Why are people concerned about GMOs?
Biotech industries claim that their GE technology will revolutionize the food industry and help to feed a growing (and hungry) world population. However, a deeper investigation reveals that the development of biotechnology is fueled mostly by huge profit potential on the part of a few large multinational corporations, and not for consumer benefit. GE foods provide another outlet for such corporations to gain control over the global food system and pocket the returns.
Meanwhile, although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the biotech industry hold that GE crops are "substantially equivalent" to conventional products, there have been no long-term studies to date to determine whether GE products are safe for public consumption. On the contrary, the potential problems with GMO products raise some serious questions:
- There have been cases of allergenic or toxic residues found in these products. In the most tragic example, 38 people were killed and over 1,500 permanently disabled in 1989 after being exposed to a GE version of the amino acid L-tryptophan. The amino acid had previously been used to treat mild mood disorders. [See EMS's page on Transgenic Contaminants for more information on such phenomena.]
- Many foods have been engineered to resist herbicide treatment and to produce their own pesticides. This means that consumers who eat GE foods are potentially exposed to more herbicides than those who eat conventional foods.
- A recent study by the UK government shows that antibiotic-resistant genes can move from GE foods to bacteria found naturally in the human gut. This means that humans eating GE foods are at risk of developing diseases or infections that may be untreatable by conventional antibiotics.
- It is possible that if herbicide-resistant GE crops transmigrate into the natural environment, they could become superweeds ? difficult if not impossible to destroy.
- GE products may also contaminate wild populations or even non-GE fields through pollen drift, putting the purity of organic farms in jeopardy. [See EMS's Gene Flow page and UCS's page on the Risks of Genetic Engineering for more information.]
Because of the potential threats of GE foods to public health and safety and to the environment, many consumer groups are advocating that GE products be labeled as such. Public opinion polls indicate that the vast majority of US citizens also support such a move. However, while European countries now require labeling of GE foods, the US has yet to adopt such measures.
GE and GMO References
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