Biotechnology in food
Biotechnology in foodREG MITCHELL's defence of ``Frankenfoods'' -- genetically engineered (GE)farm products -- in his Oct. 9 article ``So-called Frankenfoods have no more pathogens than are found in nature'' is a repetition of the mantra we hear daily from the global corporations that dominate agricultural biotechnology.
His principal point seems to be that since life abounds with risks of various kinds (cancer-inducing elements in the environment, the risk of being hit by a truck) we shouldn't be concerned about the possibility of adding another one to the list.
He suggests biotechnology is an unstoppable reality, with half of U.S. soybeans planted this year to GE seeds, as well as half of Canada's canola crop. He could have added the vast acreages of genetically modified (GM) cotton, corn and potatoes growing in North America this year. Such crops are expected to triple in use worldwide in the next few years, he writes.
The projections quoted by Prof. Mitchell may not materialize. The European Union will not accept GM products, and this is causing horrendous marketing problems for North American farmers.
It is becoming obvious we cannot force Europeans to take such products, even though Canada and the U.S. are using the World Trade Organization (WTO) in an effort to do so. Most large European and British supermarket chains have removed GE products from their shelves, and the largest European food processors (Nestle and Unilever) will no longer use GM products.
All this is being reflected in the market -- non-GM foods are now selling at a higher price than genetically altered crops. And there is a scramble by farmers to find non-GM seed for planting next year -- there may not be enough to meet the rising demand.
Mitchell tells us GM crops will reduce the use of herbicides and insecticides. In fact, the whole point of GM soya and canola is to allow any amount of Monsanto's weed killer ``Roundup'' to be sprayed on them without harming the crop.
Biotech corporations have engineered the naturally occurring Bt insecticide into every cell of crops of potatoes, corn and cotton, even though they know this guarantees Bt will be useless in a very few years as insects resistant to it rapidly multiply. Organic growers will have lost the only insecticide they are allowed to use.
And recent research has shown pollen drifting from a corn crop into which Bt has been engineered will kill non-target species such as the Monarch butterfly. ``Genetic drift'' or ``genetic pollution'' into non-GM crops or weedy relatives is turning out to be much more prevalent and its implications more serious than biotech researchers predicted.
Mitchell says genetic engineering can be expected to help feed a hungry world. This routine claim of the biotechnology industry is deeply resented in developing nations, where it's...
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