Our consumers have to depend on our farmers to save them from a fate unknown. Genetically Modified (GM) foods are in our markets and we are still to have labels to indicate what foods have been altered and what are natural.
The debate on Genetically Modified foods, otherwise known as Genetically Engineered foods, has been ongoing for more than seven years, and countries that produce these products stand firm against labelling.
For those who are reading about GM foods for the first time, I recommend a small handbook GM Foods: Facts and Fiction by Maria Elena Hurtado and published by Consumers International in 2000. Consumers International has been the only body giving our consumers information which they need to make an informed choice.
In the chapter on ‘Redesigning Nature’ we are reminded that genes change is nothing new; in the natural world, we are told, plants, animals and microorganisms generally breed within the same species and changes occur over a long timescale. Genetic engineering hastens this process and allows rapid changes. It is claimed by those engaged in the engineering that they can produce food to suit the taste of consumers. But consumers, over time, find the food that suits them. They have not requested changes to be made when they do not know what the effects may be on them.
The engineers of this transformation of food also claim that with the new varieties of food they can feed the millions of people who today go hungry. But they plan to do this by creating barren seeds so that they hold the reins where food is concerned and will thus be able to rule the world. They also do not think of the increased cost to persons in the developing world who will no longer be able to plant food in their backyards. Imported food carries a high cost for consumers.
It is claimed that consumers are already benefiting from the reduced use of pesticides. It is claimed that as the techniques become more sophisticated, scientists may be able to introduce more changes that benefit consumers directly. This claim is not acceptable to consumers who are interested in their health.
In the United Kingdom a programme of national surveillance was set up to monitor the incidence of cancers, allergies, foetal abnormalities and chronic diseases in people eating GM foods.
In the year 2000 soy beans, corn, rice, chocolate bars, oil, cheese were some of the foods that were genetically modified. We do not know how many more have been added. What we do believe is that these commodities are in our supermarkets and may be affecting our consumers without any notice being taken of the harm that GMs may cause. A consumer may develop a rash or itch through an allergy, and this could be mistaken for a fungus or a worm infection. There is no central body to monitor what may result form regular consumption of engineered food.
It is not just food genes. We learn that genes from animals can be used in the process. Pork genes can be mixed with meat genes. Consumers are exposed to all kinds of hazards when they move from natural floods. The author of this handbook tells us that there is concern that some GM foods may increase the resistance of people or animals to antibiotics.
Ethical and religious concerns are ignored by the big companies. Consumers in the developing world are the guinea pigs. In the developed world action is taken to protect their consumers. In the United Kingdom some food chains, taking note of consumer concerns, placed a ban on food that was genetically engineered.
In Guyana consumers generally remain apathetic and unconcerned about food safety. This is an agricultural country and we ought not to be importing food. Why have we stopped growing soya and mung beans? We need to wake up before it is too late.
Making pesticides
Using genetic engineering, scientists can create plants that produce their own relatively benign pesticide. That can replace millions of pounds of far more dangerous chemical pesticides. Here’s how: (See Fig 1)
1. Scientists find a bacterium in soil that naturally contains a protein that kills insect pests that feed on corn plants. They extract from the bacteria’s DNA the segment, or gene, that makes the toxic protein.
2. They use a gene gun to shoot copies of the segment into the nucleus of corn cells. They grow the cells into plants, harvest the seeds from the plants, and grow the seeds into new corn plants.
3. Every cell in the new corn plants – and in their offspring – is now programmed to make the toxic protein, which kills the insect pests when they try to eat the plants.
