What's the Problem with GMOs?

In agriculture, GMOs are the result of a gene from one living organism being spliced on to the DNA of another plant to give it new or different characteristics. For example, a gene from an Arctic fish has been inserted into tomatoes to make them frost resistant, and a natural occurring bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt) has been spliced into corn and potatoes to stop insect damage.

The health and environmental risks of genetically engineered foods are very real. A soybean receiving a brazil-nut gene to boost its protein level has caused allergic reactions in people with nut allergies. Research at Cornell University has demonstrated that pollen from Bt corn (which can drift to nearby milkweed plants) kills monarch butterfly caterpillars. In Canada, research on the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH) uncovered human health concerns including a strong link to prostate and breast cancer. The Canadian government, unlike our own, has denied approval for its use.

One of the most concerning things about GMOs is that the hazards may not be readily apparent. Witchgrass, a parasitic weed that feeds on the roots of cereals and legumes in Africa and destroys up to 40% of key food crops in these desperately hungry areas, is an interesting example. The tiny seeds of witchgrass can lay dormant for 20 years waiting for the natural chemicals emitted from host plant roots to arouse them. Each witchgrass plant can produce as many as 100,000 seeds, making it nearly impossible to eradicate. (It took nearly 40 years to stop a small outbreak in the Carolinas.) A GMO solution was conceived: create herbicide resistant cereal crops like sorghum and millet, which could be sprayed aggressively with a weed killer that would kill the witchgrass. An herbicide resistant sorghum was developed by Pioneer Seeds in the early 1990's, but before it was introduced to the market a university plant geneticist showed that this new GMO sorghum readily hybridizes with Johnson grass (a noxious weed relative of sorghum). Had the herbicide resistant sorghum been released, it could have created a "super weed" incapable of being controlled with normal weed killers.

Though the risks of genetic engineering in agriculture are widely known, US government regulation is lacking. The EPA has no enforcement mechanisms in place for testing genetically modified foods. FDA regulation invites companies with a new biotech food to decide whether they need to consult with FDA regulators. This is in stark contrast to what happens in Europe, where genetically modified foods must be labeled for consumer awareness and protection. European consumers have become so concerned about GMOs that they have essentially stopped the introduction of new genetically engineered food products into stores and halted the introduction of GMOs into agricultural crops.

Are genetically modified organisms bad or good, and what is a smart response in the US given that all agriculture (and gardening!) involves some amount of human intervention in natural processes?

We return to the basics that underscore the founding of Gardener's Supply Company to answer this question. We need to respect nature and learn from natural processes to create an agriculture that is most healthy for humans and ecosystems. Trying to dominate and overcome nature with chemical agriculture, distant monoculture megafarms, diverting rivers and depleting aquifers, replacing family farmers with corporate farmers has produced lots of food but this type of agriculture is proving unsustainable. Genetic engineering is just the latest effort to centralize and dominate food production by the industrial agriculture mentality. So, should we ban all scientific progress in agriculture? No! But we should ask and understand who gains and who loses from GMO developments (including who "owns" and profits from the resulting technologies). And we should make certain gene manipulation decisions that affect the course of evolution are firmly in the hands of the most knowledgeable and ethical people we can find.

In Australia, genetic-technology guidelines were formulated by a group designed to represent "average" citizens. These guidelines make sense, and we should push for a similar consensus here in the US. The Australian guidelines include:

*Create a regulatory organization with statutory authority to oversee GMO developments with balanced representation (including ethicists and lay people) conducting business in an open public process.

*Prohibit any new commercial releases of GMO's until the regulatory organization is in place and an all-encompassing labeling system for GMO's in food is established.

*Decisions about new GMO's need to go beyond science and commerce to include environmental and human health concerns.

*Government should develop strategies to prepare for environmental and health problems caused by GMO's.

*Government should research the affect of multinational monopolies in the food industry.

The four decade attitude of the US government as stated by Earl Butz, Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture in the 1970's, that "farmers should get big or get dead" must be reversed in the new millenium. Control over technologies that will increase corporate domination over food production and potentially cause health and environmental disasters needs to be given back to us all. Let's follow the Australian example.

Here is a list of resources for more information, as well as places to register your concerns about biotechnology issues. We urge you to write to your congressional representatives, and have provided a phone number for the U.S. Capitol Switchboard Directory.

Union of Concerned Scientists, Two Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA 02238; (617) 547-5552, fax: (617) 864-9405. Excellent bio-technology publication called The Gene Exchange.

International Center for Technology Assessment (also the Center for Food Safety), 310 D St. NE, Washington, DC 20002; (202) 547-9359, fax: (202) 547-9429.

Rural Advancement Foundation Alliance (RAFI)- International Office, 110 Osborne St., Suite 202, Winnipeg MB R3L 1Y5, Canada; (204) 453-5259, fax:

U.S. Capitol Switchboard (to find phone numbers of members of congress) (202) 224-3121.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail: info@gardeners.com

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