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The Kitchener-Waterloo Record Tuesday June 29, 1999 Genetically modified food raises some difficult questions Jim Romahn's June 21 column, No Evidence New Crop Varieties Are Unsafe, which referred to the safety of genetically modified organisms or GMOs, deeply disturbs me on many levels. His implication that consumers -- that's you and me -- are best kept in the dark about research involving the food we eat lest we become hysterical, irrational and incapable of choosing what we put into our bodies and the bodies of our children is insulting. I also suspect that the issue will be "resolved" through a billion-dollar advertising and public relations campaign to win our confidence rather than through the responsible sharing of information. These huge multinational chemical/seed companies, which are supposed to save the world from hunger through bio-technology, are now responsible for creating a business out of agriculture that is increasing poverty, drought, environmental destruction and the loss of genetic diversity. Family farms around the world, including Canada, are now slaves to the bio-tech/chemical industry. Where farmers once saved seeds from year to year and grew diverse crops appropriate to their area, kept animals and used their composted manure as soil replenishment, they are now beholden to use pesticide-dependent seeds that are sterile and must buy new chemically dependent seeds every year. This obviously raises the cost of food production and it appears also to reduce crop yield while reeking environmental havoc. No evidence these bio-tech foods are unsafe -- hogwash! What about the genetically engineered malformed cotton bolls in Mississippi prematurely falling off the plants? And the genetically engineered mustard plants that are 20 times more likely to cross-pollinate and transfer herbicide-resistance to produce "super-weeds" that are pesticide-resistant? What about the demotion of Dr. Arpad Pusztai, the whistle-blower in Scotland, whose studies with rats that were fed genetically engineered potatoes showed damage to vital organs yet his data and conclusions have been confirmed to be correct? What about the recent report showing an increase in allergies to soy- based baby formula? Soy beans are one of the most highly genetically engineered crops. Do you know that herbicide resistant weeds were unknown before 1970? There are now at least 50. What about the high mortality rate of Monarch butterflies feeding on pollen from genetically engineered corn blown by the wind to neighbouring milkweed plants? And let's not forget the Canadian Environment Commissioner's recent report that of the 23,000 chemicals in use in Canada, our federal government has confirmed tests on 31 of them. Would you trust the government to affirm that bio-engineered food is safe? New crop varieties are safe -- for whom? The basis of any good scientific study is to have a control group and a study group. Why are the companies so passionate about not labelling GMOs? Non- labelling GMOs guarantees we will never know for certain the effects of consuming bio-tech foods. Perhaps that's what they had in mind. Risk versus benefit. I'm sick of taking all the risks for some huge faceless multinational's stockholders benefit. |
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