The Conscious Eater’s Guide to GMOs
by Claire Hope Cummings
Worldwide, GMO crops are grown on about 280 million acres, almost entirely in corn and soybeans grown for animal feed, industrial chemicals and plant-based fuels. The main thing to know about GMOs is that they are made by the chemical industry, for the chemical industry, and sold to farmers for weed and pest control.
We now eat GMOs in our breakfast cereals and corn chips because in the United States the industrial agriculture system mixes crops from many sources during production and manufacturing. GMOs are now in just about anything made with corn, soy or canola, as well as oil from cottonseed. Most of the meat, eggs and dairy products we eat come from animals fed GMOs. The only fresh GMO food being sold right now is a mushy papaya from Hawaii; the GMO spud was a dud and other fresh GMOs have failed in the marketplace.
How GMOs Came to Market
GMOs were developed by large agrochemical multinational corporations like Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, Sygenta and Bayer. These companies are not known for their commitment to public health and environmental safety. They continue to lobby against government regulations and work to undermine the public research system. As a result, they have been able to put GMOs on the market without appropriate health and environmental testing and safety measures.
As part of their marketing strategy, the GMO industry also has kept labels off their products in the United States, even though the Center for Food Safety reports that polls repeatedly show that up to 94 percent of Americans want labels on GMO foods. Most other industrial countries label GMOs, and many tightly restrict their testing and use.
The industry, made up of corporations, their paid lobbyists and academic allies, claim that GMOs are safe. The industry says they don’t know of any health harm proven to be caused by their products. But their position is not backed by reliable research from independent scientists. There is no government testing; whatever information the government gets from industry is on a voluntary basis.
And there are ethical issues, especially for people with health-based or religious dietary restrictions. Everyone needs to know what’s in their food. But GMOs are unlike anything the world has seen before. They combine genes from different species. For example, genetic engineers have inserted genes from an arctic fish into strawberries, to make them frost tolerant, but not something a vegan would want to eat.
Genetic engineering is also known as recombinant DNA technology, because it takes DNA from one organism and combines it with DNA from another organism. It does what nature avoids, crossing the natural boundaries between species. GMOs are new, living organisms, capable of spreading, reproducing and recombining. Their presence is invisible and irreversible.
What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us
The processes used to create GMOs are not precise or predictable. What is precise is the first step, selecting and engineering the DNA to be used. After that, genes are engineered and recombined with bacteria, viruses, and other designer molecules, then often put into a ‘gene gun’ and shot into living cells.
The result can create new proteins that might trigger serious allergic reactions or recombine with other bacteria and viruses to create new pathogens or toxins. The antibiotic resistant marker gene used in the process could render the antibiotics we use to control disease less effective.
Reports based on animal studies indicate that both the process and products of genetic engineering are causing problems. Animals fed GMOs exclusively had more false pregnancies and a greater mortality rate than control groups. Researchers also have evidence of impaired blood cell formation, liver problems, excessive growths in the digestive tract and adverse immune reactions.
One thing is certain—GMOs are an uncontrolled human experiment. A leading pediatric neurologist at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Martha R. Herbert, says: “Today, the vast majority of foods in supermarkets contain genetically modified substances whose effects on our health are unknown. As a medical doctor, I can assure you that no one in the medical profession would attempt to perform experiments on human subjects without their consent. Such conduct is illegal and unethical. Yet, manufacturers of genetically altered foods are exposing us to one of the largest uncontrolled experiments in modern history.”
In terms of nutrition, as early as 1992, scientists at the Food and Drug Administration warned that GMOs could cause “undesirable alteration in the level of nutrients” in foods. Later, one study found that GMO soybeans repeatedly sprayed with herbicides had 12 to 14 percent less essential phytonutrient content than conventionally grown soybeans.
Here’s why scientists think GMOs are different: when plants are forced to do something as stressful as having to stay alive while being repeatedly sprayed with a lethal herbicide, they make tradeoffs during the growth cycle. One tradeoff might be diminished nutrient content; another might be in the plant’s ability to produce seed, which would affect productivity. More than 8,000 field trials and numerous studies have shown that herbicide-resistant soybeans are 6 to 11 percent less productive than conventional varieties.
The Politics of Food
The facts about GMOs reveal that they are not more productive than conventional crops and they are not better for people. Still, many consumers and farmers believe the advertising that says GMOs can feed the world.
Unfortunately, the public does not get reliable information about GMOs. That’s because, even before GMOs went on the market, government regulators made a political decision, not one based on science, that they would treat GMO foods the same as natural foods. It also was decided that no new laws would be passed to oversee this industry. This ineffective regulatory system is causing even greater concern now because pending products, such as GMO animals, fish and insects, and plants that are engineered with human genes and pharmaceuticals, are coming on the market or have already contaminated farm fields and the food supply.
Public interest groups and independent scientists have documented the problems caused by GMOs, reporting, for instance, that GMOs have increased the use of herbicides, thereby increasing soil and water pollution.
Research has shown that GMO insecticidal corn harms monarch butterflies and other beneficial insects. Weeds growing near GMO farms have become ‘superweeds,’ which don’t die when sprayed with weed killers. GMOs have spread their unnatural DNA into forests and grasslands and contaminated the crops grown by organic farmers. Today, even conventional seeds are laden with GMOs, so that farmers who want to plant conventional crops are unintentionally growing GMOs. GMO contamination also has caused serious legal problems for farmers and had an impact on U.S. farm exports.
The persistent problems of hunger and poverty in countries around the world are caused by political and economic inequalities. It will take political action, not a techno-fix, to remedy these problems. Farmers need support, but not in the form of patented products like GMOs.
International studies show that farmers want easy-to-use tools, locally bred and adapted seed, clean water and healthy soil. The technology that is needed would produce healthy food while protecting the environment and providing a means for farmers to support themselves and their communities. Fortunately, that technology already exists. It’s called organic farming.
The good news is that consumers can avoid GMOs by choosing organic foods. By law, certified organic products are not allowed to contain GMOs. Making this choice also supports sustainable farming and ensures the nutritional quality of food, free of synthetic chemicals.
We can support local farmers by buying more fresh food from them. We also can grow food ourselves. Even keeping a pot of herbs or salad greens near a sunny window is a delicious reminder that our food comes from nature, not corporate farm factories.
Growing and sharing food builds community relationships and reconnects us to the land. All that is needed to create an economy of abundance are many small acts of generosity. It’s what nature does for us, every day.
Claire Hope Cummings is a lawyer, journalist, and expert on agriculture and genetic engineering. She has farmed in California and Vietnam, was an attorney with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for four years, and is the author of the primary source for this article, Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds (Beacon Press, 2008.)
