TAMPA BAY NEW TIMESan alternative, holistic magazine exploring Body, Mind and Spirit. |
May/June 2000Articles on the theme "Food For Thought"Think of These Things Feed the Mind -- Enthusiastically! Thought Pollution! Why Kids Kill Water For Your Thoughts Improving Brain Function Thinking About Thought The Right To Die? Brain Food Spiritual Tools of Thought A Diet For Mental Health? Other Feature ArticlesNatural Health Q & A 2000 & Beyond! What is... GE (Genetically Engineered) Food? Minerals from Mother Earth
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What is... GE Food?(Genetically Engineered - GE or Genetically Modified - GM or GMO)Laurie PowersA quiet experiment is going on with the world food supply. In the last five years, with very little media attention, giant biotech firms have been switching farmers worldwide over to the use of genetically engineered seeds. The plants grown from these altered seeds are incorporated into everyday products like baby formula, corn chips and your favorite fast-food French fries. Under current federal guidelines, no labeling is required. The ABCs of GE Genetic engineering of plants occurs through the transference of genetic material from one species to another. The artificial nature of the technology allows scientists to rearrange and modify the genetic material outside of the cell before it is transferred. Genetically modified plants have been altered at the molecular or cellular level by means that are not possible under natural conditions. Examples of genetically modified plants that are in wide production are potatoes and corn that are resistant to insects because they produce their own pesticide (Bt) in every cell of the plant, and soybeans and cotton that have been altered so that they can tolerate increased use of herbicides. According to Jane Kay of the San Francisco Examiner (7/11/99) in the United States, which represents three fourths of the world's agricultural acreage, altered corn accounted for 40 percent of the total crop planted in 1999. This year, 54% of the soybeans and 20% of all crops grown in the US are GMO. What are the risks? The risks are monumental. Hazards associated with genetically engineered organisms include the potential transfer of allergens, the creation of super-weeds through genetic outcrossing, the destruction of organic agriculture through cross pollination and the loss of effectiveness of the natural bacterial pesticide, Bt (bacillus thuringiensis). Insects are already showing signs of becoming tolerant to Bt modified plants. Bt is a soil bacteria that is used by organic farmers as a spray when crops get an insect infestation. The spray dissipates within a day or two after killing the insects. Bt engineered crops exude 10-20 times the amount of toxins that are produced by the Bt sprays used by organic farmers. A recent Cornell University study implicated Bt pollen from altered corn in the deaths of Monarch butterflies. There are religious and moral concerns also. Vegetarians would most likely like to know if the tomato that they are slicing into their salad contains flounder genes (making the tomato resistant to cold). The ramifications of this technology begin to sound like material for the X-Files. At various conferences and trade shows that I have attended in the natural food industry I have frequently heard the comment that "the cow is out of the barn." It's not like some of our previous technological errors - say DDT or thalidomide. We can stop prescribing thalidomide and ship our DDT to Third World counties (not a joke!), but genetic pollution cannot be recalled. According to Dutch food safety expert Dr. Harry Kuiper, "We have carried out tests in our laboratories on organic food and found traces of GM soya. It is everywhere." Once pollen has outcrossed into nature, there is no turning back, which brings us to how these foods are regulated. The fox guarding the hen house Dozens of environmental groups recently sued the FDA, who holds the responsibility for the safety of GE foods that are brought to market. On March 21st of this year, a coalition of more than 50 consumer, environmental, scientific, farm and health groups filed a legal petition with the FDA, demanding stringent pre-market safety testing regulations for GE foods. This legal action aims to replace the FDA's current voluntary and informal consultation guidelines on GE foods which allow the scientists of the company developing the biotech food to substantiate its safety. The coalition views the current FDA policy as wholly inadequate to protect human health and the environment. The FDA's current policy makes no distinction between GE foods and traditionally bred foods, and requires neither pre-market safety testing and monitoring nor labeling of GE foods. Recently, enlightened politicians have taken a stance on labeling. The Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act has been sponsored in Congress by Congressman Kucinich of Ohio and in the Senate by Senator Barbara Boxer of California. The House bill had 47 sponsors as of February 27th. For more information and sample letters to send to the President and to your Representative, visit www.thecampaign.org or call The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods at (425) 771-4049. The world wakes up In February of this year, USA Weekend polled its readers with this question: "Should it be legal to sell genetically modified fruits and vegetables without a special label?" 79% of the people who responded said no. The outcry in Europe and Asia has grown so loud that farmers in the US are worried about being able to export their crops. Europeans are much more alarmed about genetic engineering than their complacent American cousins, most likely because of their experience with Mad Cow disease. In Europe, foods that contain GE ingredients must be labeled and many of the large food chains have taken anti-GE positions. Even the British prime minister, Tony Blair, has recently had a dramatic change of heart about GE foods saying: "There's no doubt that there is potential for harm, both in terms of human safety and in the diversity of our environment, from GE food and crops." Fellow Brits and vocal anti-genetic engineering supporters, Paul McCartney and Prince Charles, must have had an influence. I leave you with this quote from Laura Ticchiati, executive director of Mothers for Natural Law: "Our love of progress and our vision of possibilities for life are cornerstones of our nation's greatness. But allowing the glamour of a new discovery to overshadow sound judgment, giving ourselves permission to flood our fields with experimental organisms, which once released can never be recalled, is not only an extremely foolish misuse of science, it's irresponsible. And to conscript the American people into this experiment, without their knowledge or consent - to put these foods on the shelves of our grocery stores without labels - is not only un-American, it's unconscionable." Laurie Powers is executive director of Nature's Food Patch
in Clearwater FL, and is also on the natural foods committee of the NNFA
(National Nutritional Food Assoc.) (727) 443-6703. Copyright (c) 2000 Altnewtimes,
Inc. All rights reserved. |