I have written about the Monsanto corporation on numerous occasions, including A Brief History of Monsanto, and Monsanto v. The State of Illusion.
On Friday, it was reported that Monsanto will halt promotion of genetically modified crops in Europe. The decision followed a world-wide protest of Monsanto and GMOs on May 25. The company stopped lobbying for cultivation of the genetically modified crops and will no longer seek approvals for new plants in most European nations. Complaints of protesters included the likelihood of contaminating effects cross pollination of GMOs with organic crops, and a lack of long-term testing on the effects of consuming GMOs.
One Iowa farmer, Jerry Rosman, also questions the safety of human consumption of genetically modified foods. He went bankrupt after GM corn caused 80% of his pigs to experience “psuedo-pregnancies.” The pigs would display all the physical symptoms of pregnancy, but would never produce piglets. Instead they birthed what Rosman described as “bags of water.”
At least two studies with GM corn strains, currently used globally in food and feed, have concluded that the corn adversely affected lab rats.
How much do we really know about the impact of GMOs?