I think that genetically modified foods need to be banned from the food supply. They aren’t safe.
Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association, makes the case against the foods in his fact sheet “Hazards of Genetically Engineered Food and Crops: Why We Need a Global Moratorium.”
Cummins points out these safety issues with genetically modified food:
- Randomly inserting together the genes of non-related species – utilizing viruses, antibiotic-resistant genes, and bacteria as vectors, markers, and promoters – permanently alters their genetic codes.
An increasing number of scientists are warning that current gene-splicing techniques are crude, inexact, and unpredictable – and therefore inherently dangerous.
Dr. Michael Antoniou, a British molecular scientist, points out gene-splicing has already resulted in the “unexpected production of toxic substances… in genetically engineered bacteria, yeast, plants, and animals with the problem remaining undetected until a major health hazard has arisen.”
Several years ago, researchers conducting experiments at Michigan State University found that genetically altering plants to resist viruses can cause the viruses to mutate into new, more virulent forms.
Recent studies have found that U.S. farmers growing genetically engineered crops are using just as many toxic pesticides and herbicides as conventional farmers and in some cases are using more.
Wind, rain, birds, bees, and insect pollinators have begun carrying genetically altered pollen into adjoining fields, polluting the DNA of crops of organic and non-genetically engineered farmers.
Genetically engineering crops to be herbicide-resistant or to produce their own pesticide presents dangerous problems. Pests and weeds will inevitably emerge that are pesticide or herbicide-resistant, which means that stronger, more toxic chemicals will be needed to get rid of the pests.
Genetically engineered patents such as the Terminator Technology will render seeds infertile and force hundreds of millions of farmers who now save and share their seeds to purchase ever more-expensive genetically engineered seeds and chemical inputs from a handful of global biotech/seed monopolies, forcing the farmers into “bioserfdom.”
If American politicians can’t gather the backbone to ban genetically modified foods, then they should enact the moratorium that Cummins calls for in his fact sheet.
At the very least, these foods should be labeled. Consumers have the right to be informed, the right to safety, and the right to a healthy and sustainable environment. They need to be able to make informed decisions about what they eat. Many consumers don’t want to eat genetically modified food, and they must have the information on labels to make this choice.
Consumers need to take action to let their government representatives and food companies know that they want genetically modified foods banned, or at least labeled.
You can contact the following groups opposing the use of genetically modified foods to join their action programs:
Union of Concerned Scientists
Foodconsumer.org
Greenpeace
Center for Food Safety
Sierra Club
Friends of the Earth
