Genetically Engineered Organisms

Genetically Engineered Organisms

by Mark Dunau

Genetically engineered organisms (GEOs; also called genetically modified organisms, or GMOs) are organisms that have acquired genes and traits through laboratory insertion of genes into their chromosomes, rather than through breeding. Genetic engineers use invasive vectors such as viruses and bacteria to coax gene transfers, employing the mechanisms of disease to overcome normal cell defenses. GEOs do not have newly created genes; rather, they are usually given genes from different species, orders, or kingdoms that could not have been acquired naturally. For example, a variety of strawberry has had a gene from a flounder inserted into its chromosomes to make it less susceptible to frost damage.

Over the last decade, the use of GEOs has grown exponentially in both medical and agricultural markets. Medical products from GEOs include insulin and antibiotics. In U.S. supermarkets, about 50% of processed food on the shelves now carries an ingredient from a GEO (many of these ingredients are derived from genetically engineered corn, canola, and soybeans).

The most controversial use of GEOs is as foods and agricultural crops. Unlike in drug production, in which GEOs are confined to laboratories, genetically engineered crops cover tens of millions of acres. Unlike drugs produced by GEOs, which are reviewed for safety by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), GEO foods are almost never tested for risks to health. GEO foods may be derived from genetically engineered crops or from genetically modified bacteria that are used in processed foods. For instance, 60% of all hard cheeses in the United States are processed with an enzyme produced by a GEO. The potential risks to health of GEO foods include allergic reactions, toxicity, and production of carcinogens.

The FDA does not regulate or require labeling of genetically engineered foods because it has decided that GEO crops or foods are not essentially different from crops or foods produced through standard breeding. The fact that these organisms contain genes that could not be acquired through breeding or that these genes are spliced, promoted, and turned on in the host chromosomes by the insertion of bacteria and virus genes is not considered relevant by the FDA. Genes acquired through biotechnology are not considered additives, and therefore products containing these genes are not subject to FDA regulation, testing or labeling, as mandated by federal law for food additives. Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) represents a rare case in which the FDA reviewed the safety of a genetically engineered food product; however, the FDA’s review of rBGH appears tainted, because several former employees of Monsanto joined the FDA and worked on the FDA’s review of rBGH, after which some of them returned to work for Monsanto.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken the same position as the FDA. The EPA considers genetically engineered crops to be essentially the same as crops derived from standard breeding and, therefore, not subject to EPA regulation. Seventy million acres (about 100,000 square miles) of GEO crops have already been planted in the United States without any testing of how these crops will affect the environment through the dispersal of their foreign genes into related wild species.

The case of Bt crops is an example of how the FDA and EPA have abrogated their responsibility to protect the public and the environment. Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, is a common soil bacteria that has been selectively used for decades by organic farmers as a foliar spray to fight certain insects pests in their larval stage. The Bt bacteria produce a toxin that is harmless to people and to most organisms but is deadly to a few insects in their larval stages, paralyzing their intestinal tracts after ingestion. Monsanto, Novartis, and several other corporations market Bt corn, Bt potatoes, and Bt cotton. These genetically engineered crops have had the gene responsible for producing Bt toxin inserted into them. Unlike the plants on which organic farmers use Bt selectively as a foliar spray, Bt crops contain the Bt toxin in every cell of the plant for the entire life of the plant. Currently, Bt crops account for one-third of the GEO crops planted worldwide.

In 1999, Cornell University researchers surprised the EPA with their discovery that Bt corn pollen killed monarch butterflies in their larval stage. The EPA’s surprise simply illustrates the nonprotectiveness of its policies with respect to GEOs.

The huge increase of Bt toxin in the environment from Bt crops has other deleterious effects. Bt crops have been shown to be detrimental to beneficial insects, including lacewings and ladybugs. Soil bacteria have also been shown to suffer from the large increase in Bt toxin. Without any testing, the FDA is allowing people to be exposed to foods containing thousands of times more Bt toxin than the human intestinal tract has ever processed before. Since foods derived from Bt crops do not have to be labeled, there is no telling how long it will take the FDA to discover if Bt crops are a source of gastrointestinal illness.

A New York Times survey found that over 90% of consumers would not eat genetically engineered food if given the choice. If GEO food is not labeled, however, the public cannot use its buying power to shape the market. By failing to require labeling of GEO foods, the government is protecting corporate producers instead of the public.

Over the last decade, the world’s largest chemical companies, including Monsanto, DuPont, Dow Chemical, Novartis, and Aventis have bought the world’s largest seed companies. These new seed/chemical companies claim that the crops grown from their seeds will save the expanding population of the world from starvation. To date, few of the GEO crops have shown higher yields than conventional crops, though the profits to seed/chemical companies are higher. Seventy percent of GEO crops are engineered to be tolerant to patented herbicides produced by those same seed/chemical companies. Farmers like these crops because they lower the labor and mechanical costs of cultivation. In 1999, half the soybeans planted in the United States were Monsanto’s Roundup-Ready soybeans, genetically engineered to be resistant to Monsanto’s herbicide, Roundup.

A few seed/chemical companies have gained tremendous power over our country’s farmers and our food supply. This power has been enhanced by new interpretations of patent law that have made it possible to own the genes of life forms and to gain patent protections. To use GEO seeds, farmers must sign contracts with seed/chemical companies not to save GEO seeds from their harvest, thus forfeiting what was once considered a farmer’s birthright—the power to save seeds for next season’s plantings.

It is a disturbing irony of federal policy toward GEOs that, while genetic engineering changes crops enough to bestow ownership rights, it does not change them enough to require safety testing or labeling. The quick advance of biotechnology into the American food supply through this federal policy seems not so much scientific as totalitarian.

Organic standards prohibit the use of GEO seed and GEO ingredients in organic food production.