In light of the recent pushย by advocacy groupsย for GMO labeling,ย someย legislators and food producers have called for a corresponding increase in consumer education about GMOs.ย In response,ย GMO Answers, an initiative by the members of the biotech industry working to answerย questions about GMOs,ย posted an initiative,ย Top ten consumer questions about GMOs, answered.
Theย siteย surveyed consumers nationally to find outย theirย most pressing questions. GMO Answers plansย toย addressย one question per week,ย beginning with:ย Do GMOs cause cancer?
Theย answer to the most asked question isย โnoโ, according to Dr. Kevin Folta, chair and associate professor in horticultural sciences at University of Florida, Gainesville:
Cancer is a name applied to a spectrum of diseases where cells proliferate abnormally. There is no way that the subtle and well-understood alterations of a plantโs genes can cause cancer. There is nothing about the Btย proteinย (used in insect resistance, also in organic pest control), the EPSPS enzyme (which confers herbicide resistance simply by substituting for the native enzyme in the plant) or the process itself that would induce such cellular changes in human cells that would lead to cancer. It is just not plausible.
Cancer is a terrifying prospect, one of the most feared diseases. The American Cancer Society says that there are “many possible causes” for cancer and providesย comprehensive listsย of established and anticipated cancer-causing agents.ย GMOs are not on the lists, not even in the “Reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens” category.
Still, it is telling thatย some peopleย are most worried about cancer-causing GMOsย –a fear likely stoked byย anti-GMO campaigning andย the notoriousย 2012ย study of GMO corn byย French scientist Gilles-Eric Seralini.ย Seralini and his research teamย also publishedย photographs ofย rats with gigantic, scary tumors. Butย scientists worldwideย debunked theย researchย because the team used rats that were genetically predisposed to have cancer, cherry-picked theย dataย andย used sloppy methodology. Theย paper was retractedย last November.
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Yet that hasn’t stopped anti-GMO activist groups fromย continuing to promote theย discredited researchย asย โproofโย that GMOs cause cancer.ย For example,ย NaturalNews.com’sย list ofย Top 10 most unhealthy, cancer-causing foods – never eat these again!ย citesย GMOsย as the number one cancer-causing food withย Seraliniโs retracted study as the only evidence.
As theย GLP has documented,ย GMO safety has beenย widely establishedย by independent scientific organizations around the world, including the World Health Organization, the National Academy of Sciences and the European Food Safety Authority.ย The siteย Biofortifiedย providesย a searchable databaseย ofย more than 1100ย available peer-reviewed research on GMO risks withย itsย GENERA project.ย A team of Italian scientistsย collected more than 1700 studiesย on GMOsย overย theย last decade alone, none of which showed any cancer risks or significant health threats from GMOs. So to reinforce Dr. Folta’s answer, no, GMOs do not cause cancer.
Additional Readings:
- “Hyped GM maize study faces growing scrutiny,” Nature
- “The Seralini GMO study – Retraction and response to critics,” Science Based Medicine
