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Why We Should Care About Genetically Engineered Foods
Food, Farms and Genetic Engineering
Mothers & Others for a Livable PlanetTuesday, June 26, 2007
Genetic engineering has entered our lives with quiet but forceful determination on the part of companies and the government. Without adequate testing, labeling, careful legislative oversight or public debate, consumers are expected to accept this technology and its promised benefits without a full discussion of its risks.
There are four main reasons why we should demand adequate safety tests and labeling of GE foods:
Human Health and Food Safety Concerns
Allergenicity
Genetic engineering may cause the most significant changes to farming in our lifetime. It has the potential to permanently change the delicate balance of our natural ecological systems. Many scientists warn that the possible risks to human health have not been fully tested.
Food allergens can be transmitted by bioengineering, a fact discovered in 1996 when University of Nebraska scientists found that GE soybeans, modified with a gene found in Brazil nuts, caused an allergic reaction in people allergic to Brazil nuts. Bioengineered foods containing common food allergens are required to say so on labels. Less common food allergens do not have to be tested for or labeled. There is also concern that proteins added from nonfood sources may become new food allergens. Clearly, labeling of GE foods would help us make safer choices in the marketplace.
Antibiotic Resistance
Many GE foods include some identifying "marker" genes that carry resistance to ampicillin and other antibiotics. Some scientists worry that these antibiotic-resistant genes may escape into the environment and pass on resistance to disease-causing bacteria. Other studies have found that high consumption of foods containing an antibiotic-resistance marker could partially inactivate a low, oral dose of antibiotic in humans.
Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF-1) in Milk
Bioengineered recombinant bovine growth hormone, or rBGH, stimulates increased milk production in dairy cows. A human health concern is raised by the fact that milk from cows injected with rBGH contains 25 percent to 74 percent more insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) than milk from untreated cows. IGF-1 has been linked to increased risk of breast and prostate cancer. In addition, treated cows suffer higher rates of udder infection, resulting in greater use of antibiotics, contributing to the growing public health threat of antibiotic resistance. The good news for consumers is that the list of rBGH-free dairy grows all the time. Find what’s available in your area.
Environmental Risks
"Gene drift" of bioengineered pollen may give destructive weeds a boost. Most current agricultural biotechnology centers on the creation of herbicide-tolerant, pest-resistant and virus-resistant plants. When pollen from these plants drifts on the wind, it can pass on such traits to weedy relatives, potentially creating new types of superweeds. Already, GE canola has passed on herbicide resistance to weedy relatives in tests.
Stronger insect pests may result as insects develop resistance to genetically engineered, pesticide-producing plants.
Increased use of herbicides can accompany such GE crops as Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Soy, which withstands doses of the herbicide Roundup that would damage an unmodified plant. Farmers can use more herbicides without fear of damaging their crops, but this can harm neighboring crops and wild plants, farmworker health, soil fertility, water quality and beneficial insects.
Harm to Beneficial Insects
Without the beneficial insects that pollinate plants and feed on pests, we’d have less abundant and varied food choices, and greater use of pesticides. Tests show that GE crops can harm these creatures. In a Cornell University study released in 1999, nearly half the monarch butterfly caterpillars fed milkweed plants dusted with pollen from corn genetically engineered with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) died, while all of those exposed to normal corn pollen survived. An Iowa State University report released in August 2000 confirmed the finding that pollen from Bt corn could be deadly to monarch butterfly caterpillars. When beneficial lacewings ate corn borers raised on Bt corn, their mortality rate more than doubled. Ladybugs fed aphids raised on Bt potatoes had shorter lifespans.
Poisoning the soil
Bt toxin is also exuded from corn plant roots into the soil, where it can remain indefinitely, New York University scientists reported in 1999. This could harm the microorganisms that keep soil fertile. Without fertile soil, we increasingly rely on artificial fertilizers that pollute our water and air.
Impacts on Farmers Worldwide Many farmers and scientists worry about the possible long-term impacts of genetic engineering on our soil fertility, beneficial insects, seed diversity and family farms.
Seed diversity and ethical considerations
Concern has arisen over the potential loss of a wide variety of food crops, as farmers switch to a handful of genetically engineered and patented crops. Already, finding non-genetically engineered seeds is becoming difficult. The patenting of GE crops by corporations restrains farmers’ traditional practice of saving seeds to plant the next year, as would the "Terminator," which makes plants sterilize their offspring. In addition, giant agricultural companies are taking and patenting the genes of plants native to other countries, raising serious ethical issues.
"Gene drift" from GE crops can contaminate organic crops, causing farmers to lose their certification and market outlets, and potentially exposing them to lawsuits.
Insect resistance to pesticides may be accelerated by GE crops. For example, Bt has been used as a natural pesticide which only becomes active in the gut of the target pest. But Bt crops continually secrete an already-active form of the toxin, increasing pests’ exposure and hastening the development of resistance. This would mean the loss of one of the only weapons against pest damage that organic farmers have.
Most Common Types of GE Crops
To date, most genetically engineered crops have had genes introduced to resist herbicides or insects. In 2000, this included 54% the American soybean crop and one quarter of our corn.
Bt Crops (corn, cotton, potatoes) contain a gene that makes the plant produce its own insect-killing toxin.
Herbicide-Tolerant Crops (Roundup Ready soy, corn, cotton and sugar beets; bromoxynil-resistant cotton) are genetically engineered to resist herbicides that would otherwise damage the plants.
Ethical & Moral Issues (this link did not go to the appropriate spot and I could not find what it might be on-line)
Image Courtesy of Spisharam.
