Food Fight: Truth About GMOs

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Misty L. Trepke

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Food fight: The Truth about GMOs

JoAnn Guest

Jan 12, 2004 14:27 PST

 

http://greenpeaceusa.org/media/factsheets/myth.htm

 

Right now a debate is raging in the United States about genetically

modified organisms (GMOs) in our food. The biotech industry claims

that GMOs will save the environment and solve the hunger crisis. But

Greenpeace considers GMOs a threat to the planet, and organizations

like Christian Aid and the Institute for Food and Development Policy

say GMOs are likely to increase world hunger. How can you make sense

of this tricky subject? Read on to find out the truth behind the

genetic engineering myths.

 

Genetically engineered corn.

 

MYTH #1: Genetic engineering is merely an extension of traditional

breeding.

 

REALITY:

 

Genetic engineering is a new technology that has been developed to

overcome the limitations of traditional breeding. Traditional

breeders have never been capable of crossing fish genes with

strawberries. But genetically engineered " fishberries " are already

in the field. With genetic engineering, these types of new organisms

can be created and released into the environment.1

 

Food and Drug Administration scientists stated that genetic

engineering is different from traditional breeding, and so are the

risks.2 Despite this warning, the FDA continues to assert that GMOs

are not different and don't require special regulations.

MYTH #2: GMOs can make foods better, more nutritious, longer-lasting

and better-tasting.

 

REALITY:

 

The reason for the 70 million acres of GMO crops grown in this

country today has nothing to do with nutrition, flavor or any other

consumer benefit. There is little benefit aside from the financial

gains reaped by the firms producing GMOs. Nearly all of the GMO

corn, soy, potatoes and cotton grown in the United States has been

genetically altered so that it can withstand more pesticides or

produce its own.

Spraying of genetically engineered soya.

MYTH #3: GMO crops eliminate pesticides and are necessary for

environmentally sustainable farming.

 

REALITY:

 

Farmers who grow GMO crops actually use more herbicide, not less.

For example, Monsanto created Roundup-Ready (RR) soy, corn and

cotton specifically so that farmers would continue to buy Roundup,

the company's best-selling chemical weed killer, which is sold with

RR seeds.3

 

Instead of reducing pesticide use, one study of more than 8,000

university-based field trials suggested that farmers who plant RR

soy use two to five times more herbicide than non-GMO farmers who

use integrated weed-control methods.

 

GMOs may be the greatest threat to sustainable agriculture on the

planet. Many organic farmers rely on a natural bacterial spray to

control certain crop pests. The advent of genetically modified,

insect-resistant crops is likely to lead to insects that are immune

to this natural pesticide. When this biological pesticide is

rendered ineffective, other farmers will turn to increasingly toxic

chemicals to deal with the " superbugs " created by GMOs. Meanwhile,

organic farmers will be out of options.

A field of " Roundup Ready " crops.

MYTH #4: The Government ensures that genetic engineering is safe for

the environment and human health.

 

REALITY:

 

Neither the FDA4, the Department of Agriculture (USDA)5, nor the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)6 has done any long-term

testing of GMOs in food or the environment, nor has any regulation

specific to bioengineered food been established. Biotech companies

are on the honor system. They have virtually no requirements to show

that this new technology is safe.

 

FDA scientists and doctors warned that GMO foods could have new and

different risks such as hidden allergens, increased plant-toxin

levels and the potential to hasten the spread of antibiotic-

resistant disease..

 

The USDA has reviewed more than 5,000 applications for biotech crop

field trials without denying a single one.

 

USDA officials claimed they would conduct long-term studies of GMO

crops, but have no plans to require any pre-market or pre-release

assessment. Studies conducted after our environment and food supply

have been contaminated will be too late.

MYTH #5: There is no scientific evidence that GMOs harm people or

the environment

 

REALITY:

 

There is no long-term study showing that GMOs are safe, yet the

biotech industry and government have allowed our environment and our

families to become test subjects in these experiments.

 

Doctors around the world have warned that GMO foods may cause

unexpected health consequences that may take years to develop.

 

Laboratory and field evidence shows that GMOs can harm beneficial

insects, damage soils and transfer GMO genes in the environment,

thereby contaminating neighboring crops and potentially creating

uncontrollable weeds.

Genetically engineered soy.

MYTH #6: GMOs are necessary to feed the developing worlds growing

population.

 

REALITY:

 

In 1998, African scientists at a United Nations conference strongly

objected to Monsanto's promotional GMO campaign that used photos of

starving African children under the headline " Let the Harvest

Begin. " The scientists, who represented many of the nations affected

by poverty and hunger, said gene technologies would undermine the

nations' capacities to feed themselves by destroying established

diversity, local knowledge and sustainable agricultural systems.7

 

Genetic engineering could actually lead to an increase in hunger and

starvation. Biotech companies eagerly pursue a genetic-engineering

technique named " terminator " technology that would render a crop's

seed sterile, making it impossible for farmers to save seed for

replanting.8 Half the world's farmers rely on saved seed to produce

food that 1.4 billion people rely on for daily nutrition.

 

1 Rissler, Jane and Mellon, Margaret. The Ecological Risks of

Engineered Crops (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996, 4-5.)

2 Discovery documents from the lawsuit Alliance for Bio-Integrity et

al v Shalala, May 1998. Center for Food Safety, 666 Pennsylvania

Ave, SE, Washingotn DC, 202-547-9359.

3 Benbrook, Charles. " Evidence of the Magnitude of the Roundup Ready

Soybean Yield Drag from University- Based Varietal Trials in 1998, "

Ag BioTech InfoNet Technical Paper Number 1, July 13, 1999.

http://www.biotech-info.net/herbicide-tolerance.html

4 Statement of James Maryanski, FDA Biotechnology Coordinator,

Before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry,

October 7, 1999.

5 Sally McCammon, USDA, " Regulating Products of Biotechnology, "

Economic Perspectives, US Department of State, vol 4, #4, October

1999.

6 " Genetic Genie: The Premature Commercial Release of Genetically

Engineered Bacteria, " Public Employees for Environmental

Responsibility, September, 1995. From PEER, 2001 S Street,

Washington DC 20009.

7 " Let Nature's Harvest Continue! " African Counter Statement to

Monsanto, at the 5th Extraordinary Session of the FAQ Commission on

Genetic Resources, June 12, 1998.

8 Peter Rosset, " Why Genetically Altered Food Won't Conquer Hunger, "

New York Times, September 1, 1999.

 

http://greenpeaceusa.org/media/factsheets/myth.htm