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A Comparison of the Effects of Three Gm Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health

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A Comparison of the Effects of Three Gm Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health
A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health

Bs Biology 1-1
Dr. Arsenio

Abstract
We present for the first time a comparative analysis of blood and organ system data from trials with rats fed three main commercialized genetically modified (GM) maize (NK 603, MON 810, MON 863), which are present in food and feed in the world. NK 603 has been modified to be tolerant to the broad spectrum herbicide Roundup and thus contains residues of this formulation. MON 810 and MON 863 are engineered to synthesize two different Bt toxins used as insecticides. Approximately 60 different biochemical parameters were classified per organ and measured in serum and urine after 5 and 14 weeks of feeding. GM maize-fed rats were compared first to their respective isogenic or parental non-GM equivalent control groups. This was followed by comparison to six reference groups, which had consumed various other non-GM maize varieties. We applied nonparametric methods, including multiple pairwise comparisons with a False Discovery Rate approach. Principal Component Analysis allowed the investigation of scattering of different factors (sex, weeks of feeding, diet, dose and group). Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded.

Introduction
Background of the study
There is a world-wide debate concerning the safety and regulatory approval process of genetically modified (GM) crops and foods .In order to



Bibliography: 1. Konig A, Cockburn A, Crevel RWR. et al. Assessment of the safety of foods derived from genetically modified (GM) crops. Food Chem Toxicol. 2004;42:1047-88 2 3. Cohen J. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publisher. 1988 4 5. Séralini GE, Cellier D, Spiroux de Vendômois J. New analysis of a rat feeding study with a genetically modified maize reveals signs of hepatorenal toxicity. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2007;52:596-602 6 7. Crawley MJ. Statistics an introduction using R. London, UK: Wiley. 2005 8 9. Shaffer JP. Multiple hypothesis testing. Annu Rev Psychol. 1995;46:561-84 10 11. Benjamini Y, Hochberg Y. Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. JRSSB. 1995;57:289-300 12

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