Genetically Engineered Food - Myths & Realities:

Links to several articles that detail the flaws and great dangers of genetic engineering, as well as on whom stands to profit from it.

1. GM food -- myth and reality

"... The proponents of using genetically modified organisms in food put forward six main reasons as to why GMOs are needed. All six are false and deliberately misleading... People are hungry because they are poor, not because there's not enough food. And if they can't afford to buy conventional food, they'll hardly be able to afford GM food.... According to the US National Academy of Sciences, genetically modified herbicide-resistant soybean is less profitable than conventionally bred varieties. Yields were found to be 6-10% lower for GM crops. Claims that the need for herbicides will decrease with the use of herbicide-resistant crops were also found to be invalid...." The full article can be read at http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2000/412/412p9.htm

2. From the people who brought you Agent Orange

EXCERPT:
"... The corporations that are introducing genetically modified crops into the global ecosystem want you to think of genetic engineering as a well-understood science similar to laparascopic surgery. Indeed, the phrase “genetic engineering” gives the impression that moving genes from one organism to another is as straightforward as designing a rocket or a TV set. This is not the case.

Basically, a plant's genome (all of its genes, taken together) is a black box. Genetic engineering takes a gene from one black box and forces it into a second (the recipient plant), hoping that the new gene will “take”. Once in a few thousand tries, the foreign gene embeds itself in the recipient plant's genome, and the newly modified plant gains the desired trait.

That is all the technicians know. They have no idea where in the receiving plant's genome the new gene has found a home. This fundamental ignorance, combined with the speed and scale at which modified organisms are being released, raises a host of questions of safety for agriculture, for the environment and for human health.

A gene may control several different traits in a plant. Without careful study, plants with undesirable characteristics may be released into the global ecosystem. And biotechnology is not like a chemical spill that can be mopped up -- once you release a new gene sequence into nature, there's no taking it back.
The same gene can have different effects, depending on the environment in which the new plant is growing. What appears predictable and safe after a few years in a small test plot may turn out to have quite different consequences when introduced into millions of acres of crop lands where conditions vary widely.
Does the new gene destabilise the entire plant genome in some unforeseen way, leading one day to problems in that crop? Only time will tell.
Genes can travel to nearby related plants on their own. This is called gene flow. In 1996 gene flow was discovered to be much more common that previously thought.

According to Science magazine, many ecologists say it is only a matter of time before an engineered gene makes the leap to a weedy species, thus creating a new weed or invigorating an old one..."

The full article is available at http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1999/358/358p7.htm

3. Against the grain

EXCERPT:
"... A new book by Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey, Against the Grain, makes it clear that genetic engineering is revolutionising US agriculture almost overnight...... Fully two-thirds of the genetically engineered crops now available or in development are designed specifically to increase the sale of pesticides produced by the companies that are selling the genetically engineered seeds. For example, Monsanto is selling a line of “Roundup Ready” products that has been genetically engineered to withstand heavy doses of Monsanto's all-time top money-making herbicide, Roundup (glyphosate).

A Roundup Ready crop of soybeans can withstand a torrent of Roundup that kills any weeds competing with the crop... To make Roundup Ready technology legal, EPA had to triple the allowable residues of Roundup that can remain on the crop..." This full article can be read at http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1999/362/362p18.htm

4. Is there are a food shortage?

There has been more than enough food in the world, or at least, the means to make it so, for quite some time. But companies stand to profit greatly via patents on genetically engineered food and life forms. This article can be read at http://www.teknet.net.au/~eye/propaganda\articles\gefoodpropaganda.html

5. Also, see http://www.farmingsolutions.org/

Farming Solutions: the website that presents real solutions to hunger and poverty. Farming Solutions brings examples of successful, environmentally responsible farming systems to life from all over the world, illustrating how farmers can protect the environment while at the same time increasing food supply where it is most needed.