Iowa State University Students and Faculty Call GMO Banana Trials Into Question
When the world first got wind of a $900 stipend being offered to young scholars to partake in GMO banana trials to be tested on live, human, Iowa State University students, many were in an uproar. Most people were quite certain that the “informed consent document” that ISU lead researcher Wendy White gave to students did not disclose the health risks associated with eating GMOs of any kind.
Since then, the informed consent document was redacted and revised, but it is still being accused of exemplifying special interests. It is really nothing more than a bulleted list of biotech talking points, none truly addressing what these college students would really be subjecting themselves to.
The ‘new’ document still doesn’t mention that the GMO banana has never been approved as safe to eat by any regulatory agency anywhere in the world, and that there have been documented human health risks associated with GMOs. Neither does it state that there is no consensus on the safety of GMOs, since no long term risk assessments have ever been studied and published.
ISU’s ethical review boards new informed consent simply contains misleading citations from studies funded by the biotech industry and no impartial statements about the possible long-term health damage that GMOs pose to students who participate in the trials.
Fortunately, both faculty and staff alike are asking questions.
The university is heavily invested in biotechnology, for example. This calls into question their ability to conduct a GM ‘trial’ which will publish true results, should it be found that GM bananas alter human health in any adverse way.
By their own admission, more than twenty years and several million dollars are invested in biotech science. More than $13.8 million has been used for a biotechnology starter fund, and later another $30 million was raised (you can guess from where) to build a new molecular biology building. Who will be overseeing the GM banana trials to be sure that these investments are not clouding results?
Furthermore, Iowa happens to have planted more genetically engineered corn and soybeans than any other state recently. In part because of the GM agricultural trend, and Iowa’s land-grant university. Iowa State University can’t help but remain loyal to the industry that sustains much of its agricultural research funding.
Good questions from faculty and students should at least postpone the trials, but hopefully they will be eliminated altogether for lack of interest. Meanwhile, I’ll be eating some organic, 100% naturally-grown bananas and experiencing all of the benefits they have to offer.
I like to know what brand is it the GMO banana?
The only important issue here is as follows……..Bill Gates is involved in this and he is a EUGENACIST from hell. His father was as well.
Look at the results of his polio vaccine program in Africa. The outcomes are horrifying. The numbers of cases of paralysis that those poor kids suffered, AS A DIRECT RESULT Of the vaccine, are nothing short of criminal, IMHO. But, we all know that paralyzed kids won’t breed, correct?
If anyone trusts anything that GATES is involved in they are simply an ignorant fool or a poorly educated fool.
I’ll keep taking my chances and keep eating organic!
Terry & I have been eating Organic for the last 8 years. Trader Joe’s sells Ubiquinol, 60 gels, 100mg ea. You have to watch ingredients at Trader Joe’s. Carageenan, canola oil, guar gum and a new one Terry just discovered, confectioners glaze. Same as shelac for floors
I always buy organic bananas. But once 4 or 5 months ago, the bunch I bought had a strange taste. Perhaps it was one GMO banana?
Is this experiment surely to discover that eating foods rich in beta-crotene increases Vitamin A level in a human body? If that is the case, why are males excluded from participating?
This β-carotene enriched GM Banana experiment exclusively targets females of 18-40 years of age, the optimum childbearing age range, why don’t they call it – “Study of β-carotene enriched GM Banana effects on Female Fertility?”
http://www.isutransgenicbanana.com/study-participant-invitation/
Why target optimum child bearing female age group only?
Are they trying to study how β-carotene enriched GM Banana increases fertility or decreases it? In which case it becomes an Efficacy Study.
Or is it about finding out whether or not female fertility is harmed by those GMO bananas? In which case it becomes a Safety Study.
There is more that is not being told.
It is ironic that that this project is funded by the same people who feel that high fertility in Africa is a problem that they must solve! http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Family-Planning