Terrific report from Carmelo Ruiz, based on his forthcoming book, 'Transgenic Ballad: Biotechnology, Globalization and the Clash of Paradigms' - 'BALADA TRANSGENICA: Biotecnologia, Globalizacion y el Choque de Paradigmas', por Carmelo Ruiz Marrero (251 paginas, $17.00)
---

Biotech Crops and Foods: The Risks and Alternatives
By Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
The Oakland Institute
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/?q=node/view/336

Download this report in PDF
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/RTC2006/BIOTECH_CROPS_AND_FOODS.pdf

"Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food.... Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job." -- Phil Angell, Director of Corporate Communications, Monsanto, quoted in the New York Times Magazine, October 25, 1998

"Ultimately, it is the food producer who is responsible for assuring safety." -- FDA, "Statement of Policy: Foods Derived from New Plant Varieties", (GMO Policy), Federal Register, Vol. 57, No. 104 (1992), p. 22991

The raging worldwide controversy over genetically engineered (GE) crops and products continues to grow.

Proponents claim these novel crops are helping feed the hungry, improve the economic situation of farmers and make agriculture more environmentally sound. "Biotechnology can address environmental degradation, hunger, and poverty in the developing world by providing improved agricultural productivity and greater nutritional security," claims AgBioWorld, a pro-biotechnology organization. "The next generation of products promises to provide even greater benefits to consumers, such as enhanced nutrition, healthier oils, enhanced vitamin content, longer shelf life and improved medicines."

But a growing number of critics, which include environmentalists, farmers, intellectuals, indigenous peoples, students, academics, biologists, agronomists and people from all walks of life and from all over the world, hold that genetic engineering presents serious social and ecological questions that the proponents have not addressed adequately. They state that GE crops and foods are not safe, that biotechnology has inherent risks, and that it brings new forms of dependence and domination to farmers and consumers. Furthermore, they claim that GE crops are not necessary at all and that ecologically sound and socially equitable alternatives do exist.

What is the truth then? Are GE foods safe? Are GE crops environmentally benign? Can biotechnology mitigate poverty and fight world hunger? After ten years of commercial use, what is the track record of this new technology?

Some Basic Facts

Genetically engineered organisms, also called transgenic or genetically modified (GMO), are those that have had their genetic code, or genome, altered through genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is a biotechnology that allows the introduction of foreign genes into a genome. This technique is used to create gene combinations that would be impossible through natural processes like sexual reproduction - for example, introducing flounder genes into tomatoes, bacterial genes into corn, or even human genes into rice.

Genetic engineering depends on the assumption (now realized to be too simplistic) that one gene equals one trait. Therefore, favorable traits, such as increased nutritional content or pest resistance, can be introduced into food crops in the hope of improving agriculture. Both proponents and opponents of this new technology often refer to it generically as "biotechnology".

Since the US government's approval of biotech crops for commercial production in 1996, Americans and people all over the world have been unwittingly eating genetically engineered foods. There were no public hearings or environmental impact statements. In the US there was no public debate or notification of any kind and furthermore, GE foods are not labeled.

* Practically all GE crops in the market now are soy, corn, cotton or canola.

* The majority of these (soy and canola) were engineered by the Monsanto corporation to be resistant to Roundup, a herbicide made by the same company, and are known as Roundup Ready crops. The rest (corn and cotton) were engineered to be pest-resistant and are known as Bt crops.

* Over 90% of farm acreage devoted to GE crops in the world is in the Americas. Three countries alone account for most of this acreage: The United States, Canada and Argentina.

* US-based Monsanto is the undisputed world leader in agricultural biotechnology, accounting for 90% of the world's GE crops.

* In the United States, 85% of all soy acreage, 45% of all corn acreage and 76% of all cotton is genetically engineered.

* It is estimated that 70% of processed foods sold in American supermarkets are either GE or contain GE ingredients.

* Industry is adamantly opposed to labeling GE products, and has invested substantially in the US and internationally to this end.

INHERENT RISKS?

According to the pro-industry AgBioWorld, "Crops improved through biotechnology have undergone more safety and environmental testing than any crop varieties in history, and have been produced and consumed by humans and animals in millions of tons around the world for years. They have been proven as safe as the scientific method permits, by every valid method known to science and medicine. There is, to date, not a single solitary confirmed case of human or animal illness or disease associated with a biotech crop. Nor has a single negative environmental impact been credibly attributed to biotech-improved varieties."

Is that so? The following cases show that there is reason to be concerned about the safety of GE foods.

Pusztai's Potatoes

Questions over the safety of GE foods were raised as far back as in 1998, when renowned scientist Arpad Pusztai, of Scotland's Rowett Research Institute, tested an experimental GE potato on laboratory rats. At the time of this experiment, there was very little in the peer-reviewed scientific literature on the safety of GE foods (a full two years after their introduction into the market!); Pusztai's was the first independent study to that end.

The rats fed on the GE potatoes suffered