Genetically Altered Foods

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are produced by transferring genetic material from one species to another. Genetically altered or modified (GM) foods contain materials derived from such processes. Whereas traditional plant and animal breeding involves the crossing of individuals with desirable traits within a single species, genetic engineering allows more rapid and radical transformations. Examples include the transfer of genes from Arctic halibut into tomatoes to confer frost resistance, and the incorporation of Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria into corn or potatoes as a “natural” pesticide. Genetic engineering has also made possible the cheap and rapid synthesis of common food ingredients, such as yeasts, and of products like recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), which vastly increases an animal's milk production.

The criteria for classifying genetically altered foods vary among countries, depending on the strictness of [Page 397]their regulatory systems. Broadly speaking, these foods include genetically modified crops that people consume directly (ranging from strawberries to radic-chio to rice); processed foods containing ingredients made from GM crops or products (corn syrup, soy flour, cheese made with GM rennet); and meat or produce from genetically modified or treated animals (GM salmon or rBGH milk). Some people would also include meat or produce from animals fed GM cereals.

The world's first GM crop, the Flavr-Savr tomato, was patented by the U.S. biotech company Calgene and approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1994. By 2005, 90 million hectares of GM crops, predominantly soy, corn, canola, and cotton, were grown globally; the United States was world leader, with 50 million hectares. The Grocery Manufacturers of America estimate that roughly 75 percent of U.S. processed foods contain GM ingredients; however, less than half the population is aware that GM foods are sold in supermarkets. In the United Kingdom, by contrast, supermarkets label foods containing GMOs, and pubs and restaurants proclaim their dishes “GM-free.” In Brazil, farmers smuggled in GM soybean seed from Argentina to overcome an official ban, whereas French cheese makers and South Indian rice farmers demolished buildings in campaigns against GM crops. Biotech corporations insist that GM crops are essential to prevent world hunger, yet when famine loomed in 2002, the government of Zambia, after a public debate, chose to refuse GM corn sent by the United States as food aid. Why are there such radically different responses to GM foods?

GM crops and foods are new life-forms that promise great benefits, including higher yields, longer growing seasons, greater disease resistance, lower pesticide use, or extra vitamins. Any new technology also carries a spectrum of risks, however, and most battles over GM foods concern how risk should be defined and evaluated, and by whom. Proponents of GM foods try to restrict the debate to immediate health and environmental effects. Opponents insist that long-term effects and social and political impacts must also be considered.

No serious health risks related to GM foods have been demonstrated to date, and for developed world consumers, the advantages of GM foods would seem to outweigh the risks. From a farmer's perspective, however, the cost-benefit analysis is more complicated. One contentious issue is intellectual property rights. There are some public research programs working on GM subsistence crops for unrestricted use by poor farmers—for example, virus-free potatoes in Peru. But the design and testing of GM crops is expensive.

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