Genetic Modification: Trading Profits for Health
by Mary Budinger
Genetically modified (GM) food puts humanity at a crossroads. Man-made, genetically engineered organisms are being released to the environment on a massive scale, an event unprecedented in the history of earth.
Genetic engineering combines genes from totally unrelated species in combinations not possible using conventional breeding methods. Genes from an animal, say, a fish, can be put into a plant, a strawberry for instance. In fact, this is an actual example of an attempt to "improve" strawberry plants. The fish gene is supposed to make the strawberries more resistant to frost by causing the strawberry plant to produce a form of antifreeze which the fish normally produces to endure cold ocean conditions.
But it is more than interchanging species. Many GM foods are designed to produce pesticides. We, in turn, eat those genetically added pesticides and take them into our bodies. Pesticides are an adaptation of WWII arsenic, hydrogen cyanide and other things that had been used to kill humans. The general idea was that if a lot would kill a person, then we only need a little to kill a bug.
Done Without Debate
This technological upheaval happened virtually without public debate. The U.S. government has been an enthusiastic promoter, rather than cautious regulator, of this radically new technology.
The biotech industry claims that the FDA has thoroughly evaluated GM foods and found them safe. "This is untrue," said Jeffrey Smith, America's foremost advocate for the safety of crops. "Internal FDA documents, made public from a lawsuit, reveal that agency scientists warned that GM foods might create toxins, allergies, nutritional problems, and new diseases that might be difficult to identify. Although they urged their superiors to require long-term tests on each GM variety prior to approval, the political appointees at the agency ignored the scientists. The White House had ordered the FDA to promote biotechnology and the agency responded by recruiting Michael Taylor, Monsanto's former attorney, to head up the formation of GMO policy. That policy, which is in effect today, declares that no safety studies on GMOs are required. It is up to Monsanto and the other biotech companies to determine if their foods are safe. Mr. Taylor, by the way, later became Monsanto's vice president."
Official U.S. government policy claims that the foods are no different and, most importantly, do not require safety testing. "So Monsanto, the makers of DDT and Agent Orange, are in charge of telling us whether this is safe," Smith said. "A manufacturer can introduce a GM food without even informing the government or consumers. Never before have we deployed a contaminated gene pool technology with such flimsy evidence. We are gambling with the health of generations."
The First Clear Warning Bell
During the summer and autumn of 1989, an outbreak of a mysterious disease swept across the U.S. Thousands of people fell seriously ill with a rare blood and muscle disorder. Doctors and hospital staffs were baffled.
The disease was characterized by an overproduction of white blood cells and severe and often debilitating muscle pain. One patient said, "The pain was so intense in my body that it would hurt too bad to lay on the mattress when I went to bed. My legs became as big as a telephone pole. They split and water oozed from them. No amount of medicine they gave me calmed the pain."
Eventually, physicians discovered the culprit was the food supplement L-tryptophan made by a Japanese manufacturer, Showa Denko. It turned out that in 1984, the company had begun using a genetically engineered Bacillus species.
In the aftermath, press releases blamed a change in the manufacturing's filtration process. However, the company destroyed all evidence that could have been used to determine the scientific cause of the problem. They also destroyed the genetically engineered bacterial stocks, along with any potentially surviving specks that investigators might have recovered from the walls or equipment. In the U.S., the FDA was subsequently accused of not alerting the public sooner for fear of casting a bad light on genetic engineering.
It appears genetic engineering caused a metabolic disturbance in the tryptophan-producing bacteria, resulting in the production of a deadly poison. Somewhere between 37 and 100 people died, depending upon who is counting, and some 5,000 - 10,000 persons became ill, many permanently disabled.
L-tryptophan has been produced by a large number of other companies using natural bacteria (not genetically engineered) without any similar complication. Because the GM version actually created a potent poison, and because so many people got sick around the same time with dramatic symptoms, the culprit was discovered. But what if other GM products poison more slowly over time, and the sickness manifests in different ways in different people?
Medical Experts Speak Out
In May this year, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks. They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. AAEM's position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, "There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation," as defined by recognized scientific criteria. "The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies."
More and more doctors are already prescribing GM-free diets. Dr. Amy Dean, a Michigan internal medicine specialist, and board member of AAEM says, "I strongly recommend patients eat strictly non-genetically modified foods." Ohio allergist Dr. John Boyles says, "I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it."
Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, President of AAEM, says, "Physicians are probably seeing the effects in their patients, but need to know how to ask the right questions." World renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava goes one step further.
After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, he concludes that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans.
Dr. Garry Gordon, co-founder of the American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), agrees. He sounded a warning bell at the Lyme-Induced Autism conference last June in Scottsdale, Arizona. "GM corn may put a pesticide in the gut that replicates," he said. "GM foods modify your intestinal flora which sets the stage for tumors and other problems. No probiotic will overcome it."
Biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute warns that "children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems" related to GM foods. He says without adequate studies, the children become "experimental animals."
Famed Canadian geneticist David Suzuki stated, "The experiments simply haven't been done and we now have become the guinea pigs. Anyone that says, 'Oh, we know that this is perfectly safe,' I say is either unbelievably stupid or deliberately lying."
Human problems may be hidden for years. "No one is monitoring," Smith pointed out.
Foods Designed to Produce Toxins
GM corn and cotton are engineered to produce their own built-in pesticide in every cell. When bugs bite the plant, the poison splits open their stomach and kills them. Biotech companies claim that the pesticide, called Bt - produced from soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis - has a history of safe use, since organic farmers and others use Bt bacteria spray for natural insect control. Genetic engineers insert Bt genes into corn and cotton, so the plants do the killing.
"The Bt-toxin produced in GM plants, however, is thousands of times more concentrated than natural Bt spray," Smith explained. "It is designed to be more toxic, has properties of an allergen, and unlike the spray, cannot be washed off the plant."
The only published human feeding study revealed what may be the most dangerous problem from GM foods. The gene inserted into GM soy transfers into the DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines and continues to function. This means that long after we stop eating GM foods, we may still have potentially harmful GM proteins produced continuously inside of us. In other words, eating a corn chip produced from Bt corn might transform our intestinal bacteria into living pesticide factories, possibly for the rest of our lives.
"We think Bt is damaging the walls of our intestines, breaking apart the integrity of our gut, creating leaky gut," Smith continued. "I don't think it is a coincidence that lot of kids with autism have tremendous gut problems. When a gene transfers to gut bacteria, does it offer a survival advantage? That means if it helps bacteria survive, it will be readily transferred to other bacteria and you end up with a big colonization. If you screw up the gut system, you have production of vitamins and immune system function on the ropes."
Smith said GM foods may also account for the rise in developmental disorders. "You allow toxicity to enter into the bloodstream and that opens up the ability to poison the brain."
GM Crops
In 1996, the first GM crops came to market: soy, corn and canola. All were used for vegetable oil.
In 2006, 252 million acres of transgenic crops were planted in 22 countries by farmers. The majority of these crops were herbicide- and insect-resistant soybeans, corn, cotton, and canola. Most GM food crops are fed to animals.
Three minor GM crops are Hawaiian papaya, and a small amount of zucchini, and yellow crook neck squash. These crops look just like their non-GM counterparts.
Newly added to the list in 2008 are GM sugar beets and white corn. There are also GM tomatoes and potatoes no longer on the market, but whose genes and seeds, to some degree, continue to persist "out there." In similar fashion, the list actually includes more than 100 different experimental GM crops, field trialed at more than 50,000 sites in the U.S. since 1986.
Although the government is supposed to make sure that these trials won't contaminate the surrounding environment, a 2005 report by the USDA Office of Inspector General harshly condemned the USDA's abominable oversight. "Current regulations, policies, and procedures," said the report, "do not go far enough to ensure the safe introduction of agricultural biotechnology." The agency's weaknesses "increase the risk that regulated genetically engineered organisms will inadvertently persist in the environment."
Novel products such as seedless watermelons, pear/apple combos, and tangelos are products of natural breeding and are not genetically engineered.
There is no GM popcorn on the market, nor is there GM blue corn. But you are not necessarily wasting money buying organic blue corn chips and organic popcorn. "The blue corn may be mixed with other corn," Smith said. "Also, the oils may be GMO. In all cases, organic adds other advantages besides non-GMO status."
Consumer Resistance
The U.S. government's office of Biological and Environmental Research says: "Technologies for genetically modifying foods offer dramatic promise for meeting some of the 21st Century's greatest challenges. Understanding plant and animal genomes will allow us to create stronger, more disease-resistant plants and animals - reducing the costs of agriculture and providing consumers with more nutritious, pesticide-free foods."
But increasingly, people aren't buying these government assurances.
The number of hectares of GM crops fell last year in Europe. Most of Europe's largest supermarket chains, along with several major food companies such as Unilever and Heinz, have all banned GM products. When McDonalds and Burger King refused to buy GM potatoes years ago, GM potatoes were withdrawn from the market. Japanese companies also largely avoid GM foods due to consumer resistance.
StarLink™ corn, genetically modified with a pesticide, turned into a public relations disaster, underscoring mankind's inability to control Nature. StarLink was approved by the EPA in 1998 for use only in animal feed because of uncertainty whether it could cause allergic reactions in humans. This Bacillus thuringiensis variety was grown on less than 1 percent of the total U.S. corn acreage in 2000, most concentrated in Iowa. Everyone was promised that StarLink would be kept completely separate throughout the grain chain. But that didn't happen. In the US, all corn, including GM corn, is comingled after harvest. Also, GM crops can cross pollinate with non-GM crops. StarLink spread throughout the country. In 2000, environmental groups found traces of StarLink's genetic material in Taco Bell brand taco shells and other products. StarLink's accidental contamination of the nation's corn supply triggered a massive recall and disrupted the U.S. corn market. According to Iowa's State Agriculture Secretary, neither the manufacturer nor government officials policed StarLink. The public saw that GM crops could not be contained.
"The food companies gain no advantage from having or not having GM foods," Smith explained. "So if consumers do not want them, they won't sell them. It is a matter of public education, and the media has been much more active in reporting about genetic modification in Europe than in the United States. Monsanto actually tracked reporters as favorable or unfavorable and rewarded and threatened them. Threatening letters from Monsanto's attorney caused Fox to cancel a news series on their GM bovine growth hormone, and Monsanto's PR organization bragged in memos about getting a New York Times reporter taken off her assignment of covering the hormone as well."
Labeling of GM Foods
In the United States, nine out of ten consumers have said they want GM foods labeled. "Obama and Biden promised they would label GM foods," Smith said. "But so far, it is looking more like business as usual. I was disappointed Tom Vilsack was appointed as Secretary of Agriculture over the objections of millions of people. I live in Iowa where Vilsack was governor. He had given Monsanto an award, and was himself declared the biotech governor of the year. His allegiance to GMOs has continued as Secretary of Agriculture."
President Obama subsequently appointed former Monsanto lobbyist Michael Taylor as a senior advisor to the FDA's Commissioner on food safety. And, as of this writing, Dennis Wolff is in line for Under-Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety. Wolff spearheaded anti-consumer legislation in Pennsylvania that would have taken away the rights of consumers to know whether their milk and dairy products were contaminated with Monsanto's (now Eli Lilly's) genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone
(rBGH).
The Organic Consumers Association is circulating a petition asking that Taylor and Wolff be denied positions of power over American's food safety. Read more at
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27042
Consumers Have the Power
A June 27, 2008 letter from David Mackay, CEO of Kellogg's, to Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Association, reveals just how sensitive the market is to consumer demand: "Consumer preference is the critical factor Kellogg uses in determining the products being provided in each market, and those preferences are not the same in every country … Public acceptance of biotechnology in Europe is lower than in the United States. As a result, all Kellogg products sold in Europe are free of any ingredients derived from biotech sources."
Schools throughout the UK and parts of Europe banned GM food years ago. "In the U.S., the emergence of the 'healthy school lunch' movement provides a ready platform to promote GM-free school meals," Smith said. "Parents and schools are already seeking to change kids' diets in response to the obesity and diabetes epidemics, the proliferation of ADD/ADHD, and the increased understanding of the impact of food on behavior."
Smith said that whenever he speaks, he sees a roomful of people willing to change their eating habits when they learn about the dangers of genetic modification. "It is so easy to present the dangers of how it was approved, that FDA ignored the concerns of scientists," he said. "People see that GM foods were driven by industry influence and political collusion, not sound science, and those who say it is safe have no credibility. Now the fact that an American medical association has come out with it - that is major news around the world."
An Educated Consumer
If you want to avoid genetically modified organisms, then avoid processed foods. "I would guess 90 percent of the processed food has GMOs," Smith said. He created a "GMO Defensive Shopping List:"
"I avoid processed foods with the above oils, or with soy and corn derivatives,"
Smith said. A full list of these derivatives is found in his Institute's Non-GMO Shopping Guide. They include, for example, soy flour, soy protein, soy lecithin, textured vegetable protein, corn meal, corn syrup, dextrose, maltodextrin, fructose, citric acid, and lactic acid.
Meats, dairy products, farmed fish, and eggs are usually from animals fed GM products. To avoid that, you must buy "organic" and "wild caught." Additionally, dairy products can come from cows injected with GM bovine growth hormone called rbGH or rbST. Honey and bee pollen may contain GMOs if the beehives are near GM crops.
There are many additives, enzymes, flavorings, and processing agents used in foods which are produced by GM bacteria, yeast, or fungi. To avoid them, either buy organic or stick to non-processed foods - make your own salad dressings and sauces.
Many people began to avoid aspartame years ago after learning that it is linked to health problems ranging from seizures to cancer. Aspartame (marketed as NutraSweet® and Equal® ) is also a GM product, found in over 6,000 items, including soft drinks, gum, candy desserts, mixes, yogurt, tabletop sweeteners, and some pharmaceuticals such as vitamins and sugar-free cough drops.
Restaurants are tricky environments since most do not cook meals from scratch. Most use packaged, processed mixes and sauces which likely have GM ingredients. Restaurants commonly use vegetable oil made from GM soy, corn, cottonseed, or canola. A safer alternative is to ask if they can cook your meal with a non-GM oil, such as olive, sunflower, or safflower. You can bring your own salad dressing.
"But GM Will Feed the World”
The argument made by the biotech industry is that if genetic engineering of farm crops is not allowed to proceed, the poor people of the world will starve. "In fact there is more than enough food produced by conventional agriculture to feed all of the world's people," said Smith. "We have not yet solved the problems of food distribution, poverty, and government inadequacies. Genetic engineering may actually lead to more hunger in poor countries by driving resources away from more appropriate technologies and by promoting monocultures, which displace the more diverse and nutritious multicropped fields in developing nations. GM makes farmers dependent on corporations that demand annual payment for seed, chemicals, and fertilizers. In addition, while studies show that the average GM crop reduces yield, organic agriculture used in the developing world can increase yield one or two fold." Numerous studies have concluded that organic farming can, indeed, feed the world.
India is a tragic example of the promise and subsequent failure of GM cotton. GM salesmen and government officials had promised India's farmers that the GM seeds would yield better crops, free from parasites and insects. In return for allowing western companies access, India was granted International Monetary Fund loans, helping to launch an economic revolution in the cities. But GM breeds of cotton were not pest-proof in the fields; they have been devastated by bollworms, a parasite. The farmers also discovered these seeds required double the amount of water and cost at least twice as much. Depending upon the rainfall, GM crops withered and died, leaving farmers with crippling debts and no means of paying them off.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, 182,936 Indian farmers committed suicide between 1997-2007. It estimates 46 Indian farmers kill themselves every day - that is, roughly one suicide every 30 minutes.
The UK's Prince Charles infuriated bio-tech leaders and some politicians by condemning "the truly appalling and tragic rate of small farmer suicides in India, stemming from the failure of many GM crop varieties." He stated that the issue of GM had become a 'global moral question' and the time had come to end its unstoppable march.
And yet, India's Agriculture Ministry recently announced that GM versions of tomato, brinjal (eggplant), and cauliflower would be introduced within three years. India so far has allowed only GM cotton. Cotton seed oil is used for human consumption and cotton plants are used for animal consumption. In July, public demonstrations urged the Prime Minister not to introduce more GM food into the country, saying it is a biological and health hazard.
The biotech industry hopes to introduce 'terminator technology', meaning that the seeds produced by the plants are sterile, so farmers cannot save and reuse their own seeds.
Historic Turning Point
We are at a turning point in history. Consumer resistance is mounting that we should no longer allow the virtually unrestricted release of genetically engineered organisms to the environment.
The United States is the cradle of GM - or biotech - crop development. In 2006, countries that grew 97% of the global transgenic crops were the United States (53%), Argentina (17%), Brazil (11%), Canada (6%), India (4%), China (3%), Paraguay (2%) and South Africa (1%).
Yet, GM plantings make up a mere 2.4% of global agricultural crop land. "This is winnable," Smith said. "GM rice, wheat, tomatoes, and potatoes have all been rejected as unacceptable in the global marketplace. GM papaya cultivation in Hawaii has been declining over several years. None of the GM crops on the market are modified for increased yield potential. In fact, studies show GM crops reduce average yield. The GM industry has not marketed a single GM crop with enhanced nutrition, drought-tolerance, salt-tolerance or any of the other 'beneficial' traits long-promised by the industry."
Smith says when he speaks to religious groups, they agree it should not be on the market. "The World Council of Churches is not in favor of GMOs, and the Catholic Church declared it a sin, yet no one has mobilized the purchasing power of the group. If Oprah Winfrey ever speaks out against GM food, this whole thing will be over in a day in America."
