Genetically engineered food: on your plate, in your community

"We have scarcely begun to understand all that nature has to teach us about the bounty of the earth, and it would be a shame to reengineer the teacher before we have learned what she knows." - Craig Holdrege and Steve Talbott, "Sowing Technology" Sierra, July/August 2001

We have established genetic engineering in our agriculture process. The way in which people grow, tend, and harvest crops-- food--has been changed. No longer do farmers work exclusively with the rhythms of the seasons and listen only to the cues of the ecosystem; nature has been bent to the will of humanity and, arguably, the dollar.

Genetically engineered crops do not simply exist in some other state, within some other community, or on some other continent in a country far away from our own farmers' markets and grocery stores. Genetically engineered food sits on the shelves of Safeway, Albertson's and Raley's, wrapped in plastic and encased in boldly colored cardboard. The following brands, published in Greenpeace's True Foods listing and eaten by people everyday, contain genetically modified ingredients: original Bisquik baking mix (Betty Crocker/General Mills), Hershey's Kisses, Nature Valley oats and honey granola bars (General Mills), Tostitos Salsa, all varieties of Oreos, peanut butter (among other flavors) Power Bars, Tombstone pepperoni frozen pizza (Kraft/Philip Morris), Sprite, Pepsi,. all varieties of V-8 Tomato Juices, Campbell's chicken noodle soup, Healthy Choice minestrone soup, and many, many others. The items in the above list are only a partial selection from the many food categories that contain GE ingredients. Campbell's and Healthy Choice's soups are not the only soup products containing genetically modified food.

The most commonly engineered foods, according to the Greenpeace website, are soy, corn, canola, cotton, flax, papaya, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, sugar beet, and radicchio. The website also sites soy, corn, canola and cotton as comprising "99% of all the genetically engineered (GE) crop acreage in the US today." These foods fall into two categories of engineered products, herbicide tolerant and insect resistant. Herbicide tolerant crops are soybeans, corn, canola, cotton and sugar beets according to Greenpeace, and "These crops are genetically engineered to withstand direct application of herbicides. These chemicals would kill natural crop plants, but farmers can now spray weed killers directly onto GE herbicide tolerant varieties. This could mean more chemicals on our food and in our environment. About 70% of GE crops growing in the U.S. today are herbicide tolerant varieties." The insect resistant crops are generally the following: corn, cotton and potatoes. This type of genetic modification poses a threat to the natural cycles of insect populations. The GE plant becomes an insecticide-altered so that it produces a biological form of the chemical that kills particular pests. Pest populations can develop a resistance to this form of pest control in as little as a few years according to the Greenpeace website. A troublesome concern because farmers may be in a worse predicament with superpests and an unhealthy ecosystem within the farm. These altered foods pose potential dangers 16 humans through increased exposure to insecticides engineered into plants, exposure to herbicides from potential increased sprayings, and potential for allergic reactions. Even if the FDA does not raise its standards for genetically modified foods in the form of more stringent testing, at the very least products that contain genetically modified foods should be labeled as containing GE ingredients.

Biological engineering of plants completely redraws the parameters of nature. Once we change the system of plant evolution and ecological balance, nature is no longer an independent entity with which we have a symbiotic relationship. Nature becomes a mechanistic system we must regulate, and blindly at that, for we have no idea what the ramifications of our actions will be.

In our very own community genetically modified food is present. If you wish to eat foods that have not been altered, purchasing organic products ensures natural food. 'The Saturday morning farmer's market at Second and Flume Streets features growers who use organic practices. But a shopper must be conscious of the fact that even if a grower advertises that they don't use spray they may not be certified organic and their food may not be GE free.

As consumers we need to be aware of the types of products we choose to support through our purchases. One facet of our society is capitalism. We all earn and spend money on a daily basis and we help grow ideas and businesses by purchasing products. In order to make effective choices about the ideas and practices we support we need to become educated on the issues in our daily life.

For more information visit the following websites:
Green Peace
Union of concerned Scientists.

This column originally appeared in October 2001 in the Chico Examiner.