Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Themain GE crops are corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, potatoes, tomatoes,
sweet peppers, peanuts, and sunflower (USFDA-GMO 2002). Forty percent of
corn, 73 percent of cotton, and 81 percent of soybeans grown in the United
States are GE (USDA-NASS-GMO 2003). Because most processed foods con-
tain soy or corn (in their various forms such as soy lecithin or corn syrup),
“many processed foods on U.S. supermarket shelves contain biotech ingre-
dients” (USDA-Amber Waves 2003). In fact, 60-70 percent of nonorganic
food in the supermarket contains GMOs (Cornell University 2003). Many
dairy products have genetically altered ingredients: 70 percent of cheese in
the United States is made with a GE enzyme, and a GE version of bovine
growth hormone (rBST or rBGH) is commonly given to dairy cattle, so the
milk we drink may also be altered (Cornell University 2001). Since 1999, the
use of rBST has been banned in Europe (European Union 1999). Some GE
crops are actually registered as a pesticide with the EPA, since they have been
engineered to contain the pesticide (Pollan 2001a).
Currently, GMO foods are not labeled, despite the fact that 94 percent of
Americans believe they should be (Hallman et al. 2003). In an ABC News
telephone poll of 1,024 Americans conducted in 2001, 52 percent said they
would be less likely to buy such food (ABCNews 2003). Yet these questionable
GMOs are in most of our processed food today. And consumers have no way
of knowing whether they are eating gene-altered corn flakes, potato chips,
peanut butter, or any other processed food, for that matter. Certified organic
food is not grown from GMO seed, so buying organic food is the only way
to attempt to avoid GMOs.
The steps for genetically engineering an organism involve the use of an
“insertion package” that contains the desired new trait, a bacterium or virus
to overcome the host gene's defenses, and a marker gene that is antibiotic
resistant so that the insertion can be verified. Once this package is forced
into the host's cells, an antibiotic is administered and the surviving cells
should be antibiotic resistant and have the new trait. This is clearly different
from traditional hybrid plants in which related species have been crossbred.
GMOs cross the species barrier by putting fish genes into tomatoes or nut
genes into soybeans, and they rely on viruses and antibiotic resistant bacteria
to do so (Grogan and Long 2000).
Vast sums of money have gone into the research to develop some of these
gene altered crops by a handful of multinational corporations: Monsanto,
DuPont, Novartis, AstraZeneca, and Aventis (now Bayer Crop Science).
These corporations obviously have a vested interest in promoting the ac-
ceptance, sale, and use of GE crops in order to realize the money they spent
on their development. Thus they are spending millions of dollars on “feel
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