A new peer-reviewed study released today by Dr. Judy Carman of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia shows that pigs were harmed by the consumption of animal feed containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

GMOs are crops that have been engineered in a lab to produce their own pesticides or to resist heavy applications of chemical pesticides like Roundup (produced by the Monsanto Company).

Pigs that ate the genetically modified feed in the study had a markedly higher instance of stomach inflammation than pigs on a non-GMO diet. Female pigs in the study had on average a 25 percent heavier uterus than non-GMO-fed females, an indicator of disease that requires further investigation.

According to Dr. Carman and her team, the research results were striking and statistically significant.

"Our findings are noteworthy for several reasons," said Dr. Carman. "First, we found these results in real on-farm conditions, not in a laboratory, but with the added benefit of strict scientific controls that are not normally present on farms."

"Second, we used pigs. Pigs with these health problems end up in our food supply... pigs also have a similar digestive system to people, so we need to investigate if people are also getting digestive problems from eating GM crops."

The researchers found these adverse effects when they fed the animals a mixture of crops containing three distinct genetically modified genes and the new proteins that these genes produce in food crops like corn and soy.

Dr. Carman was quick to point out that no food regulator in the world currently requires a safety assessment for the possible toxic effects of mixtures of genetically modified genes in the food supply. Regulators simply assume that they can't happen.

Our results provide clear evidence that regulators need to safety assess GM crops containing mixtures of GM genes, regardless of whether those genes occur in the one GM plant or in a mixture of GM plants eaten in the same meal.”

The new study lends scientific credibility to claims by farmers and veterinarians, who have for years reported reproductive and digestive problems in livestock fed on a diet containing GM soy and corn.

"For as long as GM crops have been in the feed supply, we have seen increasing digestive and reproductive problems in animals. Now it is scientifically documented." said Iowa-based farmer and crop and livestock advisor Howard Vlieger, one of the coordinators of the study.