Mice Reject Genetically Engineered Food

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The shocking excerpt following is from a British journal : THE ECOLOGIST, vol. 32, #5, June 2002 page 33



"While the International scientific community spares no effort in branding Genetically Modified food as "substantially equivalent' to conventional food (essentially so as to prop up the ailing biotech industry), a 17-year- old Dutch undergraduate has created scientific history with some simple & disturbing experiments on mice."

by Devinder Sharma

"Hinze Hogendoorn (snip) conclusively demonstrated that not everything endorsed by Nobel laureates & other so-called authorities like the UK's Royal Society is scientifically correct. Hogendoorn may not find a place of honour in the pro-GM stuffed Royal Society, but he has surely put the august body to shame.

Following basic scientific conventions, H. conducted his experiments on mice. He picked up 30 female 6-week-old mice from a herpetology centre. These rodents were originally bred to feed snakes.

Then, like any other net-savvy teenager, he searched the web for information on how to take care of mice. Accordingly, he bought some rodent mix, some Kellogg's and Quaker cereals and some oatmeal that was specified to be 'GM-free'. H. also bought some GM maize and soya. These foodstuffs were to form the staple diet for the mice.

The mice were let loose in big cages with 2 piles of food--one GM and one non GM--stacked in 4 bowls. Unaware of received opinion on the virtues of GM 'functional foods', the mice delivered their own verdict. They completely emptied the bowls containing the non-GM food. The bowls with GM food remained untouched.

But H. was still not satisfied. He conducted a series of other tests to find out what would happen when the mice were force-fed with GM foods.

Significantly, but for unknown reasons, one of the mice died. The other GM-fed mice initially appeared heavier, but by the end of the experiment they had actually lost weight. A rival group of mice was fed a non-GM diet.

These mice ate less and gained more weight, and continued to gain weight.

Equally sorrying were the behavioural changes that the diet induced in the mice. The GM-fed mice 'seemed less active', more nervous & distressed'and were completely at a loss. 'Many,' Hogendoorn was quoted as saying, 'were running round and round the basket, scrabbling desperately in the sawdust, & even frantically jumping up the sides--something I'd never seen before.'

The Royal Society has so far refrained from commenting on H's experiments...(snip)....As a face-saving device, it has drawn attention to the potential risks GM foods pose for babies. The latter are particularly susceptible to changes in the nutritional make-up of food.

But the Royal Society report is full of contradictions. It states that consumption of genetically modified DNA has no effect on human health. Are babies not human?"

from article in THE ECOLOGIST, vol. 32, #5, June 2002 page 33