Physicians

are Critical
Conduits
for GMO
Information
insulin, hormones or antibodies in microbes using
recombinant DNA technology. The plant products have
been on the market for almost 20 years without a single
tie to ill health.
However, just punching GMO into a search engine
launches a trek into medical claims and self-appointed
experts, all proclaiming hard ties to cancer, autism,
infertility, and dozens of other diseases and disorders.
With tactics nearly identical to those swaying well-meaning
moms from vaccinating children, misinformation on food
safety also imperils application of good technology.

By Kevin Folta, Ph.D., and Karen Cyphers, Ph.D.

Beyond the day-to-day treatment of age-old maladies, todays

physician is plagued with the task of interpreting and debunking issues spawned from the ubiquitous clinic of Dr. Google.
Patients have access to information like never before, and a lot
of the worst information comes from slick, deceiving websites
with a hard medical facade. These venues fortify the rumors
overheard in yoga class, the fears posted on the community
board at Whole Foods, and the claims of unscrupulous
predators creating a pseudo-medical problem and then
peddling a promised cure.
One of todays hottest topics is the discussion on foods derived
from transgenic crops, commonly referred to as Genetically
Modified Organisms or GMOs. The science is remarkably
clear and includes the technologies used to produce human
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This rift between scientific reality and web-based

misinformation maligns consumer confidence about the safety
of food. The reality is that we live in a time of unprecedented
food safety, abundance and choice as evidenced by
Americans ample waistbands and the number of bloodpressure scripts written. Yet physicians commonly encounter
patients convinced they are being systematically poisoned by
the food that actually sustains them. What is the reality?
Surprisingly, there are only four major human food crops that
contain a lab-installed gene corn, soy, canola and sugar
beets. Most of these products are used for animal feed and
renewable fuels. Their products like cornstarch, oil or sugar are
found in about 70 percent of processed foods. There are other
GMO crops grown, such as cotton for clothing and alfalfa for
animal feed. There is a tiny acreage of virus-resistant squash
and papaya, and the latter rescued the Hawaiian industry from
certain collapse.
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What You Need to Know About

GMOs continued from page 43

Basic Points on GMO Science

Transgenic (GMO) food ingredients come from
the most tested and regulated plants in history.

This rift between scientific reality and webbased misinformation maligns consumer
confidence about the safety of food.
There are only three main traits engineered in crops today
herbicide resistance, virus resistance and insect resistance.
These traits enable plants to grow normally while surviving
environmental perils, with no human health impacts. Take
insect-resistant plants for example. These plants contain a gene
that encodes a protein toxic only to certain caterpillars. This
protein doesnt harm non-target insects and has no eects on
humans. Its use has cut broad-spectrum insecticide application
by 50 to 90 percent, which lowers the costs of food and impacts
to the environment.
These products are not perfect. There are certainly some ecological considerations such as the evolution of resistance to the
herbicide and the insect-control protein. New solutions are slow
to emerge, as new breakthroughs are hindered by politics of public
perception and an inecient, expensive regulatory system.
Worse, revolutionary solutions to problems we need to solve
have been developed, yet have not been deployed. Many never
will be. Crops exist that could better grow in heat, drought
and floods. Crops have been engineered with human health in
mind: corn or rice that produces needed nutrients like beta-carotene or folate. A peanut that doesnt make its notorious
44

FLORIDA MEDICAL MAGAZINE | FALL 2015

Gene transfer technologies are simply a precise

extension of traditional breeding.
The worlds leading medical and scientic
organizations (AMA, National Academy of
Sciences, AAAS) state that these technologies
are safe.
The crops have been in the human diet for 20
years with no evidence of harm to health.
New, useful technologies are not being
developed because of the high cost of
deregulation, and industry fear of consumer
backlash.

allergenic proteins. A potato that when deep fried produces

less acrylamide, a carcinogen. Plants producing defense
compounds could cut dependence on pesticides, and plants
that can grow with less water would be central to abating water
shortage crises globally.
All of these innovations are designed to help the farmer, the
consumer, the environment and the needy. The real issue is
that these solutions are stalled because the most informed and
trusted sources, physicians, scientists and farmers, are not
taking part in the public conversation.
Polling shows that when it comes to health-related questions,
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people turn to and trust their doctors. A longitudinal study

published in NEJM found that trust in physicians has increased
with the ascent of the Internet, while trust in Internet
information in general has declined. People investigate health
questions on the Internet first and then take that info to their
physicians for further discussion.
The safety of GMO ingredients should be as important to
physicians as discussing the safety of vaccines.
It is an opportunity to aect trust that benefits patients
individually, but also aects communities broadly, as science
communicated through the physician conduit is amplified
through subsequent conversations.
These technologies have provided dividends of safety, aordability and food security to consumers. It is imperative that
physicians identify trusted sources for information on GMO

crops and actively

engage conversations
with a concerned
public looking for
answers about its food.
Kevin M. Folta Ph.D., is a professor and Chairman in the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida. His
research program is in genetic crop improvement using genomics
tools, and increasing crop value with light treatments. His eorts
also focus on training scientists in communication, with emphasis
on controversial issues.
Karen D. Cyphers Ph.D., is Vice President of Research & Policy at
Sachs Media Group. She is an adjunct instructor in the political
science department at Florida State University. Her research interests include health care policy, data analysis and public opinion.

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