 |
The London Free Press (Canada)
Monday June 28, 1999Are Genetically Modified Crops
Safe? No.
Genetically modified crops should be presumed to be unsafe for
human consumption, and the health of the environment, until they are
proven to be safe.
Despite much rhetoric on the subject, there is no such proof.
The burden of proof that crops are safe should reside with the
developers of the crop, usually multinational chemical companies.
Government regulators assume the crops are safe based on the
presumption they are substantially equivalent to crops that have not
been genetically modified. Genetically modified crops are crops
whose fundamental genetic makeup has been modified in the laboratory
frequently by introducing genes into the crop from viruses, bacteria
or animals.
Governments in Canada and the United States agree with the chemical
companies assuming that since modified crops are substantially
equivalent they need not be tested to levels required by
pharmaceutical drugs and pesticides and that altered crops need not
be labelled in the market. The decision that such food need not be
labelled not only deprives the consumer of free choice but also
prevents the identification of those injured by eating modified
crops. Essentially all processed foods contain soy, corn, canola or
cotton seed, all of which have mixed and unlabelled genetically
modified components.
Only certified organic foods can be assumed to be free of modified
components. In the European Union (EU) the population has real
concern over the safety of modified crops and have required that
such crops and their processed products be labelled in the market or
restricted. This action has had a strong impact on imports. Grain
handlers in the U.S. have begun to pay a premium to producers of
crops that have not been genetically modified. In Canada, farmers
seem to have been encouraged to plant modified crops that required
costly premiums while the export market was ignored. Promoters of
such crops seem fanatic in the belief that everybody should be
forced to consume it regardless of their concerns.
Concerns about the safety of modified crops include:
- The crops will injure people or animals, including damage to the
immune system, allergy or autoimmune disease. A study from York
University in England showed that allergy to soy increased greatly
after modified soy was introduced. The study pointed out that the
failure to label modified food made it difficult to relate allergy
to the food.
In Scotland, a scientist found that modified potatoes weakened the
immune system of rats. He was summarily retired from his research
post for making his findings public.
- Virus components of modified crops will recombine invading virus
to make virus strains that are more hazardous. Such recombinant
viruses have been observed in laboratory experiments. However, crops
with virus genes continue to be released to the environment.
- Crops with genes for insecticides will destroy helpful or
bystander insects. Recent experiments showed that modified corn
threatens the Monarch butterfly. Earlier beneficial insects
including lacewing and ladybug were shown to be injured by such
crops.
- Human and animal bystanders will be injured by breathing pollen
- from modified crops. People will be forced to breathe pollen from
modified corn, canola and cotton if they live in the area growingsuch crops.
Such pollen is known to cause allergy and the impact ofgene products and
DNA on
the airway has escaped regulatory oversight.Crops grown with medical products
such as interferon or monoclonal
antibodies may have a powerful impact on the human airway.
- Antibiotic resistance genes in modified crops may be transferred
to pathogenic bacteria in animals. Such transfers have been observed
in a European laboratory.
- Genes from modified crops may be spread to neighbouring crops or
to wild species in pollen. Spread of genes has been observed and
creation of herbicide-tolerant super weeds has been predicted.
Such crop modifications are achieved using terribly dangerous
viruses that should not be released to the environment. The dangers
of modified crops offset the benefits. Modified foods should be
labelled in the market to allow detection of ill effects from eating
them.
Claims by industry that crops are needed to forestall impending
world famine are groundless. Starving people simply cannot afford
the technology. Even worse, fanatical efforts to force other
countries to market unlabelled modified crops or hormone-laden dairy
products or meat by the United States government should be resisted. |