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The vast majority of soybeans grown in the U.S. come from genetically modified seeds. Public health and environmental advocates wonder whether these “frankenfoods” are hurting our health and the environment.
What’s the current thinking on the safety of genetically engineered or modified products with regard to environmental, farm worker and consumer health? — A.J. Cary, NC
Few topics are as divisive as genetic engineering. Plants and animals that have had their genomes artificially altered now dominate the world of agriculture. The vast majority of U.S.-grown corn and soybeans are genetically engineered. In grocery stores, over 60 percent of processed foods contain at least some components derived from GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Given all this, it makes sense to ask whether or not these altered forms of life have deleterious effects on humans or the environment.
When it comes to human health, the evidence suggests GMOs are harmless. Exhaustive meta-analyses of scientific studies on GMOs have generally found no links between their consumption and negative health outcomes. However, there are some caveats. One is that the biotechnology companies responsible for the creation of GMOs have also been responsible for a large portion of the research on their health effects. Therefore, financial conflicts of interest may have tainted the research. Additionally, many scientists still feel that the jury isn’t out on the safety of GMOs. A 2015 scientific paper signed by 300 independent researchers from around the world states that the effects of GMOs on health remain “unclear.”
Another factor is that scientific studies on GMO-related health risks have generally been short term. We can’t extrapolate the effects of years of GMO consumption on human health by looking at the seemingly null results from a year-long study on rodents. It could still be that GMOs are causing health issues, but we’ve failed to establish a causal link because of how long these issues take to manifest. That said, it’s quite possible that most (if not all) GMOs on the market today are completely safe to eat. Regardless, testing should continue, especially for new varieties of GMOs that aren’t well studied.
Environmentally, GMOs are a mixed bag. Most crops are genetically modified in an effort to fight pests. There are two ways to accomplish this goal. The first is to create plants that produce pest-killing toxins “endogenously”: When pests eat such plants, they die. These types of GMOs can actually be good for the environment in that they often don’t require as many pesticides as unmodified plants.
Unfortunately, an alternate pest fighting strategy that also uses genetic modification—engineering plants to be resistant to pesticides and herbicides—has the opposite effect, generally leading to an increase in agricultural waste. Also of concern is the genetic contamination of wild species due to cross breeding with GMOs. This is particularly a risk in the case of GMO farmed salmon. If these fish escape fish farming operations and contaminate wild stocks, the ecological consequences could be severe.
All in all, GMOs are still shrouded in uncertainty. They seem to have some benefits, and many scientists believe they can help address world hunger. However, there’s still a chance GMOs could cause health issues, and they have already caused some environmental issues. If you’re not convinced by the research to date, and prefer to avoid GMOs altogether, look for the non-GMO project label on the foods you buy.
CONTACTS: “No scientific consensus on GMO safety,” bit.ly/no-consensus; GMOs: Pros & Cons, healthline.com/health/gmos-pros-and-cons; “5 big takeaways from the most thorough review of GMOs yet,” vox.com/2016/5/18/11690992/gmos-review-evidence-safety-health.EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss for the 501(c)3 nonprofit EarthTalk. See more at https://emagazine.com. To donate, visit https://earthtalk.org. Send questions to: [email protected]
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Since every genetically modified or otherwise altered organism is potentially bad, we have to destroy all crops humans plant, as they’re not the wild type and were modified by centuries of engineering traits. All domesticated animals must be destroyed as well, dogs aren’t their wolf predecessors, cats aren’t their wild cat ancestors and don’t even get me started on parrots, parakeets and canaries!
Everything modified by man must go. Back to grass huts and caves.
Because, some believe that we adsorb the DNA of what we eat, so once we eat a celery, we are a celery and ineligible to vote. Plants aren’t allowed to vote.
That is how silly this all can get, since we modified something. Some plants already produce insecticides that we’ve long consumed, we add it to another plant and we’re going to turn into the Creature from the Black Lagoon or something.
Agricultural waste, trumpeted on high, while never mentioning that water is the largest waste (pesticides and fertilizers belong in fields, not in runoff, bad for the environment and a waste of money), not to mention how much of our crops get eaten by pests. No, let’s do less with less, we need to lose more weight, some weigh more than a paperclip!
If it’s all the same to you, I’ll leave science to scientists, medicine to doctors and cutting up animals to butchers. It doesn’t go well when scientists are overruled by politicians, doctors overruled on brain surgery by butchers.
Now, excuse me, I need to order some GMO soybean seeds. I actually enjoy eating soybeans.
And with luck, some great broad beans (I’m immune to the toxin that afflicts G6PD deficient folks, but I do have to check with guests, lest I give them something that’ll dissolve their red blood cells).
And a butt ton of tomato seeds. Have a care, if you don’t watch yourself, you might find yourself having a quart jar or two of my pasta sauce. 😉
Now, for GMO concerns, wild crops, like heritage corn and wild corn that originated our modern crops do need to be protected from all modern cultivars. I’ll not go into how often we found resistance to diseases or pests in the wild precursor or relative, nor how handy breeding that trait in or inserting it in saved a major cash crop. Those need to be protected from our crops pollen, GM or not.
Barrier crops work well against insects, put potatoes around corn and beans, watch the insects avoid the toxic potato leaves and the field within (trust me, I’ve done it). There are other toxic crops to provide barriers, some even more effective than those poisonous potato leaves!
Agricultural runoff is a waste, as well as a pollutant. Stop wasting chemicals, then passing your wasteful expense to me!
And stop with extremes of, “Oh, we haven’t tested it long enough” after a decade of testing, griping that a rodent study didn’t go on long enough when those rodents only live for a year or two and otherwise applying non-expertise to what amounts to brain surgery. I don’t tell a physicist how physics works, I don’t tell a brain surgeon what instruments to use and I don’t tell a botanist about plants, they don’t tell me how to secure an network or configure and repair one.