Genetically modified (GM) foods stories keep popping up in
the news, raising public awareness of significant GM issues. This post examines
two of the big GM stories currently in the press.
Results of a French study published in September[i] revealed
a disturbing increase in the development of tumours and damage to the livers
and kidneys of rats fed a diet containing GM-corn (with and without the
herbicide Roundup sprayed on the crop[ii]),
rats fed non-GM corn but administered Roundup in their drinking water at levels
equal to the [“acceptable” level of] contamination in some drinking water, and rats
given water with Roundup levels comparable to that found in sprayed-on GM food
crops but not fed GM food. In the study, the health of all these rats was compared
to rats fed a non-GM, non-Roundup diet. 50-80% of the female rats in all
treatment groups developed tumours within two years (mostly mammary), compared
to 30% of the control group rats, and those tumours were on average two or
three times larger than tumours that developed in the control group rats. Treated
male rats developed massive kidney, liver and skin tumours and had unusually high
mortality rates. Previous GM food trials with rats only lasted 90 days and did
not show significant health risks associated with consumption of GM corn. The
study is considered controversial (Monsanto, the makers of Roundup, are “dismissive”)[iii] but
alarm bells are ringing.
Although anti-GM activists have been quick to talk about the
study as if it is just about GM foods, the real story here, I think, is that it
didn’t matter very much which of the “treated” groups the rats were in: GM
food, GM food treated with Roundup, or just Roundup, nor did it seem to matter
very much if they just got a little or a lot, all of the treated groups showed abnormal numbers and aggressive growth
of tumours and high mortality. Since GM corn is specifically modified by
Monsanto to be Roundup-resistant, this suggests that even if the rats weren’t
exposed to Roundup directly, if they were fed GM corn then they were fed a
product that is genetically linked to the herbicide Roundup. Furthermore, it
suggests that even limited (i.e. “acceptable”) exposure to Roundup or GM foods has
a deleterious effect.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, an estimated 88%
of the US corn crop is genetically modified, and over 90% of the soybean crop[iv], and one must presuppose that those crops are being sprayed with Roundup. Most
of this production is used in animal feeds, cooking oils, margarine, and corn syrup (a
common sweetener). Many other food crops are genetically modified as well, and one
source estimates some 30,000 products on American supermarket shelves contain
GM ingredients[v]. Its
estimated that the average American eats some 193 pounds (87.5 kg) of GM foods
per year, broken down roughly as 68 pounds of beet sugar, 58 pounds of corn
syrup, 38 pounds of soybean oil, and 29 pounds of corn-based products[vi]—more
than his/her bodyweight!
The other big GM story at the moment is Proposition 37, a
proposed statue (law) in the State of California that reads, in its short form:
Requires labelling of
food sold to consumers made from plants or animals with genetic material
changed in specified ways. Prohibits marketing such food, or other processed
food, as “natural”. Provides exemptions.
The statue is up for a vote on November 6. At the moment, GM
foods and food ingredients need not be identified as such in the U.S.[vii],
so California is breaking new ground with this proposal. It’s not surprising
that “the right to know what is in our food” campaign is being fought against vigorously
by a hoard of agri-science chemical companies with Monsanto leading the way
(over $7 million spent to campaign against the bill), followed by Dupont
(almost $5 million), Dow ($2 million), and Beyer ($2 million). Other big-time
contributors to the “vote no” campaign include Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Nestles,
General Mills, and Kelloggs[viii].
They claim the new law would add government bureaucracy to food production,
increase food prices, and invite law suits.
There are no major industrial supporters for the “vote yes”
side of the campaign, only a handful of committed individuals coughing what
they can. It seems a highly lop-sided fight. One of the most ardent “vote yes”
supporters is Dr Joseph Mercola, who has fronted over $1 million to support the bill; he sums it up: “Your health care, your food
supply, everything you need to live a healthy life is now being taken away and
controlled by a massive industrial complex and corrupt government.”[ix]
There is a growing awareness among ordinary consumers that
GM is not the saviour for modern farming and food production that agri-chemical
companies like Monsanto have tried to make us believe, and there is a growing distrust
of the “it’s all perfectly safe and good for you” message that big food and
chemical corporations keep feeding us about GM foods. I suspect that even if
Proposition 37 fails this time around, it will be back in another form
somewhere else, very soon. And I’ll be
expecting more rat studies...
For more on the GM/Monsanto story, see my earlier post The Inextricable Links Between GeneticallyModified Foods and Agri-chemical Companies.
[ii]
GM-corn was developed to be resistant to Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, enabling
farmers to spray and kill weeds in their crops with Roundup without killing the
desired plants. See my earlier post The Inextricable Links Between GeneticallyModified Foods and Agri-chemical Companies.
[vii]
Labelling is required in New Zealand, but I’m personally sceptical that all of those
products on our supermarket shelves that say “made with local and imported
ingredients” are always 100% GM free, or that food items imported from the US
that contains corn- or soy-based ingredients would have special NZ labels put
on them, given American producers are not required to indicate any GMO
ingredients.
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