Lauded as one of the most important advances in agriculture in recent times and despite being ubiquitous, genetically modified organisms, including foods, are as controversial es ever. According to the World Population Review, “over 80% of GMO crops grown around the world have been engineered for herbicide tolerance, resulting in a significant increase in the use of toxic herbicides, increasing its negative impact on the environment and human health.” (“Countries that Ban GMOs 2022”).
The word transgenic is synonymous with the term genetically modified and involves genetic engineering. It describes an organism whose genome has been altered through the insertion of the DNA from a different species, crossing natural barriers and even across taxonomic kingdoms which allows scientists to engineer new organisms that never existed before in the biological world.
In relation to transgenic plants, these were first discovered in the US about 40 years ago but were not seen in any quantity in the market until the early 90s. They gain their name from having had their original genetic structure modified through the crossbreeding of genes from other plants that have distinct genetic characteristics such as resistance to cold weather, herbicides, insects, disease, and drought. It is an incredibly complex process involving experimentation and there is never any certainty in achieving the desired results.
Proponents of GMOs point to the benefits of the technology such as reduced resistance to herbicides, lower input costs resulting in cheaper consumer prices, and improved yields in different climates and in harsher conditions. They also claim they are safe for human consumption and have no deleterious effect on the environment.
With the potential to expand to other parts of the world where disease-free crops can be produced, some people hail the technology as the answer to problems now and in the future of feeding an ever-expanding global population.
On the other hand, others warn of the benefits being exaggerated. They say the technology is still in its relative infancy and the risks involved are dangerous because it is too early for anyone to make a judgement over the longer-term consequences on the human body and the environment. And there has been evidence from experiments in the laboratory where the presence of GM crops has had unintended and harmful effects on other organisms close by.
Some countries, particularly in the European Union, ban the use of GMOs while others use them extensively. In the case of North America, upwards of 90% of soybeans and animal cornmeal are transgenic. The prevalence of GMOs is hinted at in information on the Food & Drug Administration website which states verbatim:
“It is very likely you are eating foods and food products that are made with ingredients that come from GMO crops. Many GMO crops are used to make ingredients that Americans eat such as cornstarch, corn syrup, corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, or granulated sugar. A few fresh fruit and vegetables are available in GMO varieties, including potatoes, summer squash, apples, papayas, and pink pineapples. Although GMOs are in a lot of the foods we eat, most of the GMO crops grown in the United States are used for animal food.” (“GMO Crops, Animal Food, and Beyond | FDA”)
Elsewhere, scientists in China have developed a new GMO rice which is claimed to have a 40% greater yield. As rice is a staple food for nearly half the world’s population this GMO rice, if approved, could help feed populations suffering, for example, a climate event.
One of the products mentioned by the FDA, corn syrup, probably also includes another variety called high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). There are differences in the two products. Corn syrup contains only glucose whereas HFCS is a product of corn syrup where most of the glucose is turned into fructose.
Both are produced from genetically modified corn. Corn syrup and HFCS are cheaper than granulated sugar. They are used endlessly to sweeten consumer products and enable manufacturers to lower the price of many foods and soft drinks. But their prevalence and overconsumption are believed by many, but not all, health experts to be responsible for enormous rises in obesity and diseases like Type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Interestingly, it is said to be in upwards of 60% of foods found in your grocery store.
Fear of the unknown combined with misinformation is thought to lie behind many of the fears surrounding GMOs. But there are real questions about the impact they may have on health owing to the unprecedented amounts of chemicals used and consequently in the foods used we now consume, and on the environment.
According to many scientists, the technology may be exposing us to short and long-term health risks. One biochemist, the Executive Director of the Bioscience Resource Project and Editor of the Independent Science News website, Dr Latham, PhD, asserts in an article entitled GMO Dangers: Facts You Need to Know, published by the Center for Nutrition Studies, that many GMO plants are engineered to contain their own insecticides which the body may recognize as either anthrax or ricin from similarities in their genetic fingerprints.
Dr Latham also notes that GMOs are often resistant to herbicides, which obliges farmers to spray increasing amounts of chemicals. One such chemical which has been enormously successful around the world is Monsanto’s Roundup™, a powerful broad-spectrum weedkiller. Farmers also use the Monsanto’s genetically engineered Roundup Ready™ seed to grow commercial crops.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup. It is widely used to spray crops that have been genetically modified to resist its herbicidal properties which are effective in killing the kind of vegetation that impedes the efficient use of land for agricultural crop production.
Glyphosate continues to be used widely round the world with experts claiming it is safe and is needed if we are to feed the world. But some of these experts have had their research sponsored by the agribusiness industry. One example is said to be this review from Bayer scientists on dietary exposure.
Other scientists accuse glyphosate of being the most toxic product ever invented by man. They say it is carcinogenic (a potential cause of cancer) and is the cause of immense damage to the environment.
One example of its use is in Colombia where glyphosate has been used extensively by the government despite cancer and environmental concerns to destroy illegal plantations of coca, the raw material to produce cocaine. Now suspended, aerial spraying of glyphosate not only destroyed coca plants but also all the flora and fauna in its vicinity. It also contaminated ground water resources on which rural communities depended.
For more information about glyphosate look at this comprehensive paper by Dr Martha Richmond PhD of Suffolk University, Boston.
Governments are accused of being too easily swayed by dubious data and risk assessments as a result transgenic crops, especially soybeans, corn, papaya, canola, and cotton are commercially grown in numerous parts of the world. In the US, some claim that the government colludes with big corporations to hide what they say is the truth behind GMOs.
However much people oppose the technology, GMO foods and their associated biotechnologies are here to stay as is the controversy. There is hope that the technology will help solve some the most intractable problems faced by nations today to feed the poor and reduce hunger and malnutrition. Food security has risen up in the order of importance because the world is becoming more affected by the impacts of climate change as each year passes.
Further advances in recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology in the laboratory will take place: similar processes have been occurring naturally for millions of years and humans have introduced changes in the genetic makeup of their products for thousands of years simply in selecting the best plants and farm animals for reproduction.
But this is quite distinct from deliberate genetic modifications made in the laboratory where rDNA is used to combine or divide the DNA from different species or to create genes with new characteristics. It is these processes which can take us into the unknown that present many people fear.
Nevertheless, however controversial GMOs are today, development will continue particularly as populations come to accept the benefits outweighing the drawbacks and greater urgency is placed on food security for the global population that continues to multiply. It is not clear where all this will lead, but we should assume research will continue on genetically modifying animals in order to increase their participation in the food chain.
If the subject interests you, as we think it should, and you want to know more about the arguments for and against the technology, look at the books we have listed.