50 Harmful Effects of

Genetically Modified Foods

By

Nathan Batalion
We are confronted with what is undoubtedly the single
most potent technology the world has ever known - more
powerful even than atomic energy. Yet it is being released
throughout our environment and deployed with superficial
or no risk assessments - as if no one needs to worry an iota
about its unparalleled powers to harm life as we know it -
and for all future generations.

© 2000 Nathan B. Batalion, Published by Americans for Safe Food. Oneonta, N.Y. Email
[email protected]

Introduction
Biotechnology is a vital issue that impacts all of us.
Largely between 1997 and 1999, gene-modified (GM) ingredients suddenly
appeared in 2/3rds of all US processed foods. This food alteration was fueled
by a single Supreme Court ruling. It allowed, for the first time, the patenting of
life forms for commercialization. Since then thousands of applications for
experimental GM organisms have been filed with the US Patent Office alone,
and many more abroad. Furthermore an economic war broke out to own equity
in firms which either have such patent rights or control the food-related
organisms to which they apply. This has been the key factor behind the scenes
of the largest food/agri-chemical company mergers in history. Few consumers
are aware this has been going on and is continuing. Yet if you recently ate soya
sauce in a Chinese restaurant, munched popcorn in a movie theatre, or indulged
in an occasional candy bar - you've undoubtedly ingested this new type of food.
You may have, at the time, known exactly how much salt, fat and
carbohydrates were in each of these foods because regulations mandates their
labeling for dietary purposes. But you would not know if the bulk of these
foods, and literally every cell had been genetically altered!
In just those three years, as much as 1/4th of all American agricultural lands or
70-80 million acres were quickly converted to raise GM crops. Yet in most
other countries, the same approach is subject to moratoriums, partially banned,
restricted or requires labeling - and with stiff legal penalties for non-
compliance. This refers to laws in Great Britain, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium,
Finland, Ireland, Austria, Portugal - or in virtually all European nations. The
same trend has further spread to Latin America, the Near East and Asia.
By contrast, an unregulated, quiet, and lightning speed expansion has been
spearheaded in the US by a handful of companies in the wake of
consolidations. We hear from their sales departments that nothing but positive
results will follow - and for everyone from farmers to middlemen and the
ultimate consumers. This "breakthrough" technology will aid the environment
by reducing toxic chemical use, increase food production to stave off world
hunger, and lead to an agricultural boom. In addition it will provide
nutritionally heightened and much better storing and tasting foods. Finally, all
of this is based on nothing but "good science" - which in the long run will
convince the wary public that GM foods are either equivalent or better than the
ordinary.
The size of a technology's market penetration - 1/4 of US agriculture - is not
necessarily indicative that the majority of these claims are true. Biotechnology
attempts a deeper "control" over nature. But a powerful temporary control is
illusionary. For example, a farmer in Ottawa planted three different kinds of
GM canola seeds that came from the three leading producers (Monsanto's
Roundup, Cyanamid's Pursuit, and Aventis' Liberty). At first, he was happy to
see he needed to use less of costly herbicides. But within just three years,
"superweeds" had taken in the genes of all three types of plants! This ultimately
forced him to use not only more herbicides, but far more lethal products.

The central problem underlying all of this technology is not just its short-
term benefits and long-term drawbacks, but the overall attempt to "control"
living nature based on an erroneous mechanistic view.
" Bioengineering" thus offers a contradiction in terms. "Bio" refers to life, what
is not mechanistically predictable or controllable - and "engineering" refers to
making the blueprints for machines that are predictable - but not alive. They are
dead. Thus there is the joining of what is living with what applies to the
opposite.
What is patentable also needs to be mentally "distinctive" - fixed or mostly
unchanging in our minds to obtain an ownership or right-to-control patent.
Again, something unchanging is not constantly adapting to its surrounding
environment. It is less alive, and strategies to maintain that are often deadly.
For example, much of GM technology is directed at eliminating surrounding
biological environment - competing animals and plants, soaking them with
lethal toxins. Secondly, there are terminator plants that do not reproduce a
second generation - preventing a subsequent generation from escaping the
controlling patented mold. In contrast to nature's rainforests teeming with life,
GM technology has planted forests of flowerless, fruitless "terminator trees."
They are not habitats for life, but exude poisons from every leaf, killing all but
a few insects. Thirdly, GM companies have gone on multi-billion dollar buying
sprees, purchasing seed companies and destroying their non-patented
(potentially competitive) seed stocks. Time magazine called the widespread
consequences of this effort a global Death of Birth. All of this is why
"biotechnology," in its naked essence, has be tagged by some as thano- (
meaning death) technology.

In this light there comes to mind the eloquent words of the late Rachel Carson's
Silent Spring, condensed as follows:
" A year after…a massive spraying…there was not a sound of the song of
bird….. What was man doing to…our beautiful world…Who has made the
decision that sets in motion…this ever-widening wave of death."
No doubt mechanical patterns in nature are real. But they can be a superficial
by-product and not reflective of the deepest or true essence of life.
Hybridizations does work harmoniously with superficial aspects of nature
without fully disturbing the essential life force at the center of each cell. Also
with hybridizations, conscious life makes primary genetic decisions. We can
understand this with an analogy. There is an immense difference between being
a matchmaker and inviting two people for dinner - encouraging them to go on a
date - as opposed to forcing the union or even a date rape.
With biotechnology, roses are no longer crossed with just roses. They can be
mated with pigs, tomatoes with oak trees, fish with asses, butterflies with
worms, orchids with snakes. The technology that makes this possible is called
biolistics - a gunshot-like violence that pierces the nuclear membrane of cells.
This essentially violates the consciousness that forms and guides living nature.
Some also compare it to the violent crossing of territorial borders of countries,
subduing inhabitants against their will.
What will happen if this technology is allowed to spread? Fifty years ago few
predicted that chemical pollution would cause so much environmental harm -
with nearly 1/3rd of all species now threatened with extinction. Or that cancer
rates would have doubled and quadrupled.
No one has a crystal ball to see future consequences. Nevertheless, alarm
signals go off when a technology goes directly to the center of every living cell
- and under the guidance of a mechanical or non-living way of restructuring or
recreating nature. The potential harm can far outweigh chemical pollution
because chemistry only deals with things altered by fire - or things that are not
alive. For example, a farmer may use toxic chemicals for many decades, and
then let the land lie fallow for a year or two to convert back to organic farming.
The chemicals tend to break down into natural substances within months or
years. A few may persist for decades. But genetic pollution can alter the life in
the soil forever!

Farmers who view their land as their primary financial asset have reason to
heed this. If new evidence of soil bacteria contamination arises - what is
possible given the numerous (1600 or more) distinct microorganisms we
classify in just a teaspoon of soil - and if that contamination is not quickly
remediable but remains
permanent - someday the public may blacklist farms that have once planted
GM crops. No one seems to have put up any warning signs when selling these
inputs to farmers who own 1/4 of all agricultural tracks in the US. Furthermore,
the spreading potential impact on all ecosystems is profound.
Writes Jeremy Rifkin, in the Biotech Century,
"Our way of life is likely to be more fundamentally transformed in the next
several decades than in the previous one thousand years…Tens of thousands of
novel transgenic bacteria, viruses, plants and animals could be
released into the Earth's ecosystems…Some of those releases, however, could
wreak havoc with the planet's biospheres."
In short these processes involve unparalleled risks. Voices from many sides
echo this view. Contradicting safety claims, no major insurance company has
been willing to limit risks, or insure bio-engineered agricultural products. The
reason given is the high level of unpredictable consequences. Over two hundred
scientists have signed a statement outlining the dangers of GM foods and The
Union of Concerned Scientists (a 1000 plus member organization with many
Nobel Laureates) has expressed similar reservations. The prestigious medical
journal, Lancet, issued a warning that GM foods should never have been
allowed into the food chain. Britain's Medical Association (the equivalent of
the AMA) with 100,000 physicians and Germany's with 325,000 issued similar
statements. In a gathering of political representatives from over 130 nations,
approximately 95% insisted on new precautionary approaches. The National
Academy of Science released a report that GM products introduce new
allergens, toxins, disruptive chemicals, soil-polluting ingredients, mutated
species and unknown protein combinations into our bodies and into the whole
environment. This may also raise existing allergens to new heights as well as
reduce nutritional content. Even within the FDA, prominent scientists have
repeatedly expressed profound fears and reservations. Their voices were muted
not for cogent scientific reasons but due to political pressures from the Bush
administration to buttress the nascent biotech industry.
To counterbalance this, industry-employed scientists have signed a statement in
favor of genetically engineered foods. But are any of these scientists impartial?
Writes the New York Times (about a similar crisis involving genetic
engineering and medical applications),
"Academic scientists who lack industry ties have become as rare as giant
pandas in the wild…lawmakers, bioethics experts and federal regulators are
troubled that so many researchers have a financial stake [via stock options or
patent participation] … The fear is that the lure of profit could color scientific
integrity, promoting researchers to withhold information about potentially
dangerous side-effects."
Looked at from outside of commercial interests, perils are multi-dimensional.
They include the creation of new "transgenic" life forms - organisms that cross
unnatural gene lines (such as tomato seed genes crossed with fish genes) - and
that have unpredictable behavior or replicate themselves out of control in the
wild. This can happen, without warning, inside of our bodies creating an
unpredictable chain reaction. A four-year study at the University of Jena in
Germany conducted by Hans-Hinrich Kaatz revealed that bees ingesting pollen
from transgenic rapeseed had bacteria in their gut with modified genes. This is
called a "horizontal gene transfer." Commonly found bacteria and
microorganisms in the human gut help maintain a healthy intestinal flora.
These, however, can be mutated.

Mutations may be able to travel internally to other cells, tissue systems and
organs throughout the human body.
Not to be underestimated, the potential domino effect of internal and external
genetic pollution can make the substance of science-fiction horror movies
become terrible realities in the future. The same is true for the bacteria that
maintain the health of our soil - and are vitally necessary for all forms of
farming - in fact for human sustenance and survival.
Without factoring in biotechnology, milder forms of controlling nature have
gravitated toward restrictive monocroping. In the past 50 years, this underlies
the disappearance of approximately 95% of all native grains, beans, nuts, fruits,
and vegetable varieties in the United States. GM monoculture, however, can
lead to yet greater harm. Monsanto, for example, set a goal of converting 100%
of all US soy crops to Roundup Ready strains by the year 2000. If effected, this
plan would have threatened the biodiversity and resilience of all future soy
farming practices. Monsanto laid out similar strategies for corn, cotton, wheat
and rice. This represents a deep misunderstanding of how seeds interact, adapt
and change with the living world of nature.
One need only look at agricultural history - at the havoc created by the Irish
potato blight, the Mediterranean fruit fly epidemic in California, the current
international crisis with cocoa plants, the regional citrus canker attack in the
Southeast, and the 1970's US corn leaf blight. In the latter case, 15% of US
corn production was quickly destroyed. Had weather changes not quickly
ensued, the most all crops would have been laid waste because a fungus
attached their cytoplasm universally. The deeper reason this happened was that
approximately 80% of US corn had been standardized to help farmers
crossbreed - and by a method akin to current genetic engineering. The
uniformity of plants then allowed a single fungus to spread, and within four
months to destroy crops in 581 counties and 28 states in the US. According to
J. Browning of Iowa State University: "Such an extensive, homogeneous
acreage of plants… is like a tinder-dry prairie waiting for a spark to ignite it. "
The homogeneity is unnatural - a byproduct of deadening nature's creativity in
the attempt to grasp absolute control - what ultimately can yield wholesale
disaster. Europeans seem more sensitive than Americans to such approaches -
given the analogous metaphor of German eugenics.
Historical Context
Overall the revolution that is presently trying to overturn 12,000 years of
traditional and sustainable agriculture was launched in 1980 in the US. This
was the result of a little-known US Supreme Court decision Diamond vs.
Chakrabarty where the highest court decided that biological life could be
legally patentable.
Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty, a microbiologist and employee of General
Electric (GE), developed at the time a type of bacteria that could ingest oil. GE
rushed to apply for a patent in 1971. After several years of review, the US
Patent
and Trademark Office (PTO) turned down the request under the traditional
doctrine that life forms are not patentable. GE sued and won. In 1985, the PTO
ruled that the Chakrabarty ruling could be further extended to all plants, seeds,
and plant tissues - or to the entire plant kingdom.
Scouring the world for valuable genetic heritage, W.R. Grace applied for and
was been granted fifty US patents on the neem tree in India. It even patented
the indigenous knowledge of how to medicinally use the tree (what has since
been called bio-piracy). Furthermore, on April 12, 1988, the PTO issued its first
patent on an animal to Harvard Professor Philip Leder and Timothy A. Stewart.
This involved the creation of a transgenic mouse containing chicken and human
genes. On October 29, 1991, the PTO granted patent rights to human stem
cells, and later human genes. A United States company, Biocyte was awarded a
European patent on all umbilical cord cells from fetuses and newborn babies.
The patent extended exclusive rights to use the cells without the permission of
the `donors.' Finally the European Patent Office (EPO) received applications
from Baylor University for the patenting of women who had been genetically
altered to produce proteins in their mammary glands. Baylor essentially sought
monopoly rights over the use of human mammary glands to manufacture
pharmaceuticals. Other attempts have been made to patent cells of indigenous
peoples in Panama, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea. Thus the
Chakrabarty ruling evolved within the decade from the patenting of tiny, almost
invisible microbes to virtually all terrains of life on Earth.
Certain biotech companies then quickly moved to utilize such patenting for the
control of seed stock - including buying up small seed companies and
destroying their non-patented seeds. In the past few years, this has led to a near
monopoly control of certain commodities, especially soy, corn, and cotton
(used in processed foods via cottonseed oil). As a result, nearly 2/3rd of such
processed foods showed some GM ingredient. Yet again without labeling, few
consumers in the US were aware any of this was pervasively occurring.
Industry marketers found out that the more the public knew, the less they
wanted to purchase GM foods. Thus a concerted effort was organized to
convince regulators not to require such labeling.

Condensed Summary of Hazards

This book reviews and disputes the industry claims that GM foods are the
equivalent of ordinary foods not requiring labeling. It offers an informative list
of at least fifty hazards, problems, and dangers. There is also a deeper
philosophical discussion of how the "good science" of biotechnology can turn
out to be thano-technology. When pesticides were first introduced, they also
were heralded as absolutely safe and a miracle cure for farmers. Only decades
later the technology revealed its lethal implications.
The following list also is divided into easily referred to sections on health,
environment, farming practices, economic/political/social implications, and
issues of freedom of choice. There is a concluding review of inner concerns -
philosophical, spiritual and religious issues involving "deep ecology" - or our
overall way of relating to nature. Furthermore there is a list of practical ideas
and resources for personal, political and consumer action on this vital issue.
Finally, this book as a whole is subject to change as new information becomes
available.
The reader is encouraged to keep in touch with the many web sites that have
updating information - and to contact Americans for Safe Food to offer new
information or feedback to help make this book a timely resource.

HEALTH
" Recombinant DNA technology faces our society
with problems unprecedented not only in the history of
science, but of life on Earth. It places in human hands
the capacity to redesign living organisms, the products
of three billion years of evolution. Such intervention
must not be confused with previous intrusions upon the
natural order of living organisms: animal and plant
breeding…All the earlier procedures worked within
single or closely related species…Our morality up to
now has been to go ahead without restriction to learn all
that we can about nature. Restructuring nature was not
part of the bargain…this direction may be not only
unwise, but dangerous. Potentially, it could breed new
animal and plant diseases, new sources of cancer, novel
epidemics."

Dr. George Wald: Nobel Laureate in Medicine, 1967

Higgins Professor of Biology, Harvard University
 HEALTH
Deaths and Near-Deaths

1. Recorded Deaths from GM In 1989, dozens of Americans died and

several thousands were afflicted and impaired by a genetically altered
version of the food supplement – L-tryptophan. A settlement of $2
billion dollars was paid by Showa Denko, Japan’s third largest chemical
company. (Mayeno and Gleich, 1994).
2. Near-deaths from Allergic Reactions In 1996, Brazil nut genes were
spliced into soybeans by a company called Pioneer Hi-Bred. Some
individuals, however, are so allergic to this nut, they go into anaphylactic
shock (similar to a severe bee sting reaction) which can cause death.
Animal tests confirmed the peril and fortunately the product was
removed from the market before any fatalities occurred. "The next case
could be less than ideal and the public less fortunate," writes Marion
Nestle, head of the Nutrition Department of NYU in an editorial to the
New England Journal of Medicine. About 25% of Americans have
adverse reactions to foods. 8% of children and 2% of adults have food
allergies as tested by blood immunoglobins.

3.
Cancer and Other Degenerative Ailments

4. Direct Cancer and Degenerative Disease Links In 1994, FDA

approved Monsanto's rBGH, a genetically produced growth hormone,
for injection into dairy cows – even though scientists warned the
resulting increase of IGF-1, a
potent chemical hormone, is linked to 400-500% higher risks of human
breast, prostrate, and colon cancer. According to Dr. Samuel Epstein of
the University of Chicago, it "induces the malignant transformation of
human breast epithelial cells." Rat studies confirmed the suspicion and
showed internal organ damage with rBGH ingestion. In fact, the FDA's
own experiments indicated a spleen mass increase of 46% - a sign of
developing leukemia. The contention was that the hormone was killed by
pasteurization. But in research conducted by two Monsanto scientists,
 Ted Elasser and Brian McBride, only 19% of the hormone was destroyed
despite boiling milk for 30 minutes when normal pasteurization is 30
seconds. Canada, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand have
banned rBGR. The UN's Codex Alimentarius, an international health
standards setting body, refused to certify rBGH as safe. Yet Monsanto
continues to market this product in the US. Part of the reason may be
that the policy in the FDA was initiated by Margaret Miller, Deputy
Director of Human Safety and Consultative Services, New Animal Drug
Evaluation Office, Center for Veterinary Medicine…. and former
chemical laboratory supervisor for Monsanto. She spearheaded the
increase in the amount of antibiotics farmers were allowed to have in
their milk - and by a factor of 100 or 10,000 percent. Michael Taylor,
Esq. was the executive assistant to the director of the FDA. He drafted
the Delaney Amendment that allowed for the minimizing of cancer risk
and was later hired as legal counsel to Monsanto, and subsequently again
became Deputy Commissioner of Policy at the FDA. Several other GM
approved products involve herbicides that are commonly known
carcinogens - bromoxynil used on transgenic cotton and Monsanto's
Roundup or glufonsinate used on GM soybeans, corn, and canola.
Furthermore and according to researcher Sharyn Martin, a number of
autoimmune diseases are enhanced by foreign DNA fragments that are
not fully digested in the human stomach and intestines. DNA fragments
are absorbed into the bloodstream, potentially mixing with normal DNA.
The genetic consequences are unpredictable and unexpected gene
fragments have shown up in GM soy crops.

5. Indirect, Non-traceable Effects on Cancer Rates The twentieth

century saw an incremental lowering of infectious disease rates –
especially where a single bacteria was overcome by an antibiotic– but a
simultaneous rise in systemic, whole body or immune system
breakdowns - such as with cancer. Cancer is affected by the overall
polluted state of our environment - including in the air, water, and food
we take in. There are unimaginably many combinations for the 100,000
or so chemicals released into the environment. The real impact cannot be
revealed by a handful of stringent experiments that isolate just a few
controlled factors or chemicals at a time. Rather all of nature is a testing
ground. Scientists a few years ago were startled that a random
combination of chemicals (mostly pesticides) caused a 1000 times more
cancer than the sum of the individual chemicals indicated in separate
tests. More startling was the fact that some chemicals were thought to be
 harmless by themselves. Similarly, there is the potential, with entirely
new ways of rearranging the natural order - with genetic mutations - that
such non-traceable influences can also cause cancer. We definitively
know X-rays and chemicals cause genetic mutations, and mutagenic
changes are behind many higher cancer rates - where cells duplicate out
of control. If nothing else, this should make us extremely cautious. In the
US in the year 1900 cancer affected approximately 1 out 11 individuals.
It now inflicts 1 out of 2 men, and 1 out of 3 women in their lifetime.
These rates relentlessly shot upward throughout the twentieth century.

Viral and Bacterial Illness

6. Superviruses Viruses can mix with genes of other viruses and

retroviruses such as HIV. This can give rise to more deadly viruses – and
at rates higher than previously thought. One study showed that gene
mixing occurred in viruses in just 8 weeks (Kleiner, 1997). This kind of
scenario applies to the cauliflower mosaic virus CaMV, the most
common virus used in genetic engineering - in Round Up ready soy of
Monsanto, Bt-maise of Novaris, and GM cotton and canola. It is a kind
of "pararetrovirus" or what multiplies by making DNA from RNA. It is
somewhat similar to Hepatitis B and HIV viruses and can pose immense
dangers. In a Canadian study, a plant was infected with a crippled
cucumber mosaic virus that lacked a gene needed for movement between
plant cells. Within less than two weeks, the crippled plant found what it
needed from neighboring genes - as evidence of gene mixing. This is
significant because genes that cause diseases are often crippled to make
the end product "safe." Results of this kind led the US Department of
Agriculture to hold a meeting in October of 1997 to discuss the risks and
dangers of gene mixing and superviruses, but no regulatory action was
taken.

7. Antibiotic Threat – Via Milk Cows injected with rBGH have a much
higher level of udder infections and require more antibiotics. This leaves
unacceptable levels of antibiotic residues in the milk. Scientists have
warned of public health hazards due to growing antibiotic resistance.
8. Antibiotic Threat – Via Plants Much of genetic implantation uses a
marker to track where the gene goes into the cell. GM maize plants use
an ampicillin resistant gene. In 1998, the British Royal Society called for
the banning of
this marker as it threatens a vital antibiotic’s use. The resistant qualities
of GM bacteria in food can be transferred to other bacteria in the
environment and throughout the human body.

9. Resurgence of Infectious Diseases The Microbial Ecology in Health

and Disease journal reported in 1998 that gene technology may be
implicated in the resurgence of infectious diseases. This occurs in
multiple ways. There is growing resistance to antibiotics misused in
bioengineering, the formation of new and unknown viral strains, and the
lowering of immunity through diets of processed and altered foods.
There is also the horizontal transfer of transgenic DNA among bacteria.
Several studies have shown bacteria of the mouth, pharynx and intestines
can take up the transgenic DNA in the feed of animals, which in turn can
be passed on to humans. This threatens the hallmark accomplishment of
the twentieth century - the reduction in infectious diseases that critically
helped the doubling of life expectancy.

Allergies

10. Increased Food Allergies The loss of biodiversity in our food supply
has grown in parallel with the increase in food allergies. This can be
explained as follows. The human body is not a machine-like
"something" that can be fed
assembly line, carbon copy foods. We eat for nourishment and vitality.
What is alive interacts or changes with its environment. Unnatural
sameness - required
for patenting of genetic foods - are "dead" qualities. Frequently foods we
eat and crave are precisely those testing positive for food allergies. Cells
in our body recognize this lack of vitality, producing antibodies and
white cells in response. This is analogous to our brain's cells recognizing
 and rejecting mechanically repeated thoughts - or thinking "like a broken
record." Intuitively
our body cells and the overall immune system seems to reject excess
homogeneity.

Birth Defects, Toxicity, and Lowered Nutrition

11. Birth Defects and Shorter Life Spans As we ingest transgenic human/
animal products there is no real telling of the impact on human
evolution. We know that rBGh in cows causes a rapid increase in birth
defects and shorter life spans.

12. Interior Toxins "Pesticidal foods" have genes that produce a toxic
pesticide inside the food’s cells. This represents the first time "cell-
interior toxicity" is being sold for human consumption. There is little
knowledge of the potential long-term health impacts.

13. Lowered Nutrition A study in the Journal of Medicinal Food

(Dr. Marc Lappe, 1999) showed that certain GM foods have lower levels
of vital nutrients – especially phytoestrogen compounds thought to
protect the body from heart disease and cancer. In another study of GM
Vica Faba, a bean in the same family as soy, there was also an increase
in estrogen levels, what raises health issues - especially in infant soy
formulas. Milk from cows with rBGH contains substantially higher
levels of pus, bacteria, and fat. Monsanto's analysis of glyphosate-
resistant soya showed the GM-line contained 28% more Kunitz-trypsin
inhibitor, a known anti-nutrient and allergen.

General
14. No Regulated Health Safety Testing The FDA only requests of firms
that they conduct their own tests of new GM products in what Vice
President Quale back in 1992 referred to as a "regulatory relief
program." The FDA makes no review of those tests unless voluntarily
requested by the company producing the product. Companies present
their internal company records of tests showing a product is safe -
essentially having the "fox oversee the chicken coup." As Louis J.
Pribyl, an FDA microbiologist explained, companies tailor tests to get
the results they need. They further relinquish responsibility as Pjil
Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications expressed it
"Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech foods. Our
interest is in selling…Assuring its safety is the FDA's job." But the FDA
has not assumed the responsibility. Essentially it is "like playing Russian
roulette with public health," says Philip J. Regal, a biologist at the
University of Minnesota. In his contacts with the FDA, he noted that in
the policy of helping the biotech industry grow "government scientist
after scientist acknowledged there was no way to assure the health safety
of genetically engineered food… [yet] society was going to have to bear
an unavoidable measure of risk." The situation was summarized by
Richard Steinbrecher, a geneticist working for the Women's
Environmental Network "To use genetic engineering to manipulate
plants, release them into the environment and introduce them into our
food chains is scientifically premature, unsafe and irresponsible."

15. Unnatural Foods Recently, Monsanto announced it had found

"unexpected gene fragments in their Roundup Ready soybeans. It is well
known that modified proteins exist in GE foods, new proteins never
before eaten by
humanity. In 1992, Dr. Louis J. Pribyl of the FDA’s Microbiology
Group warned (in an internal memo uncovered in a lawsuit filed) that
there is " a
profound difference between the types of expected effects from
traditional breeding and genetic engineering." He also addressed industry
claims of no "pleiotropic" (unintended and/or uncontrolled) effects. This
was the basis for the industry position that GM foods are "equivalent" to
regular foods, thus requiring no testing or regulation. "Pleiotropic effects
occur in genetically
 engineered plants…at frequencies of 30%…increased levels of known
naturally occurring toxicants, appearance of new, not previously
identified
toxicants, increased capability of concentrating toxic substances from the
environment (e.g. pesticides or heavy metals), and undesirable
alterations in the level of nutrients may escape breeders' attention unless
genetically engineered plants are evaluated specifically for these
changes." Other scientists within the FDA echoed this view - and in
contrast to the agency's official position. For example, James
Marayanski, manager of the FDA’s Biotechnology Working Group
warned that there was a lack of consensus among the FDA’s scientists as
to the so-called "sameness" of GM foods
compared to non-GM foods. The reason why this is such an important
issue is that Congress mandated the FDA to require labeling when there
is "something tangibly different about the food that is material with
respect to the consequences which may result from the use of the food."
16. Radical Change in Diet Humanity has evolved for thousands of years
by adapting gradually to its natural environment - including nature's
foods. Within just three years a fundamental transformation of the
human diet has occurred. This was made possible by massive
consolidations among agri-business. Ten companies now own about
40% of all US seed production and sales. The Biotech industry
especially targeted two of the most commonly eaten and lucrative
ingredients in processed foods - corn and soy. Monsanto and Novaris,
through consolidations, became the second and third largest seed
companies in the world. They also purchased related agricultural
businesses to
further monopolize soy and corn production. Again within three years,
the majority of soybeans and one third of all corn in the US are now
grown with seeds mandated by the biotech firms. Also 60% of all hard
cheeses in the US are processed with a GM enzyme. A percentage of
baking and brewery products are GM modified as well. Most all of US
cotton production (where cotton oil is used in foods) is bioengineered.
Wheat and rice are next in line. In 2002, Monsanto plans to introduce a
"Roundup" (the name of its leading herbicide) resistant wheat strain. The
current result is that approximately two-thirds of all processed foods in
the US already contain GM ingredients – and this is projected to rise to
90% within four years according to industry claims. In short, the human
diet, from almost every front, is being radically changed - with little or
no knowledge of the long-term health or environmental impacts.

ENVIRONMENT

"Genetic Engineering is often justified as a human

technology, one that feeds more people with better
food. Nothing could be further from the truth. With
very few exceptions, the whole point of genetic
engineering is to increase sales of chemicals and bio-
engineered products to dependent farmers."

David Ehrenfield: Professor of Biology, Rutgers University

ENVIRONMENT

General Soil Impact

17. Toxicity to Soil The industry marketing pitch to the public is that
bioengineered seeds and plants will help the environment by reducing
toxic herbicide/pesticide use. Isolated examples are given, but the overall
reality is exactly opposite. The majority of GM agricultural products are
developed specifically for toxin-resistance - namely for higher doses of
herbicides/ pesticides sold by the largest producer companies –
Monsanto, Dupont Novaris, Dow, Bayer, Ciba-Geigy, Hoescht,
AgroEvo, and Rhone-Poulenc. Also the majority of research for future
products involves transgenic strains for increased chemical resistance.
Not to be fooled, the primary intent is to sell more, not less of their
products and to circumvent patent laws. According to an article by R.J.
Goldburg scientists predict herbicide use will triple as a result of GM
products. As an example of the feverish attempt to expand herbicide use,
Monsanto's patent for Roundup was scheduled to expire. Not to lose
their market share, Monsanto came up with the idea of creating
"Roundup Ready" seeds. It bought out seed companies to monopolize
the terrain - then licensing the seeds to farmers with the requirement that
they continue buying Roundup past the expiration of the patent. These
contracts had stiff financial penalties if farmers used any other herbicide.
As early as 1996, the investment report of Dain Boswell on changes in
the seed industry reported that Monsanto's billion dollar plus acquisition
of Holden Seeds ( about 1/3rd of US corn seeds) had "very little to do
with Holden as a seed company and a lot to do with the battle between
the chemical giants for future sales of herbicides and insecticides." Also
as revealed in corporate interviews conducted by Marc Lappe and Britt
Bailey (authors of Against the Grain - Biotechnology and the Corporate
Takeover of your Food), the explicit aim was to control 100% of US soy
seeds by the year 2000 only to continue to sell Roundup - or to beat their
patent's expiration. In fact in 1996, about 5000 acres were planted with
Roundup Ready soy seeds when Roundup sales accounted for 17% of
Monsanto's $9 billion in annual sales. Not to lose this share but to
expand it, Monsanto saw to it that by 1999, 5000 acres grew to
approximately 40 million acres out of a total of 60 million - or the
majority of all soy plantings in the United States. Furthermore, Roundup
could now be spayed over an entire field, not just sparingly over certain
weeds. However, the problem with evolving only genetically cloned and
thus carbon-copy seeds and plants is that historically, extreme
monoculture (high levels of sameness in crop planting) has led to a loss
of adaptive survival means - or where deadly plant infections have
spread like wildfire. As a separate issue, according to the United States
Fish and Wildlife Service, Monsanto’s Roundout already threatens 74
 endangered species in the United States. It attacks photosynthesis in
plants non-specifically - their quintessential, life-giving way to process
sunlight. Farmers sowing Roundup Ready seeds can also use more of
this herbicide than with conventional weed management. Since the
genetically modified plants have alternative ways to create
photosynthesis, they are hyper-tolerant, and can thus be sprayed
repeatedly without killing the crop. Though decaying in the soil,
Roundup residues are left on the plant en route to the consumer.
Malcolm Kane, (former head of food safety for Sainsbury’s chain of
supermarkets) revealed that the government, to accommodate Monsanto,
raised pesticide residue limits on soy products about 300-fold from 6
parts per million to 20 parts. Lastly Roundup is a human as well as
environmental poison. According to a study at the University of
California, glyphosphate (the active ingredient of Roundup) was the
third leading cause of farm worker illnesses. At least fourteen persons
have died from ingesting Roundup. These cases involved mostly
individuals intentionally taking this poison to commit suicide in Japan
and Taiwan. From this we know that the killing dose is so small it can be
put on a finger tip (0.4 cubic centimeters). Monsanto, however, proposes
a universal distribution of this lethal substance in our food chain. All of
this is not shocking, given Monsanto's history - being the company that
first distributed PCBs and vouched for their safety.
18. Soil Sterility and Pollution In Oregon, scientists found GM bacterium
(klebsiella planticola) meant to break down wood chips, corn stalks and
lumber wastes to produce ethanol - with the post-process waste to be
used as compost - rendered the soil sterile. It killed essential soil
nutrients, robbing the soil of nitrogen and killed nitrogen capturing
fungi. A similar result was found in 1997 with the GM bacteria
Rhizobium melitoli. Professor Guenther Stotzky of
New York University conducted research showing the toxins that were
lethal to Monarch butterfly are also released by the roots to produce soil
pollution. The pollution was found to last up to 8 months with depressed
microbial activity. An Oregon study showed that GM soil microbes in
the lab killed wheat plants when added to the soil.

Seeds
19. Extinction of Seed Varieties A few years ago Time magazine referred
to the massive trend by large corporations to buy up small seed
companies,
destroying any competing stock, and replacing it with their patented or
controlled brands as "the Death of Birth." Monsanto additionally has
had farmers sign contracts not to save their seeds - forfeiting what has
long been a farmer's birthright to remain guardians of the blueprints of
successive life.

Plants

20. Superweeds It has been shown that genetically modified Bt endotoxin

remains in the soil at least 18 months (according to Marc Lappe and Britt
Bailey) and can be transported to wild plants creating superweeds -
resistant to butterfly, moth, and beetle pests – potentially disturbing the
balance of nature. A study in Denmark (Mikkelsen, 1996) and in the UK
(National Institute of Agricultural Botany) showed superweeds growing
nearby in just one generation. A US study showed the superweed
resistant to glufosinate to be just as fertile as non-polluted weeds.
Another study showed 20 times more genetic leakage with GM plants –
or a dramatic increase in the flow of genes to outside species. Also in a
UK study by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, it was
confirmed that superweeds could grow nearby in just one generation.
Scientists suspect that Monsanto’s wheat will hybridize with goat
grass, creating an invulnerable superweed. The National Academy of
Science's study stated that " concern surrounds the possibility of genes
for resisting pests being passed from cultivated plants to their weedy
relatives, potentially making
the weed problem worse. This could pose a high cost to farmers and
threaten the ecosystem." (quoting Perry Adkisson, chancellor emeritus of
Texas A&M University, who chaired the National Academy of Science
study panel). An experiment in France showed a GM canola plant could
transfer genes to wild radishes, what persisted in four generations.
Similarly, and according to New Scientists, an Alberta Canada farmer
began planting three fields of different GM canola seeds in 1997 and by
1999 produced not one, but three different mutant weeds - respectively
 resistant to three common herbicides (Monsanto's Roundup, Cyanamid's
Pursuit, and Aventis' Liberty). In effect genetic materials migrated to the
weeds they were meant to control. Now the Alberta farmer is forced to
use a potent 2,4-D what GM crops promised to avoid use of. Finally
Stuart Laidlaw reported in the Toronto Star that the Ontario government
study indicated herbicide use was on the rise primarily largely due to the
introduction of GM crops.

21. Plant Invasions We can anticipate classic bio-invasions as a

result of new GM strains, just as with the invasions of the kutzu vine or
purple loosestrife in the plant world.

Trees

22. Destruction of Forest Life GM trees or "supertrees" are being

developed which can be sprayed from the air to kill literally all of
surrounding life, except
the GM trees. There is an attempt underway to transform international
forestry by introducing multiple species of such trees. The trees
themselves are often sterile and flowerless. This is in contrast to
rainforests teaming with life, or where a single tree can host thousands of
unique species of insects, fungi, mammals and birds in an interconnected
ecosphere. This kind of development has been called "death-
engineering" rather than "life-" or "bio-engineering." More ominously
pollen from such trees, because of their height, has traveled as much as
400 miles or 600 kilometers - roughly 1/5 of the distance across the
United States.
23. Terminator Trees Monsanto has developed plans with the New Zealand
Forest Research Agency to create still more lethal tree plantations. These
super
deadly trees are non-flowering, herbicide-resistant and with leaves
exuding toxic chemicals to kill caterpillars and other surrounding insects
– destroying the wholesale ecology of forest life. As George McGavin,
curator of entomology Oxford University noted, "If you replace vast
tracts of natural forest with flowerless trees, there will be a serious effect
 on the richness and abundance of insects…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 to cultivate wood tissue.
That is a pretty unattractive vision of the future and I for one want no
part of it."

Insects and Larger Animals

24. Superpests Lab tests indicate that common plant pests such as
cottonboll worms, will evolve into superpests immune from the Bt
sprays used by organic farmers. The recent "stink bug" epidemic in
North Carolina and Georgia seems linked to bioengineered plants that
the bugs love. Monsanto, on their Farmsource website, recommended
spraying them with methyl parathion, one of the deadliest chemicals. So
much for the notion of Bt cotton getting US farmers off the toxic
treadmill. Pests the transgenic cotton was meant to kill - cotton
bollworms, pink bollworms, and budworms - were once "secondary
pests." Toxic chemicals killed off their predators, unbalanced nature, and
thus made them "major pests."

25. Animal Bio-invasions Fish and marine life are threatened by accidental
release of GM fish currently under development in several countries –
trout,
carp, and salmon several times the normal size and growing up to 6x
times as fast. One such accident has already occurred in the Philippines –
threatening local fish supplies.

26. Killing Beneficial Insects Studies have shown that GM products can kill
beneficial insects – most notably the monarch butterfly larvae (Cornell,
1999). Swiss government researchers found Bt crops killed lacewings
that ate the
 cottonworms which the Bt targeted. A study reported in 1997 by New
Scientist indicates honeybees may be harmed by feeding on proteins
found in GM canola flowers. Other studies relate to the death of bees
(40% died during a contained trial with Monsanto's Bt cotton),
springtails (Novartis' Bt corn data submitted to the EPA) and ladybird
beetles .

27. Poisonous to Mammals In a study with GM potatoes, spliced with DNA

from the snowdrop plant and a viral promoter (CaMV), the resulting
plant was poisonous to mammals (rats) – damaging vital organs, the
stomach lining and immune system. CaMV is a pararetrovirus. It can
reactivate dormant viruses or create new viruses - as some presume have
occurred with the AIDES epidemic. CaMV is promiscuous, why
biologist Mae Wan-Ho concluded that "all transgenic crops containing
CaMV 35S or similar promoters which are recombinogenic should be
immediately withdrawn from commercial production or open field trials.
All products derived from such crops containing transgenic DNA should
also be immediately withdrawn from sale and from use for human
consumption or animal feed."

28. Animal Abuse Pig number 6706 was supposed to be a "superpig." It

was implanted with a gene to become a technological wonder. But it
eventually became a "supercripple" full of arthritis, cross-eyed, and
could barely stand up with its mutated body. Some of these mutations
seem to come right out of Greek mythology - such as a sheep-goat with
faces and horns of a goat and the lower body of a sheep. Two US biotech
companies are producing genetically modified birds as carriers for
human drug delivery – without little concern for animal suffering. Gene
Works of Ann Arbor, Michigan has up to 60 birds
under "development." GM products, in general, allow companies to own
the rights to create, direct, and orchestrate the evolution of animals.

29. Support of Animal Factory Farming Rather than using the best of
scientific minds to end animal factory farming - rapid efforts are
underway to
 develop gene-modified animals that better thrive in disease-promoting
conditions of animal factory farms.

Genetic Uncertainties

30. Genetic Pollution Carrying GM pollen by wind, rain, birds, bees,

insects, fungus, bacteria – the entire chain of life becomes involved.
Once released, unlike chemical pollution, there is no cleanup or recall
possible. As mentioned, pollen from a single GM tree has been shown to
travel 1/5th of the length of the United States. Thus there is no
containing such genetic pollution. Experiments in Germany have shown
that engineered oilseed rape can have its pollen move over 200 meters.
As a result German farmers have sued to stop field trials in Berlin. In
Thailand, the government stopped field tests for Monsanto's Bt cotton
when it was discovered by the Institute of Traditional Thai Medicine that
16 nearby plants of the cotton family, used by traditional healers, were
being genetically polluted. US research showed that more than 50% of
wild strawberries growing inside of 50 meters of a GM strawberry field
assumed GM gene markers. Another showed that 25-38% of wild
sunflowers growing near GM crops had GM gene markers. A recent
study in England showed that despite the tiny amount of GM plantings
there (33,750 acres over two years compared to 70-80 million acres per
year in the US) wild honey was found to be contaminated. This means
that bees are likely to pollinate organic plants and trees with transgenic
elements. Many other insects transport the by-products of GM plants
throughout our environment, and even falling leaves can dramatically
affect the genetic heritage of soil bacteria. The major difference between
chemical pollution and genetic pollution is that the former
eventually is dismantled or decays, while the later can reproduce itself
forever in the wild. As the National Academy of Science's report
indicated - "the containment of crop genes is not considered to be
feasible when seeds are
distributed and grown on a commercial scale." Bioengineering firms are
also developing fast growing salmon, trout, and catfish as part of the
"blue revolution" in aquaculture. They often grow several times faster (
6x faster for salmon) and larger in size (up to 39X) so as to potentially
wipe out their competitors in the wild. There are no regulations for their
 safe containment to avoid ecological disasters. They frequently grow in
"net pens," renown for being torn by waves, so that some will escape
into the wild. If so, commercial wild fish could be devastated according
to computer models in a study of the National Academy of Sciences by
two Purdue University scientists ( William Muir and Richard Howard).
All of organic farming - and farming per se - may eventually be either
threatened or polluted by this technology.

31. Disturbance of Nature’s Boundaries Genetic engineers argue that their

creations are no different than crossbreeding. However, natural
boundaries are violated – crossing animals with plants, strawberries with
fish, grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes with bacteria, viruses, and fungi; or
like human genes with swine.
32. Unpredictable Consequences of a Gunshot Approach DNA fragments
are blasted past a cell’s membrane with a "gene gun" shooting in foreign
genetic materials in a random, unpredictable way. According to Dr.
Richard
Lacey, a medical microbiologist at the University of Leeds, who
predicted mad cow disease, "wedging foreign genetic material in an
essentially random
manner…causes some degree of disruption…It is impossible to predict
what specific problems could result." This view is echoed by many other
scientists, including Michael Hansen, Ph.D., who states that "Genetic
engineering, despite the precise sound of the name, is actually a very
messy process."

IMPACT ON FARMING
 "The decline in the number of farms is likely to
accelerate in the coming years…gene-splicing
technologies… change the way plants and animals are
produced."
Jemery Rifkin

IMPACT ON FARMING

Small Farm Livelihood and Survival

33. Decline and Destruction of Self-Sufficient Family Farms In 1850,

60% of the working population in the US was engaged in agriculture. By
the year 1950 it was 4%. Today it is 2% (CIA World Factbook 1999 –
USA). From a peak of 7 million farms in 1935, there are now less than
one-third or 2 million left. In many urban areas, the situation is more
stark or where family farms are becoming largely extinct. For example,
Rockland Country, New York (1/2 hour from New York City) had 600
family farms in 1929. Exactly seventy years later only 6 remained.
Similar declines have occurred throughout the US and abroad. Of the
one-third remaining US farms, 100,000 or 5% produce most of our
foods. Agri-corporations have taken economic and legislative power
away from the small, self-sufficient family farms – sometimes via
cutthroat competition (such as legal product dumping below production
costs to gain market share - what was legalized by GATT regulations).
The marketing of GM foods augments this centralizing and small-farm-
declining trend in the US - as well as on an international level. For
example, two bioengineering firms have announced a GM vanilla plant
where vanilla can be grown in vats at a lower cost – and which could
eliminate the livelihood of the world’s 100,000 vanilla farmers – most of
whom are on the islands of Madagascar, Reunion and Comoros. Other
firms are developing bioengineered fructose, besides chemical sugar
substitutes, that threatens, according to a Dutch study, a million farmers
in the Third World. In 1986, the Sudan lost its export of gum arabic
 when a New York company discovered a bioengineering process for
producing the same. Synthetic cocoa substitutes are also threatening
farmers. It is estimated that the biotech industry will find at least $14
billion dollars of substitutes for Third World farming products. Far
beyond hydroponics, scientists are developing processes to grow foods
in solely laboratory environments – eliminating the need for seeds,
shrubs, trees, soil and ultimately the farmer.

34. General Economic Harm to Small Family Farms GM seeds sell at a

premium, unless purchased in large quantities, which creates a financial
burden for small farmers. To add to this financial injury, Archer Daniels
Midland has instituted a two-tier price system where it offers less to
farmers per bushels for GM soybeans because they are not selling well
overseas. Many GM products, such

as rBGH, seem to offer a boom for dairy farmers - helping their cows
produce considerably more milk. But the end result has been a lowering
of prices, again putting the smaller farmers out of business. We can find
similar trends with other GM techniques – as in pig and hen raising
made more efficient. The University of Wisconsin’s GM brooding hens
lack the gene that produces prolactin proteins. The new hens no longer
sit on their eggs as long, and produce more. Higher production leads to
lower prices in the market place. The end result is that the average small
farmer's income plummeted while a few large-scale, hyper-productive
operations survived along with their "input providers" (companies
selling seeds, soil amendments, and so on). In an on-going trend, the
self-sufficient family farmer is shoved to the very lowest rung of the
economic ladder. In 1910 the labor portion of agriculture accounted for
41% of the value of the finally sold produce. Now the figure has been
estimated at between 6-9% in North America. The balance gets
channeled to agri-input and distribution firms - and more recently to
biotech firms. Kristin Dawkins in Gene Wars: The Politics of
Biotechnology, points out that between 1981 and 1987, food prices rose
36%, while the percentage of the pie earned by farmers continued to
shrink dramatically.

Organic Farming
35. Losing Purity At the present rate of proliferation of GM foods,
within 50-100 years, the majority of organic foods may no longer be
organic.

36. Mixing A Texas organic corn chip maker, Terra Prima, suffered a
substantial economic loss when their corn chips were contaminated with
GM corn and had to be destroyed.

37. Losing Natural Pesticides Organic farmers have long used "Bt" (a
naturally occurring pesticidal bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis) as an
invaluable farming aide. It is administered at only certain times, and then
sparingly, in a diluted form. This harms only the target insects that bite
the plant. Also in that diluted form, it quickly degrades in the soil. By
contrast, genetically engineered Bt corn, potatoes and cotton - together
making up roughly a third of
US GM crops - all exude this natural pesticide. It is present in every
single cell, and pervasively impacts entire fields over the entire life span
of crops. This probably increases Bt use at least a million fold in US
agriculture. According to a study conducted at NYU, BT residues
remained in the soil for as much as 243 days. As an overall result,
agricultural biologists predict this will lead to the destruction of one of
organic farming's most important tools. It will make it essentially
useless. A computer model developed at the University of Illinois
predicted that if all US Farmers grew Bt resistant corn, resistance would
occur within 12 months. Scientists at the University of North Carolina
have already discovered Bt resistance among moth pests that feed on
corn. The EPA now requires GM planting farmers to set aside 20-50% of
acres with non-BT corn to attempt to control the risk and to help
monarch butterflies survive.

Control and Dependency

38. Terminator Technology Plants are being genetically produced with no
annual replenishing of perennial seeds so farmers will become wholly
dependent on the seed provider. In the past Monsanto had farmers sign
agreements that they would not collect seeds, and even sent out field
detectives to check on farmers.

39. Traitor Technology Traitor technologies control the stages or life

cycles of plants – when a plant will leaf, flower, and bear fruit. This
forces the farmer to use certain triggering chemicals if he is to yield a
harvest - again causing much deeper levels of economic dependence.
These technologies are being developed and patented at a furious pace.

Farm Production

40. Less Diversity, Quality, Quantity and Profit One of the most
misleading hopes raised by GM technology firms is that they will solve
the world’s hunger. Some high technology agriculture does offer higher
single crop yields. But organic farming techniques, with many different
seeds interplanted between rows, generally offer higher per acre yields.
This applies best to the family farm, which feeds the majority of the
Third World. It differs from the large-scale, monocrop commercial
production of industrialized nations. Even for commercial fields, results
are questionable. In a study of 8,200 field trials, Roundup Ready
soybeans produced fewer bushels of soy than non-GM (Charles
Benbrook study, former director Board of Agriculture at the National
Academy of Sciences). The average yield for non-GM soybeans was
51.21 bushels per acre; for GM soybeans it was 49.26. This was again
confirmed in a study at the University of Nebraska's Institute of
Agricultural Resources. They grew five different strains of Monsanto
soya plants in four different locations of varied soil environments. Dr.
Elmore of the project found that on average GM seeds, though more
 expensive, produced 6% less than non-GM relatives, and 11% less than
the highest yielding conventional crops. "The numbers were clear,"
stated Dr. Elmore. The yield for Bt corn, however, in other studies was
higher. But this did not lead to greater profit because GM related costs in
terms of insecticides, fertilizer and labor were nearly $4 more per acre.

41. Fragility of Future Agriculture With loss of biological diversity there

inevitably develops a fragility of agriculture. During the Irish potato
famine of the 19th century, farmers grew limited varieties of potatoes.
This allowed a crop
blight to spread throughout. By contrast, there are thousands of varieties
of potatoes in Peru – what provides adaptability and thus a constant
resource for blight resistance. Farm researchers have tapped into this
treasure chest for the

benefit of the rest of the world. Reminiscent of the Irish potato

catastrophe of the 1840's, Cornell Chronicle reports a still more virulent
strain than ever - known as potato late blight is presently attacking
Russian potato crops and threatening regional food shortages. The new
strain can survive harsh winters. In January of 2000, the NY Times
reported a citrus canker blight in Southern Florida - one seriously
threatening the state's entire $8.5 billion citrus fruit industry. Coca
plants, monocropped and nearly identical, are also endangered by an
international blight. Thus the destruction rather than preservation of
alternative, adaptable seed stocks by GM companies, follows a
dangerous path for the future of all of agriculture.

42. Lower Yields and More Pesticides Used With RR Seeds

Contrary to claims, a Rodale study shows that the best of organic
farming techniques - using rich natural compost - can produce higher
drought resistance as well as higher yielding plants than with current
technological attempts. Dr. Charles Benbrook, a consultant for the
Consumer's Union, published a summary of a report revealing Roundup
Ready soybeans actually used 2-5 times more pounds of herbicides per
acre than conventional soybeans sprayed with other low-dose pesticides.
 ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND
SOCIAL THREATS

"Even for the biggest "winners," it is like winning at

poker on the Titanic."
Jerry Mander: Facing the Rising Tide

ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL THREATS

43. Monopolization of Food Production The rapid and radical change in

the human diet was made possible by quick mergers and acquisitions
that moved to control segments of the US farming industry. Although
there are approximately 1500 seed companies worldwide, about two
dozen control more than 50% of the commercial seed heritage of our
planet. The consolidation has continued to grow, In 1998 the top five soy
producers controlled 37% of the market (Murphy Family Foods;
Carroll’s Foods, Continental Grain, Smithfield
Foods, and Seaboard). One year later, the top five controlled 51%
(Smithfield, having acquired Murphy’s and Carroll’s, Continental,
Seaboard, Prestige and Cargill). Cargill and Continental Grain later
merged. With corn seed production and sales, the top four seed
companies controlled 87% of the market in 1996 (Pioneer Hi-Bred,
Holden’s Foundation Seeds, DeKalb Genetics, and Novaris). In 1999,
the top three controlled 88% (Dupont having acquired Pioneer,
 Monsanto having acquired Holden’s and DeKalb, and Novaris. In the
cotton seed market, Delta and Land Pine Company now control about
75% of the market. The concentration is staggering. National farming
associations see this dwindling of price competition and fewer
distribution outlets as disfavoring and threatening the small family farm.
Average annual income per farm has plummeted throughout the last
decade. Almost a quarter of all farm operating families live below the
poverty level, twice the national average – and most seek income from
outside the farm to survive. A similar pattern is developing in Europe.

44. Impact on Long -Term Food Supply If food production is

monopolized, the future of that supply becomes dependent on the
decisions of a few companies and the viability of their seed stocks. Like
the example of Peru,
there are only a few remaining pockets of diverse seed stocks to insure
the long-term resilience of the world’s staple foods. All of them are in
the Third World. Food scientists indicate that if these indigenous
territories are disturbed by biotech’s advance, the long-term vitality of
all of the world’s food supply is endangered.

45. Biocolonization – In past centuries, countries managed to overrun others

by means of fierce or technologically superior armies. The combined
control of genetic and agricultural resources holds a yet more powerful
weapon for the
invasion of cultures. For only when a person loses food self-sufficiency
do they become wholly dependent and subservient. That is why 500,000
farmers
in India staged a protest on October 2, 1993 against GATT trade
regulations and now oppose GM seed products.
46. Dependency Under the new regulations of WTO, the World Bank,
GATT, NAFTA, the autonomy of local economies can be vastly
overridden. Foreign concerns can buy up all the major seed, water, land
and other primary agricultural resources – converting them to exported
cash rather than local survival crops. This is likely to further unravel the
self-sufficiency of those cultures - and as with the past failures of the
"green revolution."
47.

RIGHTS

"The FDA's failure to require labeling of genetically

altered foods is effectively restricting Americans from
exercising this right and subjects individuals to foods
they have sound…reasons to avoid. FDA policy thus
appears to violate the First Amendment of the
Constitution….the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act,
which requires that added substances to food be
labeled…and mandates disclosure of material facts."

Alliance for Bio-integrity Statement - in a lawsuit filed against the

DFA by nine scientists and twelve religious leaders.

RIGHTS
48. For Health/Environmental/Socio-Political Reasons The lack of
labeling violates the right to know what is in our foods - given the list of
health, environmental, and socio-political reasons to avoid GM
ingredients. Even if GM foods were 100% safe, the consumer has a right
to know such ingredients - due to their many potential harms.

49. For Religious Dietary Reasons Previously if someone wanted to avoid

foods not permitted in certain religions, the process was simple. With
transgenic alterations, every food is suspect – and the religious and
health-conscious consumer has no way of knowing without a mandated
label.

DEEP ECOLOGY

"All things are connected like the blood which

unites one family. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls
the sons [and daughters] of the Earth."

Chief Seattle of the Duwamish Tribe

DEEP ECOLOGY
50. Contradiction in Terms The term bioengineering is a contradiction in
terms. "Bio" refers to life - that which is whole, organic, self-sufficient,
inwardly organizing, conscious, and living. That consciousness of nature
 creates a web that is deeply interconnecting The term "engineering," on
the other hand, refers to the opposite - to mechanical design of dead
machines - things made of separate parts, and thus not consciously
connected - to be controlled, spliced, manipulated, replaced, and
rearranged.

51. Imposing a Non-Living Model onto Nature "The crying of animals is

nothing more than just the creaking of machines," wrote the philosopher
René Descartes in the 17th century. This powerfully expressed an
inhumane and mechanical view of nature that does not respect life. The
genetic model is derivative of this mechanistic way of relating to nature.

52. Atomic Weapons vs. Gene Mutated Foods The image of modern
progress brought about solely by perfected mechanisms or technology
was punctured in the 1940’s with the explosion of atomic weapons –
which brought humanity to the brink of global annihilation. Einstein’s
formulas created the bomb. His formulas hinged on the very same ideas
of the philosopher René Descartes for their foundation. Descartes
developed the underlying geometry that space may be universally or
infinitely separated ("Cartesian coordinates") into distinct points. If we
perfectly visualize this, we run the risk of bringing that exact image to
life. Einstein’s famous formula (E = mc2), for example, allows us to
explode space. Only in hindsight and seeing this result, Einstein
expressed the wish of never having taken on the career of a physicist.
Genetic engineering, or the splicing of genes, may be viewed as a still
more perilous outcome of a Cartesian-like approach to nature. We can
prevent nuclear disaster or hopefully keep nuclear weapons bottled up.
But genetic engineering applies a similar philosophy and creates
products intentionally released - with potential chain reactions that may
not be stoppable.
 ACTIONS YOU CAN
TAKE

"The new genetic science raises more troubling

issues than any other technological revolution in
history. In reprogramming the genetic code of life,
do we risk a fatal interruption of millions of
years of evolutionary development? Might not the
artificial creation of life spell the end of the
natural world?… Will the creation, mass
production, and wholesale release of thousands
of genetically engineered life forms…cause
irreversible damage to the biosphere, making
genetic pollution an even greater threat to the
planet than nuclear or petrochemical pollution?"

Jeremy Rifkin: The Biotech Century

 Political/Community Action

• Contact elected officials

As of the present writing, only about 50 Congressmen (out of over 400) have
endorsed the GM labeling bill currently before Congress. A similar piece of
legislation is being introduced into the US Senate. It is vitally important that
100,000 or more letters be sent to Congress urging them to support these bills.
It is best to write a personal letter, what has the most impact. Form letters are
also available. Many health food stores carry them, or they can be downloaded
at the Web site www.thecampaign.org. Make copies for your self and 5-10
friends and family members. Several letters may also be collected and sent in a
single envelope. Emails can also be sent, but do not have as much impact or
influence as postal letters. Even with form letters, adding a personal note
explaining you views on the subject doubles the weight placed on the letter by
legislators. At The Campaign's Web site, additional form letters are also
available to the President, Vice President, political candidates, Department of
Agriculture, EPA, and FDA - plus media contacts and major food companies.
The media contact service on the web allows you to instantly reach hundreds of
newspapers, magazines, radio stations and the like, in each of the 50 states - to
tell them to cover this issue.

• Sign petition

A petition is also attached and further copies are available through the Organic
Consumers Association (OCA) at www.purefood.org and at most local health
food stores. The OCA petition calls for 30% of US produce to be organic by the
year 2010. At the present rate of growth, 10% of European produce will be
organic by 2005. Australia has already passed 10% and Sweden and
Switzerland are not far behind.

• Vote

Support political candidates that favor labeling and/or a moratorium on GM

foods. At present two national political parties have already included the issue
of labeling bioengineered foods in their platform - the Greens and the Natural
Law Party. For

more information visit www.naturallaw.org and www.greens.org/ny/.

• Join and volunteer to help activist organizations

There are many activist organizations working on the GM issue. A few

prominent ones are The Campaign, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth,
Bioengineering Action Network, RAGE, Organic Consumers Association - and
locally NOFA, the Greens, and Americans for Safe Food. Websites or contact
information are listed in the resource section.

• Mobilize parents, students, and teachers

Contact school officials asking them to follow the example of the Berkeley,
California district - eliminating GM products or offering organic food in
cafeterias.

• Attend Forums and Conferences

See websites listed were updates are available as to local events.

Consumer Action

• Buy organics whenever possible

Educate your family on this issue and buy organic products whenever you can.

• Communicate with Producers and Distributors

Call and send a letter to the largest companies that distribute GM foods. Ask
them to change their policies (see a sample list below) A national consumer
action plan is being coordinated by the People's Earth Network (see
www.peoplesearth.com). For more information send them an email on their site - to
be part of their listserve to contact companies. You can also reach the Network
by mail at 35 Asticou Road, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 or call 617-522-9605.
As a result and as of this writing, 17 companies have taken positive steps. This
includes Hain's Food Group, the largest health food conglomerate along with
Wild Oats and Whole Foods, the largest health-oriented supermarkets in the
US. A sample letter to a corporation, which should be restated in your own
words, might be :

Dear President,
I am writing to express my very serious concern about genetically engineered
ingredients in your products. Research has shown many negative health and
environmental effects such as ……what effects me and my family. Other
companies have begun to take steps to eliminate these ingredients and I am
urging you and XXXX Corporation to do the same.
 • Contact Store Owners

Join (or start) a local network of people, who individually or together contact
nearby supermarket and food storeowners about the seriousness of this issue.
Ask the owners to survey their suppliers for GM-free products, as well as their
own private-label products - and to make a list of all GM free products
available to their customers.

• Corporate Persuasion

Divest of shares in GM producing or distributing companies, or use shares for

shareholder protests.

List of Largest US Food Distributors:

Safeway 800-723-3929
Frito-Lay 800-352-4477
Kellogg's 800-962-1413
Nestle's 800-452-1971
Heinz Foods 888- 472-8437
Healthy Choice 800-323-9980
Kraft 800-543-5335
Hershey's 800-468-1714
Coca Cola 800-438-2653
Nabisco 800-862-2638
Quaker Oats 800-367-6287
Starbucks 800-782-7282
McDonald's 630-623-3000
General Mills 800-328-1144
Proctor & Gamble 800-595-1407

Personal Action

• Become informed

Knowledge, understanding, commitment and resolve precede action. Attached

are brief lists of resources - books, videos, tapes, conferences and Internet
resources for more information on the issue of genetically engineered foods.

• Inform others
Share information, a video, book or tape about GM foods with friends and
family members. Write a letter to your newspaper. Inform others through your
personal WebPages and links.

• Organic lifestyles

When we buy organic products we not only enhance our own personal health,
but support businesses and farms committed to a clean environment plus not
destroying the living web of nature. For more information about local organic
products, CSA's (community supported agriculture), organic gardening,
discounted food coops, and related resources, contact NOFA - Northeast
Organic Farmer's Association at 315-365-2299.

Resources
 Books

Boyens, Ingeborg, Unnatural Harvest: How Corporate Science Is Secretly

Altering Our Food. Doubleday Books, 1999.

British Medical Association, Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity. London

BMJ Bookshop, 1999.

Dawkins, Kristin, Gene Wars: The Politics of Biotechnology (Open Media

Pamphlet Series). Seven Stories Press, 1997.

Fagan, John, Genetic Engineering: The Hazards, Vedic Engineering, The

Solutions, Maharishi University, 1995.

Fox, Michael W. Beyond Evolution, The Genetically Altered Future of Plants,

Animals, the Earth Humans. Lyons Press, 1999.

Grace, Eric S. Biotechnology Unzipped: Promises and Realities, Joseph Henry

Press. 1997.

Heinberg, Richard, Cloning the Buddha: The Moral Implications of

Biotechnology. Quest, 1999.
Ho, Mae Wan, Genetic Engineering Dream or Nightmare?: The Brave New
World of Science and Business. Gateway Books, 1998.

Hubbard, Ruth and Ward, E. Exploding the Gene Myth. Beacon Press, 1996.

Jack, Alan, Imagine Life Without Monarch Butterflies. Bookworld Services,

2000.

Keen, Brewster, Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology. New

Society Publishers, 1999.

Kimbrell, Andrew and Nathanson, B. The Human Body Shop: The Cloning,
Engineering, and Marketing of Life. Regnery Publishing, 1998.

Lappe, M. and Bailey, B. Against the Grain: Biotechnology and the Corporate
Takeover of Your Food. LPC, 1998.

Marshall, Elizabeth, High-Tech Harvest: A Look at Genetically Engineered

Foods. Franklin Watts, 1999.

Montgomery, Jane F., Sivramiah Shantharam (editor), Biotechnology,

Biosafety, and Biodiversity: Scientific and Ethical Issues for Sustainable
Development. Science Publishers, Inc. 1999.

Nottingham, Dr. Stephen, Eat Your Genes: How Genetically Modified Food Is
Entering Our Diet. St. Martins Press, 1998.
Raeburn, Paul, The Last Harvest: The Genetic Gamble That Threatens to
Destroy American Agriculture. University of Nebraska, 1996.

Rifkin, Jeremy, The Biotech Century: Harnessing the Gene and Remaking the
World. J.P. Tarcher, 1999.

Rifkin, Jeremy and Teitel, M., Rain Forest in Your Kitchen: The Hidden
Connection Between Extinction and Your Supermarket. Island Press, 1992.

Rissler, J. and Mellon, M. The Ecological Risks of Engineered Crops. MIT

Press, 1996.

Shiva, Vandana, Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge. South End
Press, 1997.

Shiva, Vandana, Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives on Biodiversity and

Biotechnology. South End Press, 1999.

Shiva, Vandana, Stolen Harvest: The Highjacking of the Global Food Supply.
South End Press, 1999.

Teitel, M. and Wilson, K.A. Genetically Engineered Food: Changing the

Nature of Nature: What You Need to Know to Protect Yourself, Your Family,
and Our Planet. Inner Traditions International, Ltd. 1999.

Ticciati, L. and Ticciati, R., Genetically Engineered Foods: Are They Safe?
You Decide. Keats Publishing, 1998.
 Videos

Food for Thought, Ed Schehl, Director, Film and Video, Santa Cruz, California. 1-
800-4-Planet.

Against the Grain, Britt Bailey, Producer, The Video Project, Ben Lomond,
California. 1-800-4-Planet.

Risky Business- Biotechnology and Agriculture, Mark Dworkin and Melisa

Young. Bullfrog Films. 1-800-543-3764

Audio Tapes

Frankenfood: Genetically Modified Cuisine. Contact Americans for Safe

Food at 607-431-9577 for a copy of the audiotape. It is suitable for radio
broadcast and is very stirring. The tape is recorded by Marc Lappe and Britt
Bailey, authors of Against the Grain: Biotechnology and the Corporate
Takeover of our Food.
 Articles

See the Web site of www.thecampaign.org, www.purefood.org, and www.sage-

intl.org.

Email Updates

1) www.thecampaign.org (follow instructions)

2) [email protected] (in the subject area type "subscribe")
3) [email protected] (in the body type "subscribe_biotech_activists")
4) [email protected] (send regular email request)
 Author-Related Websites

Jeremy Rifkin www.foet.org

Vananda Shiva www.vshiva.net

Mae Wan Ho www.i-sis.org

Marc Lappe www.cetos.org

Organization Websites

Alliance for BioIntegrity www.bio-integrity.org

Australian GenEthics Net www.essential.zero.com/agen

Binas ( Biosafety Info Network ) http://binas.unidos.org/binas/binas.html

Biodemocracy www.purefood.org
Bioengineering Action Network www.tao.ca/~ban

Campaign to Ban GE Foods www.netlink.de/gen/home.html

Center for Food Safety www.icta.org

Center for Food Policy www.wolfson.tvu.ac.uk/

research/food/index.html

Centro Internazionate Crocevia www.crocevia.org

Council of Canadians www.canadians.org

Council for Responsible Genetics www.gene-watch.org

Earth Island Institute www.earthisland.org

The Ecologist www.gn.apc.org

Ecoropa www.ecoropa.org

Edmonds Institute www.edmonds-institute.org

Environmental Defense Fund www.edf.org
Food First Institute http://foodfirst.org

Friends of the Earth www.foe.co.uk

The Genetics Forum www.geneticsforum.org.uk

Global 2000 ( Friends of the Earth) www.global2000.org

Greenpeace www.greenpeace.org
Indigenous Peoples Coalition Against
Biopiracy www.niec.net/ipcb/

Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy www.iatp.org

International Centre for Trade &

Sustainable Development www.ictsd.org

International Forum on Globalization www.ifg.org

Mothers for Natural Law www.safe-food.org

Natural Law Party www.naturallaw.org

Norfolk Genetic Information Net (ngin) http://members.tripod.com/~ngin

People's Earth Network www.peoplesearth.org

RAGE (Resistance Against GE) [email protected] (Northeast)

RAFI (Rural Advancement Foundation) www.rafi.org

Organic Consumers Association www.organicconsumers.org

Red interamericana de Agriculturas y

Democracia (RIAD) www.sustain.org/riad

SAGE (Students for Alternatives to GE) www.sage-intl.org

Union of Concerned Scientists www.ucsusa.org/agriculture/biotech.html

Washington Biotech Action Council http://students.washington.edu/radin

"The fact is, it is virtually impossible to even
conceive of a testing procedure to assess the health
effects of genetically engineered foods when introduced
into the food chain, nor is there any valid nutritional or
public interest reason for their introduction."

Richard Lacey: Professor of Food Safety, Leeds University