As discussed on last night’s Ethan Bearman Show, my dad had sent an email congratulating Whole Foods for the labeling of GMO foods in the next five years.
I agree, thank you Whole Foods for using your clout to give me information. But, a distant cousin who is a Ph.D in bio chemistry called my dad a luddite for wanting to know what is in his food.
My dad asked for help and here was my response:
Here is the briefest of summaries. I had a recent conversation with a geneticist who does genetic engineering for a fruit and vegetable agricultural giant. Here is what he and I agreed on:
1. Not all Genetic Engineering is bad. Many GMOs are simple gene sequences that have a specific, non-lethal purpose, like color, taste, and size.
2. Bt corn and soy are the two major problems. Bt in every molecule has never been tested at that level of toxicity. Even with expression limited to cellulosic areas, it will still be in feed.
3. Bt corn and soy encourage use of glyphosate. Many scientists are becoming alarmed at the appearance of glyphosate beyond human digestive system where the FDA approval said it would be destroyed. Glyphosate is now showing unexpected and potentially toxic effect on surrounding soil bacteria.
4. Original FDA approval of GMO was incomplete and done in a political, not scientific fashion.
5. No long-term studies outside of Monsanto, et al due to DMCA restrictions, therefore no independent studies can be completed in the United States.
6. As expected by people outside of laboratories, super-weeds are developing and spreading at a much more rapid pace than Monsanto & FDA predicted.
7. GE animals have much more insidious possibilities as non-GE killer bees have demonstrated. The geneticist supported an outright ban on GE Salmon as they will eventually make it into the wild and the effect on “natural” salmon is entirely unknown beyond the contamination of DNA.
I am not against GMO at all, as a free market capitalist, information is critical for making an informed decision. I want to know if my food contains GMO so I can make an informed decision. The supply chain already has this information in databases (as I am an architect of the SOP system for Cargill’s North American Corn division, same for Borden, etc.) there is zero additional cost beyond the pico-liter of ink for additional information on an already existent nutrition label.
