Tales Of Toxic Tampons, Take Two

Several years ago the threats to women's health from tampons that had been bleached with chlorine and had residues of dioxins were big news in the pages of this newsletter and in women's magazines worldwide.

The dioxins, potent endocrine disruptors, had been linked to a host of women's health problems and many women switched to chlorine-free internal products.

Today, women face another threat based on information from the archives of the United Kingdom's Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP). This U.K. government agency makes recommendations on applications for commercial approval of "novel" foods and animal feed.

Recently published this year by the U.K. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, was a strongly worded warning against the approval of Monsanto's transgenic cottonseed. The statement included information that the genetically engineered cotton can make gonorrhea untreatable.

The problem is related to the "aad" gene, which confers resistance to the antibiotics streptomycin and spectinomycin and is present in both Bollgard (insect protected) and Roundup Ready (herbicide tolerant) genetically engineered cottons.

The bacterium responsible for gonorrhea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, could acquire the "aad" gene from the transgenic plant materials during infection of the mouth, small and large intestine, the respiratory tract, and the genital area. N. gonorrhoeae can also acquire the gene indirectly from other bacteria in the internal and external environments of animals and human beings which can take up the gene from the transgenic plant materials.

Streptomycin is used as a second line drug treatment in tuberculosis, but its principal use is in the treatment of gonorrhea. It has become the drug of choice for treating strains of N. gonorrhoeae already resistant to penicillin and for third generation cephalosporins, especially during pregnancy.

Cotton is made into products that are used in relation
to extremely sensitive tissues, including women's sanitary napkins, tampons, baby diapers and wound dressings. Dr. Elizabeth Bravo, a biologist from Accion Ecologica, Ecuador, states: "The health impacts are enormous."

I'll Pass on the Sauteed Cotton, Thanks!

Most of us never think of cotton as a food plant, and in the decades since the banning of DDT, cotton has been exempt from such bans for just that reason. Cotton continues to be one of the most heavily sprayed field crops in the world, utilizing 10% of the pesticides worldwide and 25% of the pesticides in the U.S.

The reality is, only 40% of the plant is used in cotton fiber, making the other 60% for seed oil and other byproducts, the main routes for cotton's entry into the food supply.

Mothers and Others for a Livable Planet, in their Green Guide, state that "in the U.S. alone, over half a million tons of cottonseed oil are used annually as an ingredient in processed foods."

After the oil is extracted, the seed cake is fed to animals on a routine basis. These uses provide a perfect avenue for exposures to high levels of chemical residues and the transfer of resistance to antibiotics from the genetically engineered cottons.

The fact that important information and advice from U.K. scientists was concealed in U.K. archives for over a year before being published is unconscionable. It allowed for the planting of millions of acres (or hectares) of transgenic cottons in the U.S., China, and Argentina.

Genetic engineering companies continue to push for permission to plant these genetically engineered materials in Bolivia and other South and Central American countries, India and Thailand. Illegal planting of nearly 500 hectares have been found in Indonesia.

Mae-Wan Ho, a geneticist and biophysicist from the Institute of Science in Society (U.K.) says, "This information could have, and should have, prevented millions of hectares of transgenic cotton from being planted." Dr. Ho and Dr. Bravo are calling for all transgenic cotton crops to be destroyed and no more planted.

People should avoid using transgenic cotton products, especially in tampons, diapers, wound dressings, and transgenic cottonseed should be banned in food or feed. Consumers should purchase certified organiccotton products whenever possible, and carefully read labels of processed foods to avoid cottonseed oil.

Calls to the USDA, the EPA and the FDA on this issue are recommended; especially calling for the immediate cessation of the use of cottonseed in food and animal feed products as well as a ban on the commercialization and planting of transgenic cottons.