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GE Foods Tutorial
The world of biotechnology is filled with
harrowing tales of strange, new "Frankenfoods."
If it's bizarre, genetic engineers can create it! Here are
just a few of their frightening creations:
1. Pesticidal
potatoes
 For
years, many chemical companies made a lot of money by selling
pesticides to spray on crops. These days, the game is changing:
Genetic engineers have created potatoes that actually can
produce their own pesticides.
The New Leaf Superior, marketed by the
Monsanto corporation since 1995, is engineered to produce
the insecticide Bt, or Bacillus thuringiensis, in each one
of its cells. Bt kills the Colorado potato beetle, one of
the biggest threats to healthy potatoes.
Unfortunately, the pesticidal potatoes
are not labeled, so unless you consume only organic potatoes,
there's no way to be sure that you're not eating the pesticidal
variety. And some scientists say that the long-term effects
of eating these potatoes is unknown.
In 1998, the New York Times reported that
regulation of the pesticidal potato has fallen through the
cracks of the U.S. government. The Food and Drug Administration
told the Times it does not regulate the potato because it
does not have the authority to regulate pesticides; that responsibility,
said the FDA, lies with the Environmental Protection Agency.
But the EPA said labeling pesticidal potatoes is FDA's job,
because potatoes are a food. The FDA responded that the Food,
Drug and Cosmetic Act forbids the food agency from including
information about pesticides on foods. And so it goes.
Meanwhile, Phil Angell, Monsanto's director
of corporate communications, told the Times that "Monsanto
should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our
interest is selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its
safety is the FDA's job."
2. Terminator
seeds
Monsanto also has developed a new seed technology that
has many environmentalists and Third World leaders crying
foul.
The "terminator seed," still
in developmental stages, is designed to produce sterile crops
that don't produce seeds. Under the new technology, Monsanto
would force farmers to buy seeds from the giant agribusiness
every year. Historically, farmers have saved some seeds from
one growing season for use in the next.
Environmentalists worry what will happen
when the terminator is unleashed on the environment. They
fear that terminator technology could migrate from one farm
to another, or from a farm to wild plants.
And activists in developing nations, who
say that up to 1.4 billion farming families worldwide may
be forced to buy the seed, say the technology would put too
much power in the hands of a few international agribusinesses.
"It's terribly dangerous," says
Hope Shand, of the Rural Advancement Foundation International,
a Canadian group. "Half the world's farmers are poor
and can't afford to buy seed every growing season. Yet they
grow 15 to 20 percent of the world's food."
Responding to the intense criticisms, Monsanto
announced in 1999 that it would not commercialize the terminator
seed. However, the company continues to research several related
technologies, and could change its mind about the terminator
down the road.
3. Genetically
mutated trees
Genetic engineering is a field that extends into many
areas beyond food. One of the more frightening images to arise
so far is that of the genetically mutated forest.
 Scientists
say that plans for "terminator" trees --engineered
never to flower--could create a "silent spring"
in the forests. While these trees would grow faster than traditional
trees, they would be lifeless in comparison. Gone would be
the bees, butterflies, moths, birds and squirrels that depend
on pollen, seed and nectar of normally reproducing trees.
Monsanto has developed plans with the New
Zealand Forest Research Agency to create sterile plantations
of trees. These terminator trees, in addition to being non-reproducing,
would be engineered to secrete toxic chemicals through their
leaves that would kill caterpillars and other insects that
eat leaves. The trees would also be designed to be herbicide-resistant,
meaning that tree farmers could use increased quantities of
herbicides to wipe out ground flora.
"If you replace vast tracts of natural
forest with flowerless trees, there will be a serious effect
on the richness and abundance of insects," says George
McGavin, curator of entomology at Oxford University Museum.
"If you put insect resistance in the leaves as well you
will end up with nothing but booklice and earwigs. We are
talking about vast tracts of land covered with plants that
do not support animal life as a sterile means of culturing
wood tissue. That is a pretty unattractive vision of the future
and one I want no part of."
4. Scientists
create glow-in-the-dark potato
Edinburgh scientists have mixed jellyfish genes with
potatoes, resulting in spuds that glow when they need watering.
The potatoes are not intended for consumption; only a few
would be planted per hectare for water monitoring purposes.
But ecologists wonder what will happen if the potatoes get
mixed in with the regular batch.
5. "Edible
vaccines" and other medical uses of foods
Genetic engineers plan on creating "edible vaccines"
by inserting vaccines in bananas, potatoes and other fruits
and vegetables against diseases such as hepatitis, cholera
and malaria. But some scientists aren't sure what impact eating
large quantities of these foods will have on young children
in developing countries.
Fruits and vegetables are also being designed
to offer higher levels of anti-oxidant vitamins, vitamin A
and others. Biotechnology firms say these efforts will help
improve peoples' health.
But some of these companies are the same
ones that developed pesticides such as DDT, which have been
shown to have devastating effects on human development and
wildlife. Can we really trust these companies to get it right
this time?
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