The BAD Science of Genetically Engineered Food Part 3
By Adrian Picot
See also…
This is the final article of three that I felt compelled to write so that the claim that opponents to GE farming were
unscientific was adequately refuted. I feel that I have completed this duty.
I believe that the main points of the GE issue are ignorant and arrogant tampering with a mechanism that has taken many
millions of years to reach stability, and, the increasing trend towards control of food production and breeding by a
evangelical scientific movement and international agro-business. It is only recently that food production has moved away
from family enterprise into large trans-national corporations and the change has not been beneficial for farmers or food
safety and diversity. To conclude, here are some other examples of the bad science of GE.
GE Products Have A History Of Toxic Poisoning.
GE products clearly have the potential to be toxic and a threat to human health. In 1989, a genetically engineered brand
of L-tryptophan, a common dietary supplement, killed 37 Americans. More than 5,000 others were permanently disabled or
afflicted with a potentially fatal and painful blood disorder, eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (EMS), before it was
recalled by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The manufacturer, Showa Denko, Japan's third largest chemical
company, had for the first time in 1988-89 used GE bacteria to produce the over-the-counter supplement. It is believed
that the bacteria somehow became contaminated during the recombinant DNA process. Showa Denko has paid out over $2
billion in damages to EMS victims.
In 1999, front-page stories in the British press revealed Rowett Institute scientist Dr. Arpad Pusztai's explosive
research findings that GE potatoes are poisonous to mammals. These potatoes were spliced with DNA from the snowdrop
plant and a commonly used viral promoter, the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMv). GE snowdrop potatoes were found to be
significantly different in chemical composition from regular potatoes, and when fed to lab rats, damaged their vital
organs and immune systems. The damage to the rats' stomach linings apparently was a severe viral infection caused by the
CaMv viral promoter apparently giving the rats a severe viral infection. Most alarming of all, the CaMv viral promoter
is spliced into nearly all GE foods and crops.
Dr. Pusztai's path breaking research work unfortunately remains incomplete. Government funding was cut off and he was
fired after he spoke to the media. More and more scientists around the world are warning that genetic manipulation can
increase the levels of natural plant toxins or allergens in foods (or create entirely new toxins) in unexpected ways by
switching on genes that produce poisons. Since regulatory agencies do not currently require the kind of thorough
chemical and feeding tests that Dr. Pusztai was conducting, consumers have now become involuntary guinea pigs in a vast
genetic experiment. Dr. Pusztai warns, "Think of William Tell shooting an arrow at a target. Now put a blind-fold on the
man doing the shooting and that's the reality of the genetic engineer doing a gene insertion".
GE Produced Hormones Increase Cancer Risks
In 1994, the FDA approved the sale of Monsanto's controversial rBGH. This GE hormone is injected into dairy cows to
force them to produce more milk. Scientists have warned that significantly higher levels (400-500% or more) of a potent
chemical hormone, Insulin-Like Growth Factor (IGF-1), in the milk and dairy products of rBGH injected cows, could pose
serious hazards such as human breast, prostate, and colon cancer. A number of studies have shown that humans with
elevated levels of IGF-1 in their bodies are much more likely to get cancer. The US Congressional watchdog agency, the
GAO, told the FDA not to approve rBGH. They argued that injecting the cows with rBGH caused higher rates of udder
infections requiring increased antibiotic treatment. The increased use of antibiotics poses an unacceptable risk for
public health. In 1998, Monsanto/FDA documents that had previously been withheld, were released by government scientists
in Canada showing damage to laboratory rats fed dosages of rBGH. Significant infiltration of rBGH into the prostate of
the rats as well as thyroid cysts indicated potential cancer hazards from the drug. Subsequently, the government of
Canada banned rBGH in early 1999. The European Union (EU) has had a ban in place since 1994. Although rBGH continues to
be injected into 10% of all US dairy cows, no other industrialized country has legalized its use. The GATT Codex
Alimentarius, a United Nations food standards body, has refused to certify that rBGH is safe.
GE Foods May Transfer Allergies From One Species To Another
In 1996, a major GE food disaster was narrowly averted when Nebraska researchers learned that a Brazil nut gene spliced
into soybeans could induce potentially fatal allergies in people sensitive to Brazil nuts. Animal tests of these Brazil
nut-spliced soybeans had turned up negative. People with food allergies (which currently afflicts 8% of all American
children), whose symptoms can range from mild unpleasantness to sudden death, may likely be harmed by exposure to
foreign proteins spliced into common food products. Since humans have never before eaten most of the foreign proteins
now being gene-spliced into foods, stringent pre-market safety-testing (including long-term animal feeding and volunteer
human feeding studies) is necessary in order to prevent a future public health disaster.
Mandatory labelling is also necessary so that those suffering from food allergies can avoid hazardous GE foods and so
that public health officials can trace allergens back to their source when GE-induced food allergies break out. In
autumn 2001, public interest groups, including Friends of the Earth and the Organic Consumers Association, revealed that
lab tests indicated that an illegal and likely allergenic variety of GE, Bt-spliced corn called StarLink, had been
detected in Kraft Taco Bell shells, as well as many other brand name products. The StarLink controversy generated
massive media coverage and resulted in the recall of hundreds of millions of dollars of food products and seeds.
GE Foods Have Been Found To Damage To Quality And Nutrition
A 1999 study by Dr. Marc Lappe published in the Journal of Medicinal Food found that concentrations of beneficial
phytoestrogen compounds thought to protect against heart disease and cancer were lower in GE soybeans than in
traditional strains. These and other studies, including Dr. Pusztai's, indicate that GE food will likely result in foods
lower in quality and nutrition. For example, the milk from cows injected with rBGH contains higher levels of pus,
bacteria, and fat.
The Use Of Antibiotic Resistance Genes In GE Foods May Breed New Disease-Causing Bacteria.
When gene engineers splice a foreign gene into a plant or microbe, they often link it to another gene, called an
antibiotic resistance marker gene (ARM), that helps determine if the first gene was successfully spliced into the host
organism. Some researchers warn that these arm genes might unexpectedly recombine with disease-causing bacteria or
microbes in the environment or in the guts of animals or people who eat GE food. These new combinations may be
contributing to the growing public health danger of antibiotic resistance of infections that cannot be cured with
traditional antibiotics, for example new strains of salmonella, e-coli, campylobacter, and enterococci. German
researchers have found antibiotic resistant bacteria in the guts of bees feeding on gene-altered rapeseed (canola)
plants. EU authorities are currently considering a ban on all GE foods containing antibiotic resistant marker genes.
GE Food Does Not Decrease Pesticide Residues
Contrary to biotech industry propaganda, recent studies have found that US farmers growing GE crops are using just as
many toxic pesticides and herbicides as conventional farmers and in some cases are using more. Crops genetically
engineered to be herbicide-resistant account for almost 80% of all GE crops planted in 2000. The "benefits" of these
herbicide-resistant crops are that farmers can spray as much of a particular herbicide on their crops as they
want-killing the weeds without damaging their crop. Scientists estimate that herbicide-resistant crops planted around
the globe will triple the amount of toxic broad-spectrum herbicides used in agriculture. These broad-spectrum herbicides
are designed to literally kill everything green. The leaders in biotechnology are the same giant chemical
companies-Monsanto, DuPont, Aventis, and Syngenta (the merger between Novartis and Astra-Zeneca)-that sell toxic
pesticides. The same companies that create the herbicide resistant GE plants are also selling the herbicides. The
farmers are then paying for more herbicide treatment from the same companies that sold them the herbicide resistant GE
seeds.
GE Crops Damage Beneficial Organisms
In 1999, Cornell University researchers made a startling discovery. They found that pollen from GE Bt corn was poisonous
to Monarch butterflies. The study adds to a growing body of evidence that GE crops are adversely affecting a number of
beneficial insects, including ladybugs and lacewings, as well as beneficial soil micro-organisms, bees, and possibly
birds.
Creation of GE "Superweeds" and "Superpests"
Genetically engineering crops to be herbicide-resistant or to produce their own pesticide presents dangerous problems.
Pests and weeds will inevitably emerge that are pesticide or herbicide-resistant, which means that stronger, more toxic
chemicals will be needed to get rid of the pests. Herbicide resistant "superweeds" are already emerging. GE crops such
as rapeseed (canola) have spread their herbicide-resistance traits to related weeds such as wild mustard plants. Lab and
field tests also indicate that common plant pests such as cotton bollworms, living under constant pressure from GE
crops, will soon evolve into "superpests" completely immune to Bt sprays and other environmentally sustainable
biopesticides. This will present a serious danger for organic and sustainable farmers whose biological pest management
practices will be unable to cope with increasing numbers of superpests and superweeds.
GE Crops Are Introduced Exotic Species – Historically An Ecological Disaster
By virtue of their "superior" genes, some GE plants and animals will inevitably run amok, overpowering wild species in
the same way that exotic species, such as kudzu vine and Dutch elm disease have created problems when introduced in
North America. What will happen to wild fish and marine species, for example, when scientists release into the
environment carp, salmon, and trout that are twice as large, and eat twice as much food, as their wild counterparts?
GE Foods Threaten The Independence And Viability Of Farmers
The patenting of GE foods and widespread biotech food production threatens to eliminate farming as it has been practiced
for 12,000 years. GE patents such as the Terminator Technology will render seeds infertile and force hundreds of
millions of farmers who now save and share their seeds to purchase evermore-expensive GE seeds and chemical inputs from
a handful of global biotech/seed monopolies. If the trend is not stopped, the patenting of transgenic plants and
food-producing animals will soon lead to universal "bio-serfdom" in which farmers will lease their plants and animals
from biotech conglomerates such as Monsanto and pay royalties on seeds and offspring. Family and indigenous farmers will
be driven off the land and consumers' food choices will be dictated by a cartel of trans-national corporations. Rural
communities will be devastated. Hundreds of millions of farmers and agricultural workers worldwide will lose their
livelihoods.
GE Science Is Unethical And Open To Biological Abuse
The genetic engineering and patenting of animals reduces living beings to the status of manufactured products. A purely
reductionist science, biotechnology reduces all life to bits of information (genetic code) that can be arranged and
rearranged at whim. Stripped of their integrity and sacred qualities, animals that are merely objects to their
"inventors" will be treated as such. Currently, hundreds of GE "freak" animals are awaiting patent approval from the US
federal government. One can only wonder, after the wholesale gene altering and patenting of animals, will GE "designer
babies" be next?
Summary
The last 200 years have been a disaster for the ecosystems of the earth with an increasing emphasis on mindless
economic growth and the gradual solidification of an economic system that favours individual enrichment and collection
of power tokens over respect for nature and intelligent use of planet resources. GE is a weapon that enriches and
entrenches vested corporate interests while it simultaneously denies citizens the human right of access to the foods and
medicines of choice.
The fight against GE is a fight for citizens to regain control of their food supply and diversity. This will not be a
tea party – more like a war of attrition against a collection of selfish and greedy manipulators, financed from outside
New Zealand, who see our relatively unspoilt island nation as an ideal, isolated laboratory to experiment and develop a
huge variety of GE products in a global market.
The real agenda is monopoly control of the world’s food supply. Yet again, as with Rogernomics, NZ is in danger of
becoming hostage to imported, unwanted, destructive ideologies with disastrous consequences for our products and
reputation.
The idea that we need GE to progress is both disingenuous and wrong. If you care about saving New Zealand from the
predations of GE companies, or indeed any exploitative outside party, vote for any party that opposes both these bad
options, and any dilution of our independence and freedom. The choice is obvious.
- Adrian Picot
ENDS