(Reuters) — Pigs fed a diet of only genetically modified grain showed markedly higher stomach inflammation than pigs that dined on conventional feed, according to a new study.
The study adds to an intensifying public debate over the impact of GM crops, which are widely used by farmers around the world.
It was published in the June issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Organic Systems by Australian researchers who worked with two veterinarians and a farmer in Iowa to study the U.S. pigs.
Lead researcher Judy Carman is an epidemiologist and biochemist and director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research in Adelaide, Australia.
Read Also
New Quebec ag minister named in shuffle
Farmers in Quebec get a new representative at the provincial cabinet table as Premier Francois Legault names Donald Martel the new minister of agriculture, replacing Andre Lamontagne.
The study was conducted over 22.7 weeks using 168 newly weaned pigs in a commercial U.S. piggery.
One group of 84 ate a diet that incorporated GM soybeans and corn, and the other group of 84 pigs ate an equivalent non-GM diet.
The corn and soy feed was obtained from commercial suppliers, and the pigs were reared under identical housing and feeding conditions. The pigs were then slaughtered roughly five months later and autopsied by veterinarians who were not informed which pigs were fed the GM diet and which were from the control group.
Researchers said they saw no differences in feed intake, weight gain, mortality, and routine blood biochemistry measurements between pigs fed the GM and non-GM diets.
However, pigs that ate the GM diet had a higher rate of severe stomach inflammation: 32 percent of GM-fed pigs compared to 12 percent of non GM-fed pigs. The inflammation was worse in GM-fed males compared to non-GM fed males by a factor of four, and GM-fed females compared to non GM-fed females by a factor of 2.2. As well, GM-fed pigs had uteri that were 25 percent heavier than non-GM fed pigs.
The researchers said more long-term animal feeding studies need to be done.
Critics have argued for years that the DNA changes made to GM plants engineer novel proteins that can be causing the digestive problems in animals and possibly in humans.
The companies that develop these GM crops, using DNA from other bacteria and species, assert they have been more than proven safe over their use since 1996.
CropLife International, a global federation representing the plant science industry, said more than 150 scientific studies have been done on animals fed GM crops, and no scientific evidence of any detrimental impact has been found.
