FARGO – A retired Purdue University professor and an Iowa crop consultant spoke of the dangers of genetically engineered foods on Tuesday at a well-attended event held by the Northern Plains Sustainable Ag Society.

Professor Don Huber said that genetically modified organisms, and a herbicide to which they are typically resistant, pose health concerns for the animals, including humans, which consume them.

The crop consultant, Howard Vlieger, said he conducted a study that showed that pigs fed GMO food were more likely to have severe stomach inflammation. He showed pictures of pig stomachs bright red from inflammation and ulcers, problems that Vlieger said were the result of eating genetically modified foods.

Both speakers said that it was difficult to conduct scientific research on GMOs because companies that manufacture them insist on restrictive contracts with universities.

Huber said GMOs were a failed experiment that failed to live up to its promises, which include bigger yields.

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"Genetic engineering has been touted as the solution, essentially, to all the world's problems," he said. But, he argued, "farming isn't a matter of using a bunch of silver bullets."

Huber said the right way to farm is by "managing an ecology" in a natural, sustainable fashion.

He focused much of his talk on the herbicide glyphosate, which is an ingredient in Roundup and is applied to GMO crops.

The herbicide weakens the immune system of targeted plants and kills them, he said. But he argued that it has much worse impacts.

It has contributed to the collapse of bee populations and is not properly regulated, Huber said. Instead, he said, it is "indiscriminately applied to our roadways, our crops, forests, home gardens and everything else."

He suggested that a rise in the prevalence of diseases is correlated with the increased use of GMOs and glyphosate.

Questions from the packed audience, in an events room at the Fargo Holiday Inn, ranged from sympathetic to skeptic.

One person called out Vlieger for making a link between autism and GMOs. Another audience member suggested that people should not jump to conclusions about the various tools farmers use.

One audience member asked how to rid his bodies of glyphosate.

Huber did say one positive thing about GMOs, albeit jokingly: Pests such as mice and raccoons will ignore them.

As evidence, he showed a photo of two ears of corn-one GMO and one non-GMO-that had been left outside for nine months as an experiment. Huber noted that the non-GMO variety was completely eaten while the GMO variety appeared virtually untouched.