Most
Americans know little if anything about a massive food experiment
already underway in our nations fields and grocery stores. Already
thousands of products, including many of the best-known brand name
foods found in millions of households, contain ingredients from
genetically engineered (GE) crops. Yet since none of these products are
labeled as genetically engineered, consumers dont even know
aboutand can not avoidthese genetic experiments in their shopping
cart.
Greenpeace is working to stop this massive food experiment, which
poses unknown risks to human health and the global environment. We
oppose any release of genetically engineered organisms, since these
human-made life-forms can not be controlled or contained once they are
let loose into nature. The companies producing genetically engineered
crops today are among the worst polluters of the 20th century. Their
chemical experiments have left a legacy of contamination that threatens
nature and human health on a planetary scale. Now, with genetic
engineering, these companies are introducing a new form of pollution:
biological pollution, pollution that is a qualitatively different than
any previous human intrusion on nature.
With this technology, we face the specter of pollution that is
alive, that reproduces and moves through the environment. Doctors warn
that genetically engineered foods could pose immediate and long-term
risks to our health, while the biotech industry goes about
contaminating the entire food supply with its genetic experiments.
Your Right to Know
Many GE crops have been approved for commercial sale in the US, and
consumers are often confused about what foods in their stores might be
gene- altered. Though many crops are in development, just four
cropssoy, corn, canola and cottonmake up nearly all the genetically
engineered crop acreage in the US. There are virtually no fresh foods
sold in supermarkets grown from gene-altered seed (with the possible
exception of papaya from Hawaii, where about half the crop is GE).
Yet estimates routinely note that 60-70 percent of the foods in
supermarkets are made with gene-altered ingredients. This reflects the
massive amount of processed foods that include ingredients from soy and
corn. A look at processed food labels shows how ubiquitous ingredients
like soy oil, lecithin, soy protein and corn syrup, cornstarch and
other corn and soy ingredients have become. Canola and cottonseed oil
are also widely used in processed foods. Avoiding just these four foods
requires eliminating virtually all processed foods from our diets.
It is also important to know that just two gene-altered traits
account for almost all of the US acreage of GE crops. GE crops are
being grown either for insect resistance (including corn and cotton) or
herbicide tolerance (including soy, corn, cotton and canola). While
industry repeatedly touts biotech foods that will be more nutritious,
better tasting, or healthier, neither of these varieties has any such
benefits.
Herbicide tolerant crops make up about 70 percent of the acreage
of GE crops in the US. These crops are engineered so toxic
plant-killing pesticides can be sprayed directly on the crop.
Previously, farmers using such herbicides had to carefully avoid the
crop, which would also be killed by the chemical. Now, GE herbicide
tolerant varieties can be sprayed once, twice, even three times a
season, without harming the crop. While industry promotes genetic
engineering as reducing pesticide spraying, independent researchers
have shown that farmers who grow Monsantos Roundup Ready(RR) soy
actually use two to five times more chemicals than farmers who grow
natural soy. In fact, when its RR soy was in development, Monsanto
successfully petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
raise the amount of its flagship chemical Roundup allowed on soybeans.
Overnight the agency raised the tolerance of Roundup on this food from
6 ppm to 20 ppm.
The remaining biotech crop acreage in the US is in insect
resistant crops. Also called Bt crops, these plants pose a tremendous
threat to organic farming. Bt is a natural pest control, used in
emergency situations by about half of Americas organic farmers to
control certain insects. The Bt sprays they use are derived from
natural soil bacteria, and farmers (both conventional and organic) have
used the sprays safely for over 30 years. Now the biotech industry has
engineered plants so that the plant produces an altered form of Bt.
Unlike natural Bt sprays, which naturally degrade in the environment in
a matter of a few days, genetically engineered Bt plants produce an
altered toxin throughout the entire growing season, at a very high
dose. This scenario will surely lead to insect resistance to Bt,
probably in just a few years. When such resistance develops, farmers
who use pesticides and GE crops will simply move on to the next toxin,
but organic farmers will have no options. This threat to organic
farming led Greenpeace to bring together over 70 organic farmers and
farming organizations in a lawsuit challenging EPAs registration of Bt
crops.
Biotech industry proponents say that there is no evidence that GE
foods cause any harm. In fact, there is already evidence of
environmental problems from GE crops, and doctors around the world warn
that these foods could harm human health. Lab evidence that Bt corn
could harm monarchs and other endangered butterflies has been verified
in the field. Despite a massive industry attempt to debunk this
research, the scientific debate is still raging. In Canada, scientists
have found that engineered canola has become a nearly uncontrollable
weed. One scientist there said the crop is a classic superweed. Other
scientific studies show that GE crops can cause insecticides to build
up in soils, cause food chain effects, transfer genes to wild
relatives, and contaminate natural crops.
For consumers, the prospects are even more worrisome. The New England Journal of Medicine warned in 1996 that the Food and Drug Administrations (FDAs) policy
on GE food left consumers at risk from potential new food allergies,
yet the agency still has made no change (the policy has actually never
been finalized, leading a federal judge to rule that FDA has no rules
regarding GE foods). This is even more stunning after the StarLink
incident, in which a gene-altered corn that was never approved for
human consumption contaminated over 300 products sold in supermarkets
and restaurants across the country. Scientists repeatedly told the
government that the corn could trigger dangerous food allergies, and
hundreds of consumers reported allergic reactions. Even more recently,
Britains leading scientific body, the Royal Society, suggested that
consumers should be tracked for potential allergic responses to GE
foods, noting that infants and children could be especially at risk. Of
course, since there is no labeling of GE foods in the US, such tracking
here would be virtually impossible.
The True Food Network: Action for Change
While the problems are daunting, we have seen amazing successes. When
Greenpeace tested Gerber baby food and found contamination from
gene-altered soy and corn, we were able to pressure the company to
announce it would eliminate all GE ingredients from its products.
Gerbers announcement forced Heinz, its main competitor, to follow
suit. Consumer pressure also lead McDonalds, Frito Lay and McCain Foods
(one of the worlds largest potato processors) to reject Bt potatoes.
Monsanto has since been forced to shut its Bt potato development
facility, and the crop is off the US market. The FDA has approved
genetically engineered rice and sugar beet, but the biotech industry
has been forced to shelve the crops, since farmers know consumers dont
want these GE foods. As more and more Americans learn about GE foods,
it becomes even harder for industry to bring these genetic experiments
into the market.
Yet the industry continues to fight labeling of GE food, so
Greenpeace took action, compiling the True Food Shopping List to
support your right to know what is in your food. Since the first launch
of the List in October 2000, thousands of consumers have joined our
free True Food Network to take action against GE food. The Network
connects consumers across the country in a grassroots effort to force
food companies to stop using GE food. Last year, the Network won a
major victory when a year-long campaign against the supermarket chain
Trader Joes resulted in that company declaring it would eliminate GE
foods from its line of store brand products. Now the campaign is
focusing on other supermarkets, including the New England-based Shaws
stores and the national chain Safeway. In Europe, this kind of consumer
action forced nearly the entire food industry away from GE food.
Together, we can do the same here.
To join the free True Food Network go to www.truefoodnow.org, or call Greenpeace at 1-800-326-0959.
Charles Margulis is a genetic engineering specialist with
Greenpeace. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and a long-time
professional baker.
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