From
Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
A Genetically
modified food is a
food product containing some quantity of any
genetically modified organism (GMO) as an ingredient.
Some nations have very
strong disagreement over genetically modified
organisms. For example, the European Union and Japan are
willing to maintain
labelling and
traceability standards for GM food products, while the
United States claims it violates
free trade agreements.
The first commercially
grown genetically modified food crop was a tomato created
by
Calgene called the
FlavrSavr. Calgene submitted it to the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration for testing in
1992; following the FDA's determination that the
FlavrSavr was, in fact, a tomato, did not constitute a
health hazard, and did not need to be labeled to indicate
it was genetically modified, Calgene released it into the
market in
1994, where it met with little public comment.
Subsequent genetically
modified food crops included virus-resistant squash, a
potato variant that included an organic pesticide called
Bt (NB: the EPA classified the Bt potato as a
pesticide, but required no labeling), strains of canola,
soybean, corn and cotton engineered by
Monsanto to be immmune to their popular
herbicide
Roundup, and Bt corn.
There was a brief
interlude where
Monsanto flirted with introducing a technology called
terminator into food crops, which produced plants that
grew sterile seeds. Monsanto claimed this was necessary to
protect their
intellectual property rights, since they were
licensing the technology to farmers, and would also
have provided a measure of protection against
volunteer corn carrying unwanted traits, a major
concern that arose during the
Starlink debacle.
Public outcry about the
undue influence that the terminator gene would give to
Monsanto, particularly in less developed nations where
seed saving is more common, led to its withdrawal.
Awareness grew throughout
the nineties and eventually produced a strong backlash
against GM foods (discussed below), which were panned as
"untested", "unlabeled" and "unsafe"; following this
backlash, the
International Rice Research Institute, with funding
from the
Rockefeller Foundation developed a strain of rice
enriched with
vitamin A through genetic modification, dubbed
golden rice. Subsequently the biotech industry touted
this as a boon to poor people suffering from Vitamin A
deficiency, which can cause blindness. This was condemned
by GM food opponents as a ploy and a public relations
move. (See
golden rice for more.)
Many prominent
environmental organizations, like
Friends of the Earth and
Greenpeace, currently consider the issue of the
presence of GMOs in
conventional food products to be a major issue -
indeed Greenpeace has made it a centerpiece of their
activism. In
2002, opponents placed a
measure on the
Oregon ballot that would have made that state the
first to require labelling of GMO food.
Between
1996 and
2002, the total surface area of
land cultivated with GMOs has increased by a factor of
thirty. Land producing GMO crops grew from 1.7 million
hectares (4.2 million acres) in 1996 to 52 million
hectares (128 million acres) in
2001. The value for 2002 was 145 million acres and for
2003 was 167 million acres.
Soybean crop represented 63% of total surface in 2001,
maize 19%,
cotton 13% and
canola 5%.
Four countries represent
99% of total GM surface in 2001: United States (68%),
Argentina (22%), Canada (6%) and China (3%). It is
estimated that 70% of products on U.S. grocery shelves
include GM products. In particular, Bt corn is widely
grown, as are soybeans genetically designed to tolerate
Monsanto's
Roundup herbicide.
The US Agriculture
Department estimated that 38 percent of the 79 million
acres of corn planted in 2003 will be genetically
engineered varieties as well as 80% of the 73.2 million
acres soybeans.
In
Europe, a series of unrelated
food crises during the
1990s (e.g. the
BSE (or 'mad cow' disease) outbreaks and
foot and mouth disease) have created
consumer apprehension about
food safety in general, and eroded the public trust in
government oversight of the food industry. This has
further fueled widespread public concern about GMOs, in
terms of environmental protection (in particular
biodiversity),
health and
safety of consumers and the right to make an
informed choice. The apprehension might also be due to
the perceived novelty of GM foods, as well as cultural
factors relating to food. The mishandling of the BSE
crisis has left some consumers unwilling to consider
"science" to be a guarantee of quality.
Although some claim
genetically modified foods may even be safer than
conventional products, many European consumers are
nevertheless demanding that their "right to know" the
content and origin of the food they consume be respected.
However, as a result of
the high quantity of GMO crops, the adventitious presence
of GM in imported food products (shipments of
grain for food, feed and processing for example), is
now thought inevitable and largely unavoidable, and
usually not mentioned.
In a context of
local food surplus where current GM food has little
added nutritional value, the European
consumer is wondering why any
risk should be taken.
For these reasons, the
marketing of GM food is regulated in a manner that helps
to provide the necessary levels of safety, transparency
and reassurance. At the beginning of the 2000's, European
officials insisted that new regulations were needed to
"restore consumer confidence" in the
technology. These new regulations required strict
labelling and
traceability of all food and
animal feed containing more than 0.5 percent GM
ingredients. Directives, such as directive 2001/18/EC,
were designed to require authorisation for the placing on
the market of GMO, in accordance with the
precautionary principle. (see also
Tax, tariff and trade).
One of the features of
the European system is a comprehensive
pre-market risk assessment, a system trying to provide
means for products to be followed at each stage of their
production and distribution, by both transmission of
accurate
information and labelling. This
traceability is a means to implement post-market
measures such as
monitoring and
withdrawals (recalls).
This system is not only limited to GMO products but should
encompass any
food product ultimately.
In GMO products,
traceability is usually limited to products where
transformed
DNA and/or transformed
protein are detectable, not to products that have been
produced from GMOs but no longer appears to contain
modified DNA and/or proteins. Officials stress that while
traceability facilitates the implementation of safety
measures, where appropriate, it cannot and should not be
considered as a safety measure.
In
1999, a 4 year
ban was pronounced on new genetically modified crops.
At the end of 2002,
European Union environment ministers agreed new
controls on GMOs could eventually lead the 15-member bloc
to reopen its markets to GM foods. European Union
ministers agreed to new labelling controls for genetically
modified goods which will have to carry a special harmless
DNA sequence (a
DNA code bar) identifying the origin of the crops,
making it easier for regulators to spot contaminated
crops, feed, or food, and enabling products to be
withdrawn from the
food chain should problems arise. A series of
additional sequences of DNA with encrypted information
about the company or what was done to the product could
also be added to provide more data. (see
Mandatory labelling).
See
Trade war over genetically modified food for more
details on disputes and more recent developments between
the United States and the EU arising from EU position on
genetically modified organisms.
Japan like Europe
maintains labelling standards for GM food products.
Japanese demand and assistance has led to a small effort
to set up separate processing facility for non-GM soybeans
in the U.S.
China is currently a
heavy producer of GM cotton.
In March 2002, China
introduced
biosafety rules that demanded strict
labelling, extensive documentation and government
approval for food shipments. Under these new rules, all
soybean shipments from the United States were briefly
interrupted until interim safety certificates could be
acquired.
Poor nations' agriculture
officials are receiving training courses on GMO at the
American Agriculture Department, with instruction in the
WTO rules on GM products and benefits of
biotechnology. U.S. industry groups are also providing
"technical assistance" to fund initiatives that promote
"science-based and transparent biotechnology regulations"
in countries such as China.
See also
Biosafety Protocol,
conventional food,
organic food,
pre-market risk assessment,
food monitoring,
food withdrawal,
Tax, tariff and trade
