Should we fear our food? In my opinion, yes. An article was recently published in The Daily regarding food technology and all it has to offer ("Genetic engineering of food: For the test tube or your dinner plate?" 4/3). However, the negatives surrounding this issue were tip toed around and I believe everyone should be aware of what's happening to our food. The three main controversial points to genetically engineered (GE) food are environmental harm, public information, and regulation.
You would assume that the government only allows technologies to be implemented that have been thoroughly tested and proven to do no harm. But this is not the case regarding GE foods and the environment. For example, the corn that produces its own pesticide, Bt corn, has toxic effects on monarch butterflies. Also, RoundUp Ready Pesticide has been shown to threaten at least 74 endangered plant species as well as possibly cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. GE crops can lead to pollen drift, which results in genetic pollution of non-GE crop fields as well as super weeds and contaminated soil. In the 20th century alone, approximately 75 percent of genetic diversity within agriculture has been lost. These affects are only the beginning.
In case you haven't noticed, your food does not have labels on it informing you that there are GE ingredients within the product. Consumers do not have the choice to avoid eating these ingredients. For those of you who don't think this is a problem, let me convince you with three examples: First off, vegetarians may be consuming animal products that have had their genes spliced into a vegetable. Secondly, Jews who keep kosher may be unknowingly eating pork products. And most frighteningly, people allergic to nuts and other food products may be eating those life-threatening foods without even knowing it. This last example has already occurred when Brazil nut genes were spliced into soybeans with no label on the product. There is ongoing research investigating two dozen possible allergic reactions in people who consumed StarLink corn this past fall before it could be recalled. How safe does that sound?
In my opinion, government regulations are there to protect the public first and foremost, not the corporations behind the technology. The three big organizations that regulate food products are the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). At this point, the USDA only requires minimal ecological tests during field trials and is one of the biggest funders of biotech research. The FDA considers GE foods substantially equivalent to traditionally grown food and therefore requires no safety testing or toxicological analysis. The EPA looks out for potential environmental and human effects, but does not require labeling.
The biotech industry is so powerful and economically influential that government organizations are not pressuring it to be cautious. This may be boosting the biotech companies, but it's hurting the farmers who are becoming more and more dependent on the companies to supply them with seeds and chemicals. Where will the government draw the line?
While I applaud the efforts of biotech companies to help solve world hunger, creating more food is not the priority at this point. The real priority is distributing it more equally. Also, that ever-so-wonderful Golden A Rice that you've been hearing so much about is not solving any problems. For a child to receive the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin A, he would have to eat eight pounds of this rice per day, which is completely ridiculous. Also, GE foods may be considered more nutritious at times, but that positive factor is cancelled out by all the chemicals used to produce the food.
You may be wondering how much of our food contains GE ingredients. The current estimate is 75 percent of processed foods contain GE ingredients, including brands such as Gardenburger, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and Quaker Chewy Granola Bars. GE foods are everywhere and there's no avoiding them unless you eat 100 percent organic food, and that's not necessarily a guarantee.
So what can you do to help change the future of our food? I have some suggestions to become active in this battle. Try checking out some informative websites for GE food activism and ways to get involved (www.cleanwateraction.org -the Safe Foods Campaign, www.thecampaign.org, www.gene-watch.org) and possibly start an activist group on campus to remove GE foods from Dining Services.
You can petition local government officials to get GE foods labeled in the supermarkets and support three upcoming bills in the Massachusetts Legislature regarding GE foods. Also, boycott local supermarkets, like Shaw's and Star Market, whose storebrand food has tested positive for GE ingredients (their parent company in England banned all GE ingredients several years ago). These are some of the many ways to get involved.
Just a few more facts: The US is one of only two major industrialized countries that allows GE foods into the food supply. Most of Europe has banned it and will not import a large majority of our crops. In case you're still not convinced of the potential risks of GE foods, I'd like to leave you with a quote from the director of corporate communications for Monsanto (a leading biotech corporation), Phil Angell. He said, "Monsanto should not have to vouch for the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible" (New York Times Magazine, 1998).
Alison Patti is a senior majoring in biology. She is working on the Safe Foods Campaign at Clean Water Action in Boston.
