GMO Food for Thought

The new Jeffrey Smith book says it will also explore why children are most at risk when eating genetically modified foods, which is a completely unfounded assumption. In fact, according to countless studies and reports, natural and organic foods cause more allergic food reactions in people, especially small children, killing hundreds each year. Genetically modified foods can greatly reduce this risk. Even the American Medical Association stated in a 1999 report that people are eating genetically modified foods with no overt adverse effects on human health and there are no known cases of allergic reactions caused by marketed foods derived from GM plants.

The book also plans to discuss how people can avoid GM foods, the false claims by biotech advocates, how industry research is “rigged” to avoid finding problems, why GM crops are not needed to feed the world, and the economic losses associated with these crops. Once again, the dubious claims made by Jeffrey Smith are without merit. For example, there haven’t been any false claims made by biotech activists. Instead, these claims have been made solely by environmental groups and activists whose main goal is to constantly express their message that food must be “natural,” thus instilling a fear in the hearts of the average citizen about genetically modified foods. Also, many organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have stated for years that genetically modified foods are needed to meet food demands in developing nations. In addition, several states and nations would be in economic ruin if it wasn’t for biotechnology, including Hawaii, which almost lost its thriving papaya industry to a devastating virus in the late 1990s without the development of a genetically modified papaya that was resistant to the virus. Today, many of these nations and states have thriving economies because of biotech developments.

Several findings are also expected to be presented in this new book, including the belief that soy allergies skyrocketed in the United Kingdom after GM soy was introduced, and that genes from GM crops transfer to human gut bacteria, which might transform our intestinal flora into living pesticide factories.

As I stated before, there hasn’t been any evidence showing that genetically modified foods cause allergies. According to several reports, people consume soybean oil more than any other part of the food. Since oil is protein and DNA-free, oil from natural and genetically modified soybeans is identical and therefore, there would be no biological basis for attributing an increase in allergies to the oil. In addition, the human body already has resistance genes in the gut in large quantities. In contrast, genetically modified versions of these genes can restrict or limit, so essentially, genetically modified versions represent only a few harmless drops compared to the natural amount that already exists in our bodies.

Despite the doubtful claims against genetically modified foods that Jeffrey Smith makes in this upcoming book, biotech activists, companies, scientists, and researchers will continue their efforts in developing genetically modified foods and promoting the benefits that GM crops can offer to the public. It will be interesting to see the different responses the book could bring from parties on both sides of the issue when Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods is released in August 2006.