TEST TUBE FOOD:
A Look at the Genetic Engineering
Revolution
Imagine a tomato that contains fish genes
to make it "frost resistant", salmon that
grow 400-600 percent faster than normal,
and a potato plant that kills insects with
its own "built-in" bug killer. Sounds like
science fiction? Well it's not - it's
what's for dinner.
Over the past decade, industry and
government scientists have radically
altered the nature of our food and our
farms using new technology known as genetic
engineering (GE). Genetic engineers
manipulate genes - the building blocks of
life - to alter the characteristic of an
organism. They can turn genes on or off,
transfer copies of genes from one species
to another, and create organisms that have
never before existed in nature.
Genetic engineering represents a radical
break from traditional crossbreeding. While
horticulturists have crossbred plants for
thousands of years, they have only ever
been able to combine genetic material from
the same or closely related species, like
broccoli and cauliflower for example.
Genetic engineering allows genes to be
crossed between organisms that could never
breed under normal conditions - fish and
tomatoes, for example, or viruses and
potatoes. The implications are
staggering.
GE Foods Everywhere
Today, over 40 different GE fruits and
vegetables are on the market in the United
States, mostly varieties of soybeans, corn,
potatoes, tomatoes and squash. The majority
of these foods have been engineered to be
herbicide resistant or to contain a
bacterial toxin that makes them insect
resistant. Transgenic crops (those
containing genes from unrelated species)
currently grow on more than 50 million
acres of farmland in the United States. In
1999, an estimated 50 percent of the
soybean crop and 30 percent of the corn
crop were genetically engineered.
Because soy and corn products are widely
used in processed foods, up to 70 percent
of the processed foods lining our
supermarket shelves - including infant
formula, soda, corn chips, margarine,
ice-cream and ready made meals - could
contain GE components. And this generation
of test tube foods is just the beginning.
Currently in the research pipeline are
bruise-resistant potatoes with genes from
wax moths, corn with firefly genes and
potatoes spliced with genes from a
chicken.
Multinational biotechnology firms like
Novartis and Monsanto are instigating the
gene revolution with minimal governmental
oversight. These former chemical companies,
that once produced the likes of Agent
Orange and PCBs, have refashioned
themselves into "Life Sciences" outfits and
portray themselves as leaders in the
sustainable development movement. They tout
their high-tech wares as the solution to
world hunger through increased crop yields
and as a means to prevent further
environmental degradation by reducing
overall pesticide use on insect-resistant
crops.
Health Hazards
But environmentalists challenge such
claims, and consumer advocates cite
numerous health hazards associated with GE
organisms that have not been safety tested
over the long term. The US Food and Drug
Administration has determined that GE food
is "substantially equivalent" to
conventional food. The agency does not
require that GE food be safety tested
before it is marketed, nor does it require
that such food be labelled. Until recently,
the FDA relied on industry to voluntarily
"consult" with the Agency on food it
intended to market. Scientists and health
experts have warned that GE food could lead
to increased allergies as new proteins from
organisms never before eaten as food are
introduced into human and animal foods. In
1996, for example, Pioneer Hi-Bred
International (a seed company now owned by
DuPont) developed a GE soybean using a gene
from a Brazil nut to increase the protein
content of its animal feed. Independent
tests on the GE soybean revealed that
people allergic to Brazil nuts had a
reaction to the engineered soybean.
GE organisms could also exacerbate the
emerging problem of antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic-resistance genes are used by
genetic engineers as "markers" that
indicate which cells in a receiving
organism have taken up foreign genes.
Though they have no further use, the
antibiotic resistant genes remain present
in plant tissue and could be passed on to
bacteria in the intestinal tracts of humans
and animals, rendering antibiotics
ineffective.
Environmental Concerns
Genetic engineering raises a totally new
threat to the environment - "biological
pollution". Biological pollution is caused
by living organisms that grow, disperse,
reproduce and mutate. Such organisms don't
respect field boundaries or national
boundaries; once released, they cannot be
"mopped up." The unpredictable impacts of
GE crops on our environment were
highlighted last year when lab researchers
at Cornell University found that
insect-resistant corn genetically
engineered with the toxin Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) could be killing the
monarch butterfly. Ongoing field studies at
Iowa State University have shown similar
adverse impacts of GE Bt corn on the
Monarch. New York researchers have found
that the Bt toxin can bind to soil
particles and persist in the soil for over
200 days, harming soil health. Swiss
researchers have found that Bt crops also
affect beneficial predators like lacewings
and ladybugs that eat insects that have fed
on the GE crops.
Herbicide resistant crops belie the
claims of the biotechnology industry that
genetic engineering will foster
environmental protection. Monsanto's
"Roundup Ready" soybeans, for example, have
been developed to withstand doses of
pesticides that were once lethal. Far from
reducing pesticide use, these crops
actually encourage it. This creates a boon
for the pesticide manufacturers initiating
the "gene revolution", but is a kiss of
death for groundwater and drinking water
supplies that are already contaminated with
agricultural chemicals. A report by
Benbrook Consulting in July 1999, which
reviewed more than 8,200 university-run
field tests on herbicide-resistant crops,
found that farmers planting Roundup Ready
soybeans used two to five times more
herbicide than conventional soybean
farmers.
The news that the Monarch butterfly could
go the way of the dinosaur sounded the
alarm for many people about the hazards of
GMOs. Grassroots groups opposed to genetic
engineering are cropping up across the
country demonstrating outside supermarkets
and distributing petitions calling for a
moratorium on the application of
genetic engineering to agriculture.
Legislation has been introduced in the US
Congress to mandate safety testing and
labelling of GE food, and this spring, over
4,000 people marched through downtown
Boston to demonstrate their opposition to
genetic engineering. For now, though, until
demands for public debate on the potential
health and environmental risks of GE foods
are met, the only way to be sure that
you're not an unwilling participant in the
vast biotechnology experiment is to
purchase organic foods.
Sarah Newport,
FoE United
States
