Discovery of Bt insecticide in human blood proves GMO toxin a threat to human health study finds

A new study out of the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, recently found Bt toxin, a component of certain genetically-modified (GM) crops, in human blood samples for the first time. Set to be published in the peer-reviewed journal Reproductive Toxicology the new study shreds the false notion that Bt is broken down by the digestive system, and instead shows that the toxin definitively persists in the bloodstream.

Industry mouthpieces have long alleged that Bt toxin, which is derived from a soil bacterium known as Bacillus thuringiensis, is harmless to humans. The built-in pesticide has been integrated into certain GM crops to ward off pests. Bt corn, for instance, has actually been designed to produce the toxin directly inside the kernals, which are later eaten by both livestock and humans.

In the recent study, researchers Aziz Aris and Samuel LeBlanc evaluated 30 pregnant women who had come to the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke (CHUS) in Quebec, Canada, for a tubectomy. Upon taking blood samples, researchers detected the Bt Cry1Ab toxin in a shocking 93 percent of maternal and 80 percent of fetal blood samples. And 69 percent of non-pregnant women tested positive for the toxin in their blood. None of them had worked or lived with a spouse working in contact with pesticides.

The fact that the Bt toxin was detected even in unborn babies demonstrates that the chemical is easily passed from mother to child, and it persists longer than the biotechnology industry claims it does. This toxin is harmful to pests and humans.