(NaturalNews) A controversial research trial involving the testing of GMO bananas on humans is likely to proceed, despite public outcry and a petition with nearly 60,000 signatures from those who question its safety.
The “transgenic feeding study” is planned to take place at Iowa State University, under the sponsorship of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – an organization which has been heavily involved in promoting GM agriculture worldwide.
The study, which is scheduled to take place this year, will involve 12 ISU student participants who will be paid $900 each to consume three bananas – one of which will be genetically-altered.
Efforts to stop the study
A campaign opposing the study was launched in 2014 – when plans for the project were first announced – by activists concerned about the Gates Foundation’s GM agricultural activities in Africa, where the genetically-modified bananas are planned to eventually be introduced.
In December 2014, an open letter was sent to the Gates Foundation, the leaders of the proposed study, and the Human-Institutional Review Board at Iowa State.
From Iowa State Daily:
“This letter expressed concerns such as the general safety of genetically modified crops for humans, the relevance of testing on a population other than where the banana will end up, specifics of the study such as if fats will be given to the subjects and risks of maintaining diets that consume only one or two foods.
“The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa then reached out to ISU students looking for signatures for their letter.”
Since then, a joint effort between a coalition of Iowa State students and AGRA Watch – a group that opposes the Gates Foundation’s GM projects – has circulated a petition against the trial which has now gathered more than 57,000 signatures.
The petition was delivered on February 15, 2016 to Wendy Wintersteen, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, along with a prepared statement which read:
“ISU students are being asked to be the first to consume a product of unknown safety. The study is not being conducted in a transparent manner, and concerned ISU community members have not been able to receive answers about the research design, risks, nature of the informed consent given by the subjects and the generalizability of the study.”
Ignoring the opposition
When the coalition held a discussion in March, 2015 regarding transparency in research and other concerns related to the proposed trials, none of the invited university administrators showed up to participate.
This is a classic example of how the GM agriculture industry, backed by heavyweights such as the Gates Foundation, choose to ignore any public concerns about their Frankenfood schemes, instead barreling ahead full-throttle to push their poisonous agendas.
Despite growing opposition to GMOs, and the numerous failures on the part of the biotech industry to deliver on the promised benefits thereof, companies like Monsanto and globalists like Gates keep doggedly pursuing their dangerous pie-in-the-sky programs that almost no one supports – outside of those who profit from them, of course.
The GM bananas are ostensibly being developed so that people in Uganda can receive more vitamin A from one of their diet staples, but the real agenda behind these schemes has more to do with profits and monopolizing global food supplies.
It’s a sick scam designed to control populations while reaping obscene profits. The GM industry pretends to be interested in improving health in developing countries, but their methods involve using technologies that have been proven to be harmful to humans.
GMOs have been linked to cancer and other illnesses, and the herbicides used in GM cultivation are also carcinogenic – not to mention the fact that they kill other species such as bees and butterflies, thereby upsetting the natural balance of entire ecosystems.
GM agriculture is anything but beneficial to humans, animals and the environment; the industry only serves to generate profits and enslave nations.
It’s time to put a stop to GMOs, once and for all.
Sources:
Source Article from http://www.naturalnews.com/053176_GMOs_human_trials_frankenfoods.html
Views: 0