Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Another autism cause theory... GM corn

A recent Permaculture Institute article about genetically modified (GM) food toxins persisting into the human bloodstream makes a persuasive case for further research in relation to autism.

The article, found here, spells out a possible and plausible means by which ongoing gut impairment could be connected to GM foods.

Apparently the toxin 'Bt' (Bacillus thuringiensis), which is produced by GM corn as a pesticide, breaks down the stomach lining of pests and kills them. However according to the article, scientists have recently found that the Bt toxin also finds its way into human and foetal blood after ingestion of the corn. Since original claims about GM corn stated that the toxin can't possibly get past the mammalian digestive system, clearly something odd is going on.

Now the article spells out a possible cause. The author states that in an earlier study GM 'Roundup ready' genes were found functioning inside human gut bacteria, having transferred across from the food. This raises the question whether Bt toxin-producing genes may also have become functional within human guts: that is, the genes for producing Bt toxins may have transferred from the corn to human gut bacteria. In that case it's possible that Bt toxins being produced in an ongoing fashion in the gut are causing the erosion we see in autism and various other conditions.

GM foods have been in the human food chain (according to the article) since 1996. In Australia, we're taught that most of our food is grown without genetic modification, but if you dig deeper you can easily find out that we've been eating GM substances in processed foods for years.

The neurological damage in autism, as I've argued before, has almost certainly got a lot to do with heavy metals and possibly other toxic substances like pesticides as well. However prior to that has always been the question of gut lining damage allowing those toxins to pass the gut barrier. Here for the first time is a plausible rationale. It's not pleasant reading because it suggests that the toxins depleting the gut lining will keep on being made even in the absence of a GM food.

I quote from the article below:

'If the “living pesticide factory” hypothesis is correct, we might speculate even further. Bt-toxin breaks open the stomach of insects. Could it similarly be damaging the integrity of our digestive tracts? The biotech companies insist that Bt-toxin doesn’t bind or interact with the intestinal walls of mammals, and therefore humans. But here too they ignore peer-reviewed published evidence showing that Bt-toxin does bind with mouse small intestines and with intestinal tissue from rhesus monkeys. [...]

'If Bt-toxins were causing leaky gut syndrome in newborns, the passage of undigested foods and toxins into the blood from the intestines could be devastating. Scientists speculate that it may lead to autoimmune diseases and food allergies. Furthermore, since the blood-brain barrier is not developed in newborns, toxins may enter the brain causing serious cognitive problems. Some healthcare practitioners and scientists are convinced that this is the apparent mechanism for autism.'

3 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for alerting us to this. This is truly horrible.

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  2. The autism has risen enormously since GMO introduction but was around a long time before GMO technology too.

    How do we differentiate those autism cases which may be GMO caused from those which cannot be related?

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