Food Fight

The Truth About Genetically Modified Organisms

Greenpeace magazine, Spring 2000

MYTH:
Genetic engineering is merely an extension of traditional breeding

REALITY:
* Genetic engineering is a new technology that has been developed to overcome the limitations of traditional breeding. Traditional breeders have never been able to cross fish genes with strawberries. But genetically engineered "fishberries" are already in the field. With genetic engineering, these types of new organisms can be created and released into the environment.

* Food and Drug Administration scientists stated that genetic engineering is different from traditional breeding, and so are the risks. Yet the FDA continues to assert that GMOs are not different and don't require special regulations.

MYTH:
GMOs can make foods better, more nutritious, longer-lasting better-tasting

REALITY:
* The reason for the 70 million acres of GMO crops grown in this country today has nothing to do with nutrition, flavor or any other consumer benefit. There is little benefit aside from the financial gains reaped by the firms producing GMOs. Nearly all of the GMO corn, soy, potatoes and cotton grown in the United States has been genetically altered so that it can withstand more pesticides or produce its own.

MYTH:
GMO crops will reduce chemical use and are necessary for environmentally sustainable J farming.

REALITY:
* The most widely grown GMO crops are engineered to withstand high doses of herbicides or to contain their own insecticide. In the first case, studies have shown that many farmers actually use more chemicals on their fields. One study of over 8,000 university-based field trials suggested that farmers who plant Monsanto's engineered soy use 2.5 times more herbicide than non-GMO farmers who use integrated weed-control methods. Monsanto created "Roundup Ready" (RR) soy, corn and cotton specifically so that farmers would continue to buy Roundup, a chemical weed killer that is Monsanto's biggest money-maker and that is sold together with the RR seed.

* GMO crops that produce an insecticide may be the greatest threat to sustainable agriculture on the planet. Many organic farmers rely on a natural bacterial spray to control certain crop pests, but the advent of "insect-resistant" crops is likely to lead to insects that are no longer killed by this natural pesticide. When the natural bacteria is rendered ineffective, other farmers will turn to toxic chemicals to deal with the "superbugs" created by GMOs-but organic farmers will be out of options.

MYTH:
The Government ensures that genetic engineering is safe for the environment and human I health.

REALITY:
* Neither the FDA, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), nor the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has done any long-term testing of GMOs in food or the environment, nor has any regulation specific to bioengineered food been established. Biotech companies are on the honor system. They have virtually no requirements to show that this new technology is safe.

* FDA scientists and doctors warned that GMO foods could have new and different risks such as hidden allergens, increased plant-toxin levels and the potential to hasten the spread of antibiotic resistant disease.

* The USDA has reviewed more than 5,000 applications for biotech crop field trials without denying a single one.

* USDA officials claimed they would conduct long-term studies of GMO crops, but have no plans to require any pre-market or pre-release assessment. Studies conducted after our environment and food supply have been contaminated will be too late.

MYTH:
There is no scientific evidence that GMOs harm people J or the environment

REALITY:
* There is no long-term study showing that GMOs are safe, yet the biotech industry and government have allowed our environment and our families to become test subjects in these experiments.

* Laboratory and field evidence do show that GMOs can harm beneficial insects, damage soils and transfer GMO genes in the environment, thereby contaminating neighboring crops and potentially creating uncontrollable weeds.

MYTH: GMOs are necessary to feed the developing world's J growing population.

REALITY: · Genetic engineering could actually lead to an increase in hunger and starvation. Biotech companies eagerly pursue a genetic engineering technique named "terminator" technology that would render a crop's seed sterile, making it impossible for farmers to save seed for replanting. Half the world's farmers rely on saved seed to produce food that 1.4 billion people rely on for daily nutrition.

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