In G-M-Oh-Oh (Part 1), I talked about what Genetic
Modification is, and the different methods with which it is done. In this post,
we will take a look at the many common foods that have undergone Genetic
Modification (GM). Hey, you can eat whatever you choose, but, isn’t it a good
idea to know what it is that you’re putting into your body before you reach for
it? I think so. If you agree, read on.
The public was first offered a commercially grown GM food in
1994, when the FDA approved the sale of the Flavr Savr tomato. This tomato had
been engineered to slow the ripening process, which was supposed to have
enabled farmers to let the tomato ripen before harvesting, as opposed to the
traditional method of harvesting green tomatoes and allowing them to ripen
during transport. It didn’t quite work out as intended. The unfortunately-named
Flavr Savr tomatoes actually had very little flavor, which, combined with how
difficult they were to transport, led to their being off the market only 3
years later.
But, while the Flavr Savr was an unmitigated failure, it
opened the floodgates for a tidal wave of GM foods to hit the market. By far,
the most common GM organisms are crop plants, but there are all kinds of altered
foods that we regularly eat, mostly without even knowing it. Like what, you ask? Well, here you go…
Potatoes
- Currently, the only GM
potato is the NewLeaf, a Burbank Russet variety. This plant has been engineered
to produce Bt, which enables it to protect itself against the Colorado potato
beetle, as well as other pests. But, the Bt may also be lethal to beneficial
insects – we just don’t know the full impact of this yet. Think about all of
the french fries, mashed potatoes and baked potatoes that are eaten in a given
day. Maybe they’re made with GM potatoes, and maybe they’re not. There’s really
no way to know at this time.
Corn
- Our number-one agricultural
commodity. In 2000, 79.5 million acres of harvested cropland in the U.S. were
corn, 25% of which was genetically
engineered. This includes Bt and
Roundup Ready corn varieties. Roundup Ready means that the crop can withstand
being sprayed by the herbicide called Roundup, produced by Monsanto. In case
you missed the news, almost all of our processed and packaged foods contain
corn or corn products. You know, like high-fructose corn syrup and glucose?
Yup. Sometimes I make a game of reading food packages, trying to find one that doesn’t contain these ingredients.
Tomatoes – Several varieties, including a cherry tomato, have been
genetically engineered to delay ripening and extend shelf life. Store-bought
tomatoes these days don’t taste anything like the ones I grow in my garden. I
wonder why?
Soy
- The number-two U.S.
agricultural commodity. Sixty percent of processed foods contain soy
ingredients, and 82% of edible fats and oils consumed in the U.S. are
soy-based. In 2000, 54% of the 74.5 million acres of soybeans grown in the U.S.
was Roundup Ready. I find it hilarious that soy milk is trumped as a health
food when we know so little about the effects of all this gene tampering.
Canola/Rapeseed - About 43% of the seed is oil, and after the Canola Oil is
pressed out, the remaining meal is used as animal feed. So, even if you manage
to avoid the oil, you may be eating meat that was fed with canola meal. Canola
Oil is found in peanut butter, salad dressing, frozen foods, pretzels, Oreos,
and many, many other packaged foods. Of the 15 million acres of canola grown in
the U.S. and Canada annually, 35% is GM, mostly for herbicide-resistance.
Cotton - Yet another crop engineered to produce the Bt toxin. In
2000, 61% of the 15.5 million acres of cotton grown in the U.S. was GM. Every
year, half a million tons of cottonseed oil makes its way into salad dressings,
baked goods and snack foods. About 1.4 million tons of cottonseed meal is fed
to livestock annually. Again, almost impossible to avoid.
Dairy – Lactating cows are injected
with the GM bovine growth hormone (rBGH/rBST), so
that they produce more milk. rBST
has not been allowed on the market in Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, Japan, Israel and all European
Union countries. In the United
States, public opinion has caused a number of products and retailers to become rBGH/rBST-free.
That’s actually great news, because the consumers have spoken and industry has
responded accordingly. We are powerful, people!
Aspartame/AminoSweet – This
an addictive and dangerous artificial sweetener commonly found in chewing gum
and "diet" beverages. The amino acid phenylalanine, a building block
of aspartame, is usually manufactured with the aid of genetically modified E.
coli bacteria.
Papaya: More than one third of Hawaiian papayas have been
genetically engineered to withstand the papaya ringspot virus. Organic papaya
growers in Hawaii worry that the pollen from GE papaya trees will contaminate
their crops. When I think of Hawaii, I think of warm breezes and lazy days, not
laboratory creations masquerading as fruit.
Radicchio: Currently one variety of radicchio, called Seed Link, has
been genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glufosinate. So when you order that healthy salad at your
favorite restaurant, do you even know what you’re getting?
Squash:
Several varieties of summer squash
have been genetically engineered to resist mosaic viruses. Some scientists are
concerned that resistance to the virus may spread to weedy relatives, such as
gourds, creating invasive superweeds.
Salmon: We now have salmon engineered with genes from two different
fish species so that it grows much more quickly than non-GM salmon. The company
that developed this fish now seeks FDA approval to market it for human
consumption. Escaped into the environment, (which is inevitable on fish farms),
the GM fish may be larger and more aggressive, eat more food, and mate more often,
though their offspring are less fit to survive in the wild, and thus raising
the possibility of wild species extinction. Human health effects are also
relatively unknown. Currently, research on transgenic strains of 35 fish species
world-wide is underway.
So,
there you have it. Genetically modified foods are a fact of life in our world
today. In the next and final post in this series, we will talk about the
effects of genetic modification and what we can do to turn things around.
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