Study: Children Exposed to GMO Soy Pesticides Suffer ‘Serious Genetic Damage’
But there is a silver lining
A 2015 study has shown that children exposed to pesticides used to grow GM soy suffer serious genetic damage. Does this mean that our children will suffer the same fate as those unfortunate enough to live near GM soy fields in Argentina?
Researchers from the National University of Río Cuarto, Cordoba
(UNRC) compared children who lived close to a GM-soy growing area in
Argentina to children who lived in another city in Cordoba that was not
adjacent to GM soy fields.
Genetic damage in the group of exposed children was 44% higher than in the unexposed children.
Children living less than 500m from crops routinely sprayed with
glyphosate, cypermethrin, and chlorpyrifos were seriously damaged.
The researchers found that of the exposed children, 40% had varying
persistent symptoms, such as repetitive sneezing, respiratory distress,
cough, bronchospasm, skin itching or stains, nose itching or bleeding,
lacrimation, and eye and ear burning or itching. None of the children
who had not been exposed described any persistent symptoms.
The level of genetic damage detected in this experiment is reversible,
so the authors suggested that the children should be followed up to
establish whether biological markers of cell damage continue to be
present.
