Ready Roundup corn A case study Presentation by

® Ready Roundup corn: A case study Presentation by: Harlan Svoboda 25 November 2014 PBIO 5500

Roundup Ready® corn Genetically modified to be resistant to Roundup® herbicide Active ingredient: glyphosate Both developed by Monsanto Photo: pixgood. com Why? Widely used Photo: sunprairiehybrids. com

How is it made? 1) Select Roundup-resistant gene (mepsps) via B. thuringiensis 2) Transfect E. coli a. b. p. DPG 434 plasmid Not. I R. E. site 3) Isolate mepsps gene 4) Incorporate into Zea mays a. Microparticle bombardment Photo: Monsanto, Sept. 2002

2 -year study 200 Sprague-Dawley rats 3 treatment groups Roundup Ready (GMO) Roundup only (R) GMO + R No hypotheses Large amounts of unpublished data Photo: onpasture. com

Key Results 1. All treated groups died 2 -3 times more than controls, and more rapidly 2. Sex hormonal balance was modified 3. Pituitary glands were the second most disabled organ 4. Liver congestions and necrosis were 2. 5 -5. 5 times higher

Key Results 5. Females produced large mammary tumors more often Source: Séralini et al. (2012)

Key Results 6. Kidney nephropathies were also generally 1. 3 -2. 3 greater 7. 76% of the altered parameters were kidney related Source: Séralini et al. (2012)

Conclusions Roundup Ready corn AND Roundup herbicide (glyphosate) are toxic to the rats Implications for human toxicity Photo: hateanddanger. wordpress. com

Critical of “the manner in which the experiments were planned, implemented, analyzed, interpreted and communicated. ” Just glyphosate, or whole formulation contamination? Photo: ecowatch. com

Arjó et al. Criticisms Sprague-Dawley rats prone to tumors Implausibility of inserted gene to produce a de novo toxin Cells vs. organism Experimental sample size Photo: collective-evolution. com

Arjó et al. Criticisms RR corn fed to livestock No evidence of toxicity Statistical significance Kaplan-Meier stats. Requested a retraction

What do you think?