Gmo - We Have the Right to Know

Cristina Varvariuc

Professor Marilyn Sahiba-Burke

English 102

December 4, 2015

GMO - We Have the Right to Know

Certainly, one of the most important needs for humans is food. Not taking into consideration our beliefs, religion, social status or race we all would not survive without proper nutrition. It is essential for all of us to get the necessary amount of nutrients in order to lead a healthy lifestyle. Many years ago scientists have started to investigate this vast area in order to develop a rational replacement for nutrients we all necessitate so much. This became the start point of a long discussed controversy of Genetically Modified Organisms versus Organic Food.

What do we really know about these products?! So much talking and affirmations on this matter but when closely approached, unfortunately, the vast majority of our “healthy eaters” society would not even be able to decipher what the term “GMO” stands for. The debate can go on and on, nevertheless, our society should be aware whether it is safer to consume organic food which was perceived to be more environmentally sound or follow the evolution and let the GMO foods in our lives. Whether you are a pro or contra genetically modified products, we all need to know what the benefits are and what the price we might pay for these “miraculous foods”.

First, it is important to start with the unveiling of this mystic term “GMO”, which stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. Monsanto, the company that introduced this term to us and became a synonym of GMO is defining it as “any organism the genetics of which have been altered through the use of modern biotechnology to create a novel combination of genetic material. GMOs may be the source of genetically modified food ingredients and are also widely used in scientific research and to produce goods other than food” (1). More than a third of all the genetically modified crops were designed in order to become more resistant to various viruses and illnesses, be more tolerant to enormous doses of herbicides and have better nutritional value.

The USA is the pioneer in this field and the vast majority of tomatoes, corn, potatoes soybean, sugar beet and fruits are genetically modified. According to Forbes more than 95 percent of animals consume GM feed (2). Doubtfully, the main reason of genetically modified products is the low cost of labor and their rich nutrition. The distribution of GM products is stimulated by their producers- transnational companies and is a direct result of the process called globalization. The fact that good crops can be obtained without the use of chemicals and GMO doesn’t go together with the plans of the HI tech corporations that are massively raising their profits. Data published in 2010 in the ISAAA brief speaks for itself, “the accumulated hectarage planted during the 15 years, 1996 to 2010, exceeded for the first time, 1 billion hectares, which is equivalent to more than 10% of the enormous total land area of the USA (937 million hectares) or China (956 million hectares)” (3). The USA still remains the main producer of GM crops.

Since the very first production of GM products, these crops have created a lot of debates. GMO supporters assure that bio-engineered products are harmless and have no distinctive traits from the crops grown by our ancestors centuries ago in the old-fashioned way. On the other hand, the data speaks for itself. Some people have developed serious allergies when consuming genetically modified soybean with the inserted gene of Brazilian nut tolerant to Roundup herbicide. Rats that were fed for nine months by GM food had developed lowering in immune system. Bacillus thuringiensis, gene of the bacteria inserted in the genome of potato produces a substance that paralyzes masticatory muscles of Colorado potato beetle and causes its death. This list can go on and on. It is hard to imagine what other negative facts are still unknown to our society and what is being hidden.

Consequently, one of the key ethical issues with genetically modified plants consists in the inevitability of this process, the moment you plant a genetically modified plant in soil, it will be impossible to reverse the process.  This can affect our environment in an unforeseeable way. Moreover, other plants naturally grown plants might be contaminated by pollen from the genetically modified ones. This might lead to a total mutation of our crops, thus, there will be no more naturally grown crop left.

Unexpectedly, there is very little known about GM foods and their impact on our organisms. Jose L. Domingo, Professor of Toxicology and Environmental Health, said it all in one of his articles for a science magazine: “Health Risks of Genetically Modified Foods: Many Opinions but Few Data” (4). Indeed, one has to agree that no real studies were put out about health risk of GM foods. There was no factual data published or proven by studies. This information is so top secret that only scientists with a patent are allowed to study GM foods. Why is it so that people are treated like laboratory rats?!

One of the oldest consumer protection agencies of the United States is the FDA, which stands for Food and Drug Administration. This gigantic “food safety guardian” regulates GMO products, though it’s difficult to call this process “safety regulation”. Let me tell you why. The process of regulating and testing GM products was adopted to be voluntary. Thus, as long as the innovative products have no significant difference from its original items, those are considered “sufficiently equivalent” and ready to be sold at any local market. It seems that these foods could lack a large number of health and environmental safety checks and, therefore, too much information is being kept in dark from public.

Almost every area of food production is using genetic engineering technics to crop biotech foods or GMO. Nowadays the term GMO has become a sort of boogeyman, something we have never seen and do not know much about but terrified about. People are consuming these products daily without even knowing it. The first genetically modified vegetable that appeared on our tables was tomato.  The list of genetically altered products continues and is shockingly immense. Corn is the most widely spread GMO alternative, besides it, soybeans, cotton, beets, potatoes, squash, golden rice, oils, apples. Just a few weeks ago on November 19, 2015 the FDA has approved for sale and consumption salmon. This first genetically modified animal product will soon be out in the market and we won’t be able to spot it out since no label is required. Remarkably, in its approval letter the FDA chose to review it as a drug, “We approve your original animal drug application (NADA) for the following…” (5). In that case, is this salmon a fish or a drug?!