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Sept/Oct 2000 issue (#47)
Frankenfood Update
As the world rejects the first wave of genetically engineered (GE) foods and crops, the Gene Giants are moving into high gear with a second wave of GE foods.
These are so-called "functional foods" that will be fortified with vitamins, spliced with disease-fighting capabilities, or altered so as to be less fatty and more healthful. The flagship GE functional food is the so-called vitamin A-enhanced "Golden Rice,'' bankrolled to the tune of $100 million by the Rockefeller Foundation and offered by the GE Giants as a "gift" to the developing world. Unfortunately this miracle rice is a dangerous hoax. A look at the propaganda and activities of the Gene Giants reveals a simple yet sinister five-year plan:
Distract consumers from worrying about the ever more obvious hazards of the first generation of GE foods and crops by dazzling them with tales of how the next generation of GE foods will (1) feed the starving masses; (2) nourish and vaccinate the poor; (3) make foods, even junk foods, more nutritious; and (4) solve the problems created by the unsustainable practices of the global timber, paper, and fishing industries.
Delay or derail strict national and international regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by cutting "backdoor deals" with bureaucrats of various countries and prolonging debate on the topic.
By the time the Gene Giants delay regulations and distract the public for three to five years, GMOs and GMO contamination in the environment will be so pervasive that the public will become fatalistic. By then the second generation of GMOs will be on the market and the anti-globalization campaigners will have been divided, co-opted, or defeated.
The only way we can stop this plan from succeeding is by waging a protracted battle on two fronts. While stepping up our resistance to the first wave of frankenfoods and crops and driving them off the market, we must simultaneously start to educate and mobilize the global grassroots against the forthcoming second wave of GMOs.
One of the central myths propagated by biotech over the past few years is that GE crops will increase farm productivity and feed the world's 800 million hungry people. But as respected anti-hunger organizations like Oxfam, Christian Aid, and Food First, and experts like Vandana Shiva have revealed, this claim is a lie. The world already produces twice as much food as necessary to provide all 6 billion of us with a nutritious and adequate diet. Poor people have vitamin A or beta-carotene deficiencies not because there's something wrong with the non-genetically engineered rice, but because they don't have the money or resources to eat a well-rounded diet with lots of green and yellow vegetables, fruits, and fish. Even if Golden Rice would actually grow in the real world in diverse terrain and climates, it's not going to solve the nutritional problems of the poor who cannot afford much more than rice.
Genetically engineered rice (and other functional foods) will still contain potentially hazardous GE constructs. In addition scientists warn that too much Vitamin A can be dangerous for pregnant women, young children, people with liver disease, diabetics, and people with hyperthyroid conditions. How do the gene engineers propose to regulate the dose of Beta-Carotene that people will be ingesting with a diet composed primarily of Golden Rice? Even scarier is the notion of dosing people with unknown amounts of live vaccines or medicines gene-spliced into their food. Not to mention the ecological consequences of drug or vaccine-spliced plants spreading their mutant characteristics into non-GE crop varieties or related species via genetic pollution.
The "final solution" to Global Deforestation: Corporate greed and unsustainable forestry practices have caused massive deforestation and devastation to the planet's biodiversity and carrying capacity. Confronted with rapidly accelerating environmental damage, species extinction, and global climate disruption, a growing segment of the public have become alarmed. Sensing a business opportunity, Monsanto and the Gene Giants have come up with a "final solution"-- plant billions of fast growing, herbicide-resistant, fiber-altered GE trees on tree plantations all over the globe. This may sound rather nifty-- until one looks at the downside of gambling with the future of our trees, of tampering with the genetic structure and life cycle of the world's forests.
For example:
GE tree plantations will replace biologically diverse forests with fast-growing, herbicide-resistant identical trees planted in even rows with no "competing" plants growing underneath them. Native forests will be logged and replaced by corporate tree plantations. GE trees grow faster and will be sprayed with record amounts of toxic herbicides such as Monsanto's Roundup.
Trees produce enormous amounts of pollen, which can travel up to hundreds of miles. Trees also distribute their genetic material through seed dispersal, regeneration from roots, runners and suckers-- not to mention horizontal gene transfer to fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Normal trees will inevitably cross with GE mutants (herbicide resistant, fiber-altered, or gene-spliced trees), creating "super trees" which will crowd out natural forests. This in turn will kill off beneficial insects, decrease the food available for wildlife, and force tree pests into adjacent natural forest areas where they will wreak havoc.
Fast-growing GE trees, which can grow over 3 feet a month and can be harvested in four years, use up tremendous quantities of water and will kill off other trees and plants by depleting the water table. In addition, the leaves from gene-spliced trees will create toxic soil conditions, undermining natural systems of composting on the forest floor.
Scientists warn that the enormous quantities of pollen generated by gene-spliced and other GE trees will likely cause major allergic reactions in humans.
Industrial-style commercial fishing and environmental pollution are killing off the fish and other marine life in our oceans and surface waters. Rather than make the transnational fish corporations stop factory farms and industry from polluting our waterways, the Gene Engineers and factory-style fish farms have a "better idea"-- genetically engineered Frankenfish. But the practices of industrial fish and shrimp farms are unsustainable. These farms feed antibiotics and rendered animal protein to fish; and cannot prevent caged fish from escaping and killing off native wild species. Factory fish farms also pollute delicate wetlands and fish-breeding areas; and use more fish protein to feed captive fish than is produced by the full-grown fish.
Some scientists warn that because fish, like mammals, produce prion proteins, feeding hormone-supercharged GE fish additional rendered animal protein could conceivably cause fish to produce malformed prion proteins-- thereby causing a Mad Cow-like disease to emerge in fish. Genetically engineering fish is inherently unpredictable. GE fish have been born with grotesquely deformed heads and gill flaps, with descendants of some GE fish showing deformities, even if the parent fish had appeared to be normal.
Thus, as we step up the attack on the first wave of GE foods and crops, we must simultaneously begin to launch a preemptive strike against the second wave, which is rapidly bearing down on us.
Stay tuned to the website www.purefood.org for the latest developments.
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