ìommentary
LACKAMASPf^fif •
pril20, 2005
F ace O ff :
Student Poll:
Genetically engineered foods
Engineered food:
benefit to society
lary Ferguson
Clackamas Print
n this year alone, over 3 million people and counting have died
due to starvation (for a running tally, log onto http:/Avww.starva-
tion.net/#news.) In this year, and the years before, no one has died
e to eating genetically modified foods. Think about it.
I In this year alone, over 3 million people and counting have died
’e to starvation (for a running tally, log onto http ://www. starvation,
tffinews.) In this year, and the years before, no one has died due to
ng genetically modified foods. Think about it
In a perfect world, this fact would be mind-boggling enough that I
ouldn’t have to write any more. But, for the sake of educating you,
e reader, I will go on to prove that genetically modified foods are not
t a good thing, but something that we must embrace as a reality if
e continue to procreate at the current rate.
I Firstly, it is important to realize how the
jmeof genetically modified (GM) food
slandered. Hippies. The hippies
id it Now, I may be what some
nsider a peace-loving dirt-
t, but I also believe that
ere is no reason for mil-
ons of children to die
f malnutrition every
ear. Environmental
rganizations have
beled genetically
odified foods as
atural—these
bods are not
e way nature
tended, and are
erefore inher-
dy bad.
Well, hippie,
you know what
also unnatural?
tying to cram
per 6 billion people
Into our little planet!
that’s
unnatural!
Vhile we’re busy try-
ng to find space for
hese people to five,
igricultural space is at a
tremium, and it is impera-
tve that we make the most
f it. Hey, do you know
pat’s better than a tomato plant
hat takes up one square foot of land
Ind produces 25 tomatoes? A tomato plant
hat takes up one square foot of land and produces
Modified foods:
biologically messy
JI
N
What do you think
about genetically
engineeredfood ?
Joanne Bergstrom
The Clackamas Print
either our country nor the rest of the world have the laws,
science or wisdom needed to safely execute a process as
powerful and lasting as genetic engineering.
Combining species by inserting animal genes into plants or plant
genes into animals is very different from selecting traits as we have
done in the past. Up until now, if we made a mess or a mistake
we could just clean it up. Living things obey biological laws; they
reproduce. We really don’t yet know what we are capable of setting
into motion.
The worst part about it is that we are doing it for money rather
than humanity. Plus it is being done in secret, giving the public no
choice as to what they eat.
Bowing to public opinion, the farmers that supply milk for the
Tillamook Cheese Cooperative
recently voted to stop using,
rBST, a genetically engineered
product that increases milk
production. They aren’t
even allowed to dis-
K play that informa-
® tion on their label
for fear of a law-
suit by Monsanto
H Corporation.
Monsanto
owns most of the
patents on geneti-
| cally engineered
| plants. Although
more than 40
genetically modi
fied crops are cur
rently allowed in
the United States,
com, cotton, soy
beans and canola
are their major
crops. And two
traits, herbicide
tolerance and insect
resistance, make up
almost all of the
present seeds on the
market. Here’s how
it works:
By making a
crop resistant to a
certain herbicide,
we could then spray
Photo
with that herbicide
illustration
to yy everything
>0 tomatoes!
by Jeff Sorenson
except the resistant
Many people have tried arguing that GM foods cause
Clackamas Print
plant
nore allergies in people where natural foods would not This simply
The second strategy is to breed insecticide into each cell of the
sn’t true. The fact is, this was a hasty point brought up by environmental
trganizations to push the public into believing that there was a tangible plant. When the bugs eat it, they die. Then you eat it or feed it to ani
teat to eating GM foods. To this day, there is no proof that eating mals, and whatever part isn’t eaten is plowed back into the earth.
genetically modified food is any more dangerous than eating non-geneti-
So what happens when the pollen of this herbicide-resistant plant
hlly modified foods.
blows over into the next field and combines with weeds or your
According to Patrick Bateson, vice-president and biological secre neighbor’s crop? You get herbicide-resistant weeds and genetically
tary of the Royal Society, “We have examined the results of published polluted crops.
A recent Environmental Protection Agency study done on a test
research [on GM food] and have found nothing to indicate that GM
farm in Oregon found pollen spores 13 miles away from the origi
foods are inherently unsafe. If credible evidence does exist that GM
foods are more harmful to people than non-GM foods, we should like
nally modified plant.
Also, the plant itself that you have just modified can become a
to know why it has not been made public.”
Genetically modified food would ensure that crops each year weed. If it is stronger than the surrounding plants, it can just take
produce more, are less likely to fall victim to pests and disease while
over.
Another use of genetic engineering is to insert genes into plants
and mature more quickly. This means a larger crop with quicker
to produce pharmaceuticals. This also could be hard to contain, and
turnaround, which would feed more people at a cheaper price. Also,
some of these plants have higher levels of vitamins, such as vitamin the prospect of eating someone else’s heart medicine in your morn
A, which would significantly combat malnutrition in third world ing cornflakes, for instance, is pretty scary.
Although there is the promise of increasing food yields for the
»untries. It’s a no-brainer.
Third World, there isn’t much profit in that. The free exchange of
Another point against genetically modified foods is that they are
seeds and technology that led to crop and animal breeding doesn’t
not being labeled properly. I do not have any problem against modify-
exist anymore, as we have begun to patent intellectual property.
ng foods, but I do have a problem with not sharing that information
with consumers. I do support clearly labeling genetically modified Now information is impeded by patents held not only by compa
foods so that consumers can choose if they want to eat it or not.
nies, but also by universities.
A crop called golden rice, for example, has been developed to help
Finally, and this is the point that is so often forgotten in the debate
combat a vitamin A deficiency that blinds hundreds of thousands of
on modified foods, but people have been modifying plants since the
children each year. It never came to market because its developers
time of the agricultural revolution. As hunter-gathers made the transi
needed permission from more than 40 patent or contract holders.
tion to farmers, they began to sort out the weak plants and keep the
strong ones. The stronger plants were bred with the other strong plants,
In fact, Third World farmers are opposed to the “Terminator”
gene that the Monsanto wants to insert into their products. Seeds
creating more and more fruitful plants as the generations passed. This
is, in its simplest form, genetic modification picking out the strong would become sterile after one growing season, and farmers would
genes while casting out the weak genes. If it weren’t for genetically have to buy new seeds each year instead of replanting the old ones.
Imagine what could happen if that pollen escaped into the general
modified foods, society would not exist as we know it now.
Genetically modified foods are not the enemy—a lack of educa plant population!
tion and blind belief in loud and angry hippies is. There are too many
Until we really have the biological and ecological understanding
people on earth dying from lack of food for us to attack those who try that we need for such ventures, as well as the laws in place to benefit
humanity, maybe die genie is best left in the bottle.
and supply it to them.
I
5
“I think eventually it will screw
us up. It is bad, but I eat it any
way.”
Brad Thomas
f f
“It does not really matter to me,
but I can see the harm in it.”
Jacque Stone
“I don’t like them; I prefer
organic foods.”
Nemah Delai
“I need some more details about
how it affects health.”
Judy Peabody
“It’s all the same to me as long
as it’s edible.”
Phillip Drake
“I think it’s unnatural.”
Melissa Irvin
This week ’s poll compiled
by Joanne Bergstrom and
Shannon Armstead