GMO food

From fields to supermarket shelves 

Tracy Warner / Fort Wayne Journal Gazette  20may01

Tracy Warner twarner@jg.net 

Following are questions and answers about genetically engineered food.

What is GMO food?

Genetically modified organisms are produced when one or more genes are inserted into a food crop. Other terms include GM (genetically modified) food; GE (genetically engineered) food; and biotech food. Transgenic is the term used when a gene is taken from one species of plant or animal and inserted into another.

What products do farmers use to grow GMO crops?

Roundup Ready soybeans have a gene taken from a bacterium that protects the soybean plant when Roundup herbicide is applied, allowing the soybean to survive when the weeds surrounding it die. Roundup Ready corn is also marketed.

Bt corn is named for bacillus thuringiensis , a bacterium from which a protein gene is taken and engineered into the corn. The protein repels the corn borer - one of the nation's most destructive pests - when it attempts to feed on the plant. Bt cotton repels the boll weevil. Ironically, organic farmers, among the most vocal critics of GM crops, began spraying the Bt bacterium as a natural alternative to chemical pesticides some 40 years ago.

StarLink corn uses a different genetically altered protein to repel the corn borer. Unlike Bt corn, Starlink corn has not been approved for human consumption because of concerns it could cause allergies.

Genetically altered tomatoes, potatoes, canola, squash and papaya are also grown.

How much of the nation's crops use GMO technology?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates nearly two-thirds of this year's soybean crop will be Roundup Ready or other biotech varieties. About one-fourth of the corn is expected to be biotech.

Which supermarket products use GMO?

No one knows, because labeling is not required, and biotech crops are not segregated from non biotech. The Grocery Manufacturers of America, a trade association of major food companies, estimates that 60 to 70 percent of food products sold in supermarkets may contain GMOs.

GMOs might be in any food that uses soy, corn or canola products, including popular soft drinks, baby food, bread, cereals, chocolate, crackers, cookies, frozen pizzas and dinners, salad oils and dressings, soups and tomato sauces, among others. Greenpeace maintains a Web site that purports to list some brand names of food that do and do not contain GMOs: www.true foodnow.org/shoppinglist.html

For a more positive spin on GMOs, see www.betterfoods.org

How do I know GMO crops and food are safe?

The USDA and Environmental Protection Agency require meticulous documentation before the crops are grown, and the Food and Drug Administration regulates the safety of GMO foods. The American Medical Association endorses them as safe.

Critics contend that the FDA's review is limited to review of company-supplied data about the gene or genes inserted into the plant and whether those genes tangibly change the food, the concept of "substantial equivalence."

Proponents of biotech point out that no study has produced data challenging the safety of GMO foods. But David Andow, a professor of insect ecology at the University of Minnesota, counters that "people are being led astray by the term `no data.' . . . Nobody's done the studies."

W. Randy Woodson, associate dean of agriculture and director of agriculture research programs at Purdue University, believes GMO does carry risks but has little concern about the safety of Bt corn. "Because it's natural, it's a protein, it has no residual effect. It's quickly broken down in the soil, in your stomach."

Why do farmers grow biotech crops?

They achieve better yield at less expense and reduce the amount of chemicals.

Farmers who use Bt corn no longer need to apply pesticides to kill the corn borer, and Roundup Ready soybeans reduce the amount of herbicide needed to kill weeds. Before the development of biotech soybeans, farmers had to spray different herbicides to kill different weeds.

Herbicide-resistant soybeans "make rotation with corn much simpler," Woodson of Purdue says, because Roundup herbicide is quickly broken down in the soil and doesn't carry over to the next year, killing corn plants.

Bt cotton has drastically reduced the amount of crop-dusting, reducing the amount of pesticide that goes into the environment.

"Consumers have hollered for years, `use less chemicals,' " says Roger Hadley II, a Woodburn farmer. "Biotech has its drawbacks in the consumers' minds, but it's what they've asked for."

What about future uses?

Golden rice, using beta-carotene genes from daffodils, is in development for distribution in Asia, where many poor residents suffer severe vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Bruise-free potatoes and allergen-free peanuts are also under development.

Companies are researching ways biotech can make crops less susceptible to frost and disease. Medicines and vaccines could be inserted into food crops.

One firm, Aqua Bounty Farms, is developing a genetically altered salmon that grows more quickly.

What about the possible consequences?

Pollen from Bt corn kills the monarch butterfly, which feeds on milkweed. Some biotech proponents argue milkweed is seldom present in cornfields. But Andow says one recent study showed more milkweed is present in cornfields than areas surrounding them. "The monarchs actually use the milkweed in corn fields. They use it at a time when corn pollen is shedding," Andow said.

Even biotech proponents concede products like Roundup Ready and Bt corn could lead to "super weeds" and "super bugs" that develop resistance to the chemicals in the plants.

Allergies are a principal concern. If a fish gene is transferred to a plant, for example, some scientists worry that a consumer allergic to fish may be unknowingly allergic to the new plant product.

But the biggest consequences may be unknown. When a protein gene from a bacterium is placed into corn, does the corn change the gene and its functions? Does the protein gene change or shut down other genes in the corn plant?

If you have come to this page from an outside location click here to get back to mindfully.org