Monsanto and Whole Foods
In February this year, the Whole Foods Market agreed to not challenge the US Department of Agriculture in conditionally deregulating genetically modified Alfalfa produced by Monsanto.
It is thought that prepacked food in your everyday grocery store already contains 70 to 80% of foods that have GE ingredients. You cannot tell which foods contain GE ingredients as there is no legal requirement to notify you the GE status of each product.
Whole Foods Markets are now beginning to accept GE food as well. Organic food is given as the only pure alternative but with GE plants transferring their genes to non-GE plants how long can organic produce be guaranteed to be GE free?
For the last 20 years or so there has been disquiet about the safety of GE food in general with two completely opposed views being expressed. Monsanto argues that there is no credible evidence to link harm to humans or animals from the consumption of GE foods, quoting amongst others a report published in 2010 by the European Commission stating that there is “no scientific evidence associating GMOs with higher risks for the environment or for food and feed safety than conventional plants.”
Two diametrically opposed groups still remain over the safety of GE food. There are benefits from Monsanto and its GE organisms but there is still informed disquiet about what they are introducing to our ecosystems and communities.
FOR
GE foods are able to be engineered so that they can provide improved nutritional value with additional vitamins and minerals. It is hoped that vaccines can be genetically engineered into foods to make the administration of mass vaccines more stable and accessible.
Foods can be modified to maintain their freshness for a longer period of time. This would be especially advantageous in 3rd world countries where refrigeration is unavailable. Food wastage can be over 40% with food spoiling before it can be safely eaten.
Foods can be engineered so they are more resistant to weather extremes. This can enable farmers to provide a more reliable food supply, stabilizing food supply and the cost to buy it.
GE crops and organisms can require fewer chemicals to protect against insects. Where fewer chemicals are used the environment can benefit through less chemical pollution.
However, GE crops can also be made to be resistant to weed killers such as Roundup. This would actually result in more chemicals being added to the environment.
Against
People who have food allergies can be at added risk. The genes added to their food may have originated in something they are allergic to. Foods that were once safe for them to eat may now result in an allergic reaction.
Some GM foods can be made immune or resistant to diseases by adding antibiotic traits. This can lead to antibiotic resistance in those who eat these foods and add to the growing problem of with the availability of antibiotics that remain to be effective.
Engineered genes can escape into neighboring farms and into the environment at large. This can result in a reduction in the purity of non-GE crops, creation of super weeds that are resistant to weed killers, and may produce ‘super’ organisms that compete with local plants and animals. The fear is that this competition could have the ability to drive them into extinction and add to the problems that occur with the loss of biodiversity.
This is by no means an exhaustive examination of all the pros and cons of Genetic Engineering but it gives an indication of the concerns that people continue to have over its introduction.
With any new concept or product, there are always pros and cons with its introduction. It is important to able to weigh them all up and look objectively at the ‘bigger picture’. Can we accept the drawbacks if we want to be able to realize the benefits?
