth. So it crosses species barriers; allows gene transfer across species barriers. And as a result it produces combinations of genes that have never evolved to work together in a harmonious integrated manner. Now this is a very, very important point so I’m just going to spend a few minutes on that. At the time when GM crops were first conceived and started to be developed in the early 1980s our concept or understanding of gene organisation and function was very, very rudimentary and genes were considered as isolated units of �3 information, and as a result they could be transferred between species with total predictability. I'm afraid that is simply not the case. We now know gene organisation in DNA to not to be random and that no gene works in isolation. Genes function as part of integrated wholes within a given organism, within a given context, and that therefore when you take a gene from one organism and randomly insert it into the DNA of a totally unrelated organism you’re placing a gene in an environment where it has not evolved to work in an integrated manner with the surrounding genes in that organism. As a result of that GM brings with it an inherent unpredictable component in terms of gene function. In addition to that the GM transformation process, as a whole, is highly mutagenic. What I mean by that is that it produces damage in the DNA throughout the genome, the totality of the DNA of the plant. So what we have is a situation where the combination of effects from the GM transformation process, the combinations of novel genes that normally would not come together, plus the general destructive effect, the mutagenic effects of the GM transformation process, combine to always, to a lesser or greater degree, disrupt the biochemistry of the protein, and biochemistry of the plant. And if you disturb that you run the risks of producing new toxins and new allergens and a disturbed altered nutritional value in the food. These are proven. There is evidence to show this disruptive effect. This is measured. This destructive effect of the GM transformation process is a measured phenomenon. And as a result, for me, this is why we need to thoroughly [and] generically evaluate GM foods. �4 Especially for chronic — both acute and especially chronic long-term toxicity effects. But they're highly regulated, are they not? So should we be worried? Unfortunately, yes. GM foods by international law have to be regulated. But regulation of GM foods around the world is very highly variable. In nations such as the United States they’ve essentially a totally deregulated product. Generally recognised they’re safe; or grass? [inaudible] is how they are perceived, and companies can release them with essentially no safety testing whatsoever, near enough. But in Europe we have a much stricter regulatory system. Here in Australia I would put you somewhere in between the two, USA and Europe. But regardless of which territory we're considering, for me, all regulatory evaluations of GM foods, all regulatory agencies, whatever they do, is totally inadequate. And it’s inadequate on many issues but the key ones for me are that they do not fundamentally place, they do not fundamentally question the GM transformation process within our advancing understanding of genetics. They never question the fact that when you move genes around — insert between species, randomly insert them — that this is not the way life has evolved to function. In other words they never fundamentally question the technology. Secondly, they only accept safety data when it's requested and submitted from the developer company. No independent safety evaluation of the GM food is conducted for regulatory purposes. Any �5 biochemical analysis of the GM food, comparing it to the non-GM equivalent, is very superficial. [It] doesn't go deeply into the proportions, disturbances in proteins and in new small-molecule nutritional components. And lastly, and this is most important, there is no requirement anywhere in the world by any regulatory agency to conduct long- term toxicity evaluation. And this is important again because GM has unpredictable outcomes. You don't know in advance what the consequences are of the GM transformation process; what that may bring. And because you don't know, the only way to evaluate safety is generically. You basically need to conduct a long-term feeding trial in animals and see what happens. There's no point in just doing a gross biochemical analysis and say, ‘Oh, the GM is roughly equivalent to the non-GM, and therefore it's safe’. I’m sorry [but] that’s nowhere near good enough. You need to conduct these long- term studies and that's just not going on anywhere in the world for regulatory purposes, at all. What could be the potential sources of toxicity from GM? We have, for me, three main sources. Firstly, the introduced — the foreign GM gene product. One of the GM gene products that’s in much of GM crops is this insecticidal protein called Bt toxin. Bt toxin is — the gene for Bt toxin that’s introduced into crops is derived from a common bacterium in the environment called Bacillus thuringiensis. And a certain subclass of these Bt toxins from these bacteria have potent insecticidal �6 properties. And these have been engineered into plants. But the way that these engineered Bt toxins are present in the crop is very different to how they exist in the native bacteria which farmers can spray on the crops as a natural insecticide. And with that comes new potential safety concerns. Secondly, we have of course the fact that 80% of all the GM crops grown commercially in the world have been done so to tolerate application of herbicides, particularly glyphosate-based herbicides, the most common of which is Roundup. What is the outcome of these high levels of exposure, high levels of consumption for farm animals and the consumer? And lastly there is of course the potential to produce novel toxins, as I’ll mention, from the fact that we alter the biochemistry of the plant caused by the mutagenic effects of the GM transformation process and these novel combinations of genes that it brings about. I would say that there is evidence of toxicity arising from all three of these processes, which I would very briefly like to review to you. So, controlled animal feeding studies show clear signs of toxicity linked with the consumption of GM crops. What we have seen in studies conducted not only by university-based people but even in some of the industry studies that have been conducted as part of their submissions for regulatory approval in Europe. And this is with crops expressing both the Bt toxin and the herbicide Roundup tolerant crops, such as soy and corn. What we've seen in these �7 animal feeding studies is multiple organ damage; multiple system damage such as liver and kidney damage; functional damage; immune system disturbances; allergic-type reactions; digestive system damage such as proliferation of the cells lining the gut and also other types of lesions. I don't expect you to read all this — actually I do expect you to read all this because I'm going to test you on it later on at the end of the talk. So what we're seeing from industry studies, for example, we’re seeing rats fed these two varieties. If we focus on the commercialised — by the way I'm only going to show you, summarise briefly for you studies on commercialised GM crops; in other words things that you and I may be eating now. There are many studies showing toxicity, toxic outcomes from non- commercialised GM crops, but the ones to concern us are the commercialised ones. If we focus on the Bt insecticide GM crops, corn in particular, industry studies on two varieties of Bt toxin show signs of liver and kidney functional damage after just 90 days of consumption of these products. Academic studies which have used rats, mice, pigs, ewes have shown multiple system and organ damage, ranging from liver and kidney disturbances, immune system disturbances in both mice and in pigs, intestinal damage in ewes and lambs, and this particular worrying study here at the bottom from Egyptian scientists showing that even after just 91 days of consumption there were multiple organ changes in weight, biochemistry, severe damage in structure and function including liver, kidney, testes and �8 intestines. And this is a variety of maize that's approved for commercial growing in Europe and imported in large quantities. What could be causing these signs of toxicity? This is when we come back to this list. Is it the Bt toxin or is it some other aspect of the product caused by the mutagenic effect of the GM transformation product? That is an unresolved question. What we do know is that there's something wrong with these GM crops. What I want to focus on in the rest of my presentation are the consequences of the higher exposures to herbicides in weed killers that are used in conjunction with the cultivation of the GM crops, especially the glyphosate-based formulation such as Roundup. Why? Because most of the GM crops are engineered to tolerate glyphosate application and this is the world's most used pesticide. And the vast majority of GM soy is genetically engineered to tolerate glyphosate and as a result, not surprisingly, you find worryingly high levels of glyphosate in GM soy. So if you're importing GM soy from North America here in Australia — I know you grow your own non-GM soy, very good, I would favour that if I were you — but if you're importing it then you can expect to find a worryingly high three milligrams per kilogram of glyphosate in the GM soy from North America. �9 From South America measurements have been done to show that some batches can have up to a hundred, almost a hundred milligrams per kilogram. Very worrying high concentration. And these are worrying amounts because what I hope to show you later on is that the doses, the safety levels of glyphosate are wrongly set too high by regulators. But maybe some of you use Roundup in your home. How many of us use Roundup in our gardens? See, I'm not gonna put my hand up. A few of us. No, no, don’t be embarrassed because the regulator says it's safe and maybe this is how you look [pointing to image on screen], you know, don't have to put on any special clothing, no masks, no gloves — just spray it away in the weeds in your garden because it's safe, the regulator says it's safe. But is it? Industry study. Let’s turn to the industry studies first of Roundup tolerant GM corn NK603. Ninety-day feeding studies in rats showed signs of liver and kidney damage, functional damage. Studies conducted by Manuela Malatesta in Italy with Roundup-tolerant GM soy. What she found was that in mice-fed GM soy there was a disturbance in liver, pancreas, testes and testes function. And when she fed the soy, basically for the lifetime of the mice, 24 months, there were more acute signs of ageing in the liver. The question is, is [it] the GM process or the Roundup residues in the feed that are causing these effects, or maybe a combination of �10