Exposures, Failures Hurt Frankenfood Industry

Despite complicity of the mainstream press

by Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association

"The genetically engineered crops now being grown represent a massive uncontrolled experiment whose outcome is inherently unpredictable. The results could be catastrophic." --Dr. Barry Commoner, "Unraveling the DNA Myth: The Spurious Foundation of Genetic Engineering," Harpers magazine, February 2002

Despite repeated claims by the agbiotech industry that they are conquering the world, a number of important developments show that biotechnology, far from being triumphant, is in deep trouble. Reading the mainstream press, it's hard to find anything critical of genetic engineering. The public interest think tank, Food First, showed that 13 of the US's major newspapers and magazines "have all but shut out criticism of genetically modified food and crops from their opinion pages." ( www.organicconsumers.org/corp/usnewsbias043002.cfm)

In January the biotech industry boasted that global acreage of genetically engineered (GE) crops had increased 18 percent in 2001 over the previous year. But this supposed "increase" is misleading, since it is based upon multi-billion dollar US government subsidies and below market-cost dumping of Monsanto's Roundup Ready soybean seeds in Argentina. In March, the Agriculture Department predicted that US GE crops in 2002 would increase to include 74 percent of all soybeans, 32 percent of corn, and 71 percent of cotton. In addition, 15 percent of US dairy cows are being injected with Monsanto's controversial recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), while two-thirds of the Canadian and US canola crop is GE.

But basically only four countries are currently cultivating gene-altered crops (US, Canada, Argentina and China). While total sales of agbiotech seeds and rBGH will amount to less than $5 billion this year, global organic food sales will be five times greater or $25 billion, and farmers in 130 nations are now producing and exporting certified organic foods and crops. At the current annual 24 percent growth rate of the organic sector in the US, organic farming will make up over 50 percent of US agriculture by 2020. And of course, if current consumer and regulatory trends continue, Frankencrops will be driven off the market long before organic becomes the norm.

Meanwhile, PR flacks and gene engineers continue touting the "marvels" of GMOs (genetically modified organisms). The problem with this propaganda offensive is that Frankenfood proponents, lacking solid evidence, are resorting more and more to outright lies and distortions to make their case. Lies and distortions include statements that all biotech foods have been properly safety tested (none have been), that biotech crops increase yields (the world's dominant biotech crop, Roundup Ready soybeans, decreases yields) or that new crops like Golden Rice will solve the nutritional deficiencies of the world's poor. When the public learns that a malnourished child would have to eat 15 pounds of Golden Rice every day to meet his/her need for vitamin A, the Gene Giants will find their already limited credibility diminished even further. Another case in point is the recent scientific controversy over the genetic pollution of traditional corn varieties in Mexico, resulting from the US dumping six million tons of unwanted GE corn on Mexico annually.

Monsanto's recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone continues to be a disaster in the making. Forced onto the US market in 1994 despite widespread consumer and farmer resistance, it contains high levels of a cancer tumor promoter called IGF-1. Data previously concealed by Monsanto and the FDA, leaked by government scientists in Canada in 1998, indicate that rBGH caused cysts on the thyroid glands and infiltration into the prostate of lab rats-both warning signs for potential cancer. Genetically engineered BGH is banned in every industrialized country except the US. Go to http://organicconsumers.org/rbghlink.html for more information on this.

China agreed in March to once again accept imports of genetically engineered US soybeans while it evaluates the safety of the beans under new Chinese rules for GE crops. Soybean exports from the US (which total a billion dollars a year) were suspended in February, throwing Monsanto, grain traders and the White House into a panic. China bought 5.2 million tons of US soybeans in 2001, out of total US exports of 27 million tons. But China still remains skeptical about planting GE crops, with the exception of biotech cotton. China has recently been selling more and more non-GE corn and other crops to Asian and EU buyers. A recent poll in Hong Kong found 90 percent of Chinese consumers want GE foods labeled.

Brazil has increased its global market share of soybeans over the last two years, as the US market share has declined. Eastern European nations, such as the Czech Republic and Croatia, are also starting to buy non-GE soya from Brazil. Croatia is considering an outright ban on GMOs, while mandatory labeling is required in the Czech Republic. The 13 countries in Eastern and Central Europe applying for admission to the European Union are realize that planting and importing GE crops from the US and Canada is risky, given that there will eventually be EU regulation of GE crops, including strict labeling and safety testing requirements.

In North America protests against GE foods and crops are increasing. California is debating a bill to ban GE fish, while activists in Oregon are putting a measure on the November ballot to require mandatory labeling of GE food. Twenty-eight Vermont towns recently have voted for mandatory labeling and a ban on growing GE crops. In February the Organic Consumers Association leafleted and protested against Starbucks in over 400 locations, demanding that the coffeehouse giant remove all rBGH and GE products from its cafes and brew and promote Fair Trade coffee.

In March the GE Free Market Coalition, which includes Greenpeace and the OCA, leafleted and protested at supermarkets across the US. Another national day of supermarket protests was scheduled for June, coinciding with an activists' conference in Toronto called Biojustice. The GE Free Market Coalition scored its first major victory last November, when Trader Joe's, an upscale supermarket chain agreed to remove all GMOs from its brand name products.

People wanting to help leaflet supermarkets or Starbucks in their communities or to join in the Kraft campaign can contact simon@organicconsumers.org. This report was excerpted from Biodemocracy News. For more information go to www.organicconsumers.org.