GMOs and Allergies (Part I)

Can GMO-based foods cause allergies in humans? Yes, indeed: they can and they have. But so do non-GMO foods.  People have died from eating non-GMO shellfish and from eating non-GMO nuts. And then there's Celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder caused by exposure to three peptides found in the gluten proteins found in most grains.

Then there are natural contaminants like aflatoxins. The little fungi that produce these potent poisons can colonize and contaminate grain before harvest or during storage and have been found in peanuts, corn, cotton seed, millet, peanuts, rice, sunflower seeds, wheat, and spices. And aflatoxins have been found in animals whose food has been contaminated.

Are GMO-based foods more dangerous than non-GMO foods. Non-GMO foods can kill you, and there's nothing more dangerous than fatal. So the right question isn't "are GMO foods dangerous" but "do GMO foods increase the danger of a bad outcome."

My investigation was triggered by the experiences of the daughter of local artist Robert Shetterly, reported through friends. Suffering for years from a variety of symptoms including burning face pain, rashes, joint pain, fatigue, nausea, and a constant head cold Caitlin Shetterly was cured, so the story went, after her problem was diagnosed as a severe allergy to GMO corn. She eliminated all corn and corn derivatives from her diet--which includes almost all processed foods, and sticking with natural and organic food, and after several months recovered completely. Take that! GMO corn.

When I heard the story I was skeptical of the diagnosis, not the cure. Paring her diet town to a small set of foods would avoid exposure to hundreds, if not thousands, of possibly allergenic proteins from her diet. Any of them, or some combination, might have caused her problems. GMO corn should be innocent until proven guilty.

Caitlin told her story in an article that appeared in Elle magazine in July 2014. It was an interesting first-person tale backed by supporting quotations from a number of well-credentialed experts. The article provoked strong support from people who are anti-GMO--just read the comments. It also provoked critiques from people who did not agree with her conclusions.

The best of the ones that I read appeared in the online journal Slate. The author, Jon Entine, interviewed the people who Shetterly cited in her article, to get more detail. In her article, Shetterly starts by quoting

...Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD, a professor at University of Cincinnati medical school and director of an affiliated center for eosinophilic disorders. “We’re in the midst of an allergy and autoimmune epidemic,” Rothenberg told me on the phone, “and the environment is the black box.” Mansmann’s GMO theory was “interesting,” he went on, before quickly adding that “no one in conventional medicine will have the data” to prove it.

Entine quotes Rothenberg saying:

That’s just not what I said,” ... “I’m embarrassed my name is associated with this story.” He also sent me an email reflecting on his conversations with Shetterly. “[T]he article was ridiculous. I told her and the fact finder that there is no substantial evidence to support allergies or eosinophilic disorders arising from GMO.”

She quotes Karl von Tiehl an assistant professor at the medical school as saying:

“you’re eating what somebody in some office has decided is good for you rather than what your grandma would have told you is good for you. There’s something scary there.”

von Tiehl's response, according to Entine

I want to begin by echoing Marc Rothenberg's upset over the tone of the article, which seems to imply that researchers at CCHMC's Allergy/Immunology Division are actively researching GMO foods or perhaps that there is something ‘scary’ or obviously wrong or concerning about GMO foods. … My voice was used inappropriately to imply that there is a scientifically substantiated link between GMO foods and eosinophilic disorders in humans, which there is not to my knowledge. I am upset that my quotations were used to lend credence to this idea. I am currently unaware of any quality medical research that establishes a valid link between genetic modifications of foods in the US food supply and adverse allergenic (or other health-related) outcomes in humans.” 

She quotes Richard Goodman, PhD, a UNL research professor and former monsanto employee, speaking about the database of known allergins.

[Goodman tells Shetterly that] ...no GMO proteins are on the list, but that’s for lack of “sufficient evidence” to put them there. He does add, however, that much of the existing data regarding the allergenic potential of GMO foods simply examines them for amino acid sequences similar to those in known allergens—like peanuts or milk—which limits the usefulness of the whole enterprise ... 

Here's Goodman's reply, according to Entine

She totally twisted what I said,” the scientist told me. It’s difficult to know what she means when she warns of “undiscovered” allergens, he added. “Proteins can cause reactions in just a few individuals or in some cases thousands or millions of people. The database,” he said, “lists every known protein that has been shown to cause an allergy and or even might be suspected of possibly causing a reaction.”

Entine, quoting Shetterly's article, says:

....she reports that Shaffer [Harwood Shaffer, a professor at the University of Tennessee’s Agricultural Policy Analysis Center] is scandalized that USDA does not require companies to release “results of trials that had negative outcomes,” leaving the reader with the impression that Shaffer believes, or that empirical evidence suggests, that dangerous findings are being suppressed.

I could not find the section in Shetterly's article, so I'm not sure if the rebuttal, below is valid. But for what it's worth, here it is:

“Oh, no, that’s not at all what I said or meant,”....“I made a point and she misused it to support her predetermined thesis,” Shaffer said. “She improperly used what I told her.”

Next, wikipedia and Scientific American

Refs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aflatoxin