GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS

RESEARCH PAPER
Marie Olga Ngo Mbom

Submission Date: May 12th, 2010

Thesis: Genetically engineered foods benefits are countless as well as its flaws. Those foods should be banned from peoples faces and plates.

Outline
I. II.

Introduction: Before and After the GM Technology What Is Genetically Engineering and How Does it Work To Get Food A. Methods Used in Genetics Modification B. Methods Used to Get GM Foods C. Examples of GM Foods C. GM Technology across Canada D. Benefits of the GM Technology

III.

Closer Look of GM foods on The Environment A. Creation of superweeds B. Reduction in Pesticides Effectiveness

IV.

Health Issues Deriving from The Consumption of GM Foods A. EMS B. rBGH Milk and Link to Diseases

V.

GM Food Aid in Africa Controversy A. Downward Economy with the Selling of GM Crops B. Consequences of Not Using GM Crops

VI.

Genetically Engineered Foods and Ethics A. Religious Perspective B. Secular Perspective

VII. VIII.

Real Face of the GM Technology Conclusion: Clear Labelling to Differentiate Modified Foods from Non-modified Ones

Twenty years ago, the term genetically modified did not mean a lot to many. Genetically modified, genetic engineered, recombinant DNA technology and gene splicing foods are common terms to describe those food whose DNA have been modified. Before the practice of genetic engineering, the environment was highly polluted by pesticides, the food we ate was 100% natural, no minerals or vitamins were added, and the only effective way for farmers to yield more crops was to plant more seeds. With the venue of GM technology in the 1990s, everything has changed: the soil has received fewer toxic liquids from pesticides, we are able to have various food supplements, and farmers are able to yield more crops. What good news for environmental activists, for people who suffer from malnutrition and starvation! However, it is sad that since the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), some bad outcomes have been noticed; the GM food industry might still be threatening the environment, people are not as healthy as they used to be, there has been a possible economic concern for Third World countries and some ethical concern have arisen. First of all, it is important to know how this genetic engineering technology works: the nature of food organisms are inserted replaced by genes and segments of DNA of another species. Three main processes are used. In the plasmid method, microorganisms such as bacteria are altered: a plasmid1 is set alone in a container; two other DNA sequences are introduced into that container where they merge and fuse together to form a new ring of DNA; this new plasmid is then introduced into a living organism. The second type method is the vector method. This method is similar to the plasmid method except that the final product from the fusion of DNA sequences is inserted into the organism by viral means. The last method is the biolistic method, also known as the gene-gun method, where pellets of metal stuck on a chosen DNA and plant cells are put together to form a new DNA. The biolistic method is what leads to GM foods. Biolistics is not the only method for the existence of GMOs. Another widely used technique to obtain GM foods is through bacterial carriers, where the bacterium

Small ring of DNA

Agrobacterium2 is altered and then inserted into the DNA of the selected DNA crop. Other methods include gene silencing, gene splicing, lipofection, microinjection, etc... GM foods are all around the world. Many foods are currently modified and for many reasons. Foods such as crops, soybeans and plants are genetically modified in order to be resistant respectively to insect pests, herbicides and frost. Certain plants are also transformed in order to yield higher protein and nutrient concentration: that is the reason why there are oils on the market than contains functional foods such as omega 3 fatty acids. Animals are also modified: through this transformation, farmers can get more farm animals such as pigs, cows and chicken, which contains less fat and more immune to disease. Genetically modified cows can also make better milk, milk with higher levels of bioactive milk proteins or even milk that can be compared to human breast milk. GM foods have taken the world and have not put Canada aside: 90% of GM crops are grown in four countries including Canada and many foods in Canadian grocery stores have been processed via this technology, from raw tomatoes to Kelloggs corn flakes. By 2015, it is expected that even rice, eggplant, potatoes and wheat will be part of the DNA transformation (Tulloch 2009). It would be ungrateful not to acknowledge all the benefits that those years of food laboratory testing and transformation have engendered. First, modified crops, which can now develop their own defence against insects that are harmful to plants, do not need any pesticide spraying anymore and this situation helps tremendously into the reduction of the spraying of pesticides and herbicides (Gilland 1998-1999). One direct consequence of this biotechnology on food is observed in 2007 when there is a reduction of 15.6 millions of tons of CO2 (Tulloch 2009). Moreover, the GM technology has permitted people to have tastier and healthier food: some foods at their natural such as rice cannot fully equip people for their daily activities and performance. With modified foods, they can get more concentration of vitamins in just
2

A genus of bacteria most of which are capable of causing the formation of galls in plants. No species can fix atmospheric nitrogen. A. tumefaciens causes crown gall in many types of plant and is a serious plant pathogen in many parts of the world. These bacteria are found also in soil.

one aliment. Besides that, the GE technology excels at mass production; with more food, there will be greater food supply that can help some hungry Third World families (Harper 2002). Moreover, isnt true that our entire culture has always been based on the modification of our nature with weaponry, antibiotics and contraceptive pills, to just list a few? However, the first impact of GM crops is its effect on the environment. It is true that people use fewer pesticides and herbicides because GM crops can fight against weeds and pests (Belsie 2000). Consequently, it is true that people will pollute less. But, it is also true that some unexpected effects can derive from all these manipulations. One of them is the creation of superweeds, which have been engendered by a transfer of genes from GM crops to wild plants (Brown 2005). Everything starts when the GM crops genes get into wild plants: the gene that is resistant to crops killers will transfer this immunity to the plants. Given that, the plants will be resistant to herbicides and will not be easy to kill. In order to get rid of superweeds, farmers will have to use stronger and more toxic herbicides and will simultaneously pollute the soil. Moreover, with the same process of gene transfer, genes can travel to non-modified crops lands that are sprayed with pesticides, and reduce the effectiveness on these pesticides on these plants (Benbrook 2001). In Africa for example, where the use of GM crops are not approved by all farmers, many farmers who use pesticides instead of those GM crops may have their crops contaminated by those using modified crops. The effect that those pesticides have on insects is reduced by the process of gene transfer. Consequently, pesticides will not kill pests anymore, but will still damage Mother Nature. Not only may GM technology deteriorate the soil, but it is also likely that it does not keep us in good health. A very early warning has been sent in 1976 by the Nobel Prize winning biologist and Harvard professor, George Walt when he wrote: Recombinant DNA technology [genetic engineering] faces our society with problems unprecedented not only in the history of science, but of life on the Earth. It places in human hands the capacity to redesign living organisms, the
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products of some three billion years of evolution.... It presents probably the largest ethical problem that science has ever had to face. Our morality up to now has been to go ahead without restriction to learn all that we can about nature. Restructuring nature was not part of the bargain.... For going ahead in this direction may be not only unwise but dangerous. Potentially, it could breed new animal and plant diseases, new sources of cancer, novel epidemics.

People know that GM foods are supposed to make us healthier. However, with all the nutrients that are added on food, some long term side effects can occur. One of these effects is the creation of strange diseases. EMS (eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome)3 is one of them. In the 1980, the Showa Dhenko L-tryptophan, a food supplement that was a product from the genetic engineering of bacteria, caused the death and handicap of many people in the US (Mann; Straton; Crist, 1999). Actually, the real L-tryptophan is an amino-acid that can play the role of a relaxer, and by taking the modified supplement, people thought their organism would be stronger. However, after many years of consumption, consumers of L-tryptophan developed a strange case of flu, leading to EMS, and then to either death or other side-effects (Ito J, Hosaki Y, Torigoe Y, Sakimoto K. 1992). Until now, it is believed that the altered version of the aminoacid can be the cause of EMS. Another truth about the GM efficiency on our nutrition is that GM food is not that healthy. A proof of this assertion is the impact of rBGH4 (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) milk that is altered milk injected unto cows (Mercola 2002). That milk has been manufactured by Monsanto Company, one of the pioneer businesses in the GM technology, and then sold to farmers under the name of POSILAC. Rather than being plain, it contained pus from mastitis induced by rBGH; the milk also contains higher levels of IGF-1, this leading to breast, colon, and prostate cancer; and the hormone might have caused the Mad Cow Disease. Regarding the consumption of soy milk by infants, Mercola stated:
3

According to About.com, it is a disorder that causes inflammation by eosinophils in nerve, muscle, and connective tissue, which may include the fascia.
4

Hormone in bovine milk that can make the milk similar to human breast milk

 Soy formula is one of the worst foods that you could feed your child. Not only does it have profoundly adverse hormonal effects as discussed above, but it also has over 1000% more aluminum than conventional milk based formulas." Other than the side effects that GM food has on our health, the most important threat of GMOs is its severe consequence it has on the economy of Third World. It must be admitted that through the GM technology, more food are produced and it is then possible to help more people in Africa who are starving by sending modified crops (Harper 2002). However, this willingness of the UN to help might still result in poverty and starvation in developing countries. Since the principal clients who buy food from Southern African countries are Europeans, and since they do not consume anything related the genetic engineering, southern Africans farmers will have fewer or no yields sold. By accepting some GM seeds, Europeans think that every land surrounding the land where the crops are, will be contaminated, this due to cross-pollination5 (Harper 2002). The Europeans desire to be sure that the exported crops did not go through the process of genetic modification, led to an obligatory testing process for each product that should be exported from Africa. The process being very costly, and its technology not being advanced enough anywhere, the African farmers will not plant GM crops, which would have enabled them to have more production and at a lower cost. Given this, this may cause the poverty of farmers, and may also affect the farming activity and the international trade from it. Another outcome of the refusal of GM crops is the consistent problem of starvation, which, rather than being resolved, will increase the number of dead people from extreme hungriness. Many countries in Africa have poor farming methods (extensive agricultural activities, deforestation and overgrazing) : yes, it is true. Every day, about 30,000 of African children die from malnutrition or from the water-infested disease, or from a combination of both: yes it is true. Hunger lives in Africa and African farmers cannot feed the population, why not accepting the food aid from the US or other super rich country: this sounds appealing but not at the risk of killing the population. Even though it can be seen the people may die anyways by hunger, other food aid alternatives
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According to the BioChem Glossary, it is the fertilization of a plant from a plant with a different genetic makeup

include sending food non-GM-related. If people in those western countries want to ban the cultivation of those crops why do Africans have to eat them? Africans are not guinea pigs. What about countries like South African, who has started the biotechnology and has helped millions of hungry people? Reducing hunger is one thing, poisoning people to reduced starvation is another one. Up to now, the top African country which is still refusing this GM food aid is Zambia, where 20% of children under 5 are underweight (Human Development Report 2009). The last but not least issue that the genetic engineering technology has arisen is its perception on religious and secular people. For many spiritual people, altering the nature of food is playing the role of God (Ramsey 1966). According to them, only God has the power of choosing what should be in what food. Special foods such as vegetarian, halaal and kosher might not be 100% vegetarian, halaal and kosher, respectively. Then, the rights of people eating those kind of aliments may be infringed since they are sure that what they are eating not as natural as it should have been. Many movements have been created in order to ban the use of GM crops such as the GM Free Bihar Movement in India. On the secular point of view, modifying an organism structure is removing its dignity (Rolston 2002). According to the proponents of this claim, DNA is something very special and that consciously manipulating DNA is morally impermissible. Is it wrong to help, to protect the planet, to wish that people get healthier or that they taste better food? Is it insane to promote to the advancement of the nature with humans means? The list is so long with what the biotechnology can do! No, it is not wrong to dream that way unless real primary purposes are not those previously listed, but just producing more in order to have a better bottom line. Contrarily to what Monsanto and other pro-GM foods would have imagined, there are many debates that have arisen from the use genetically engineered technology on foods. Even if this new technology has many benefits and may seem safe for humans on a short time basis, more research should be done in order to prove that GM food is
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harmless. In fact, there is some evidence that the food that results from this technology possibly harms the environment. Moreover, GM food is probably a cause of certain diseases; it possibly makes developing countries poorer and hungrier and it even gets to go against peoples ethics. With a number of corporations and people in North-America who trust GM food, there is little hope that GM foods disappear from our plates. The only thing that governmental food and health associations can give to consumers is the choice to distinguish GM from non GM foods, with a clear food labelling.

REFERENCES - Allaby, Michael. "Agrobacterium." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Retrieved May 11, 2010 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7Agrobacterium.html - Belsie, Laurent (March 2001) Superior Crops or 'Frankenfood'? Christian Science Monitor - Benbrook, Charles. "Do GM Crops Mean Less Pesticide Use? Charles Benbrook / Pesticide Outlook Oct01." Mindfully.org | Mindfully Green. Oct. 2001. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/More-GMOs-Less-Pesticide.htm>.

- Brown, Paul. "GM Crops Created Superweed, Say Scientists | Environment | The Guardian." The Guardian | Guardian.co.uk. 25 July 2005. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/jul/25/gm.food>. - "Cross-pollination Definition." Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology - Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences - Northwestern University. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://www.biochem.northwestern.edu/holmgren/Glossary/Definitions/Def-C/crosspollination.html>. - "Genetically Modified Foods - Techniques - Better Health Channel." Better Health Channel - Quality Consumer Health Information for Australians. 10 May 2010. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Genetically_modified_ foods_techniques>. - "Genetic Engineering Methods." Oracle ThinkQuest Library. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/be9.shtml>. - Gilland, Tony. "Who's Afraid of Frankenfood?" LM Dec. 1998/Jan. 1999. Print. -Harper, Dean. "Better Dead than GM Fed." The Economist 19 Sept. 2002. Print. - Human Development Report 2009 - Zambia. Rep. 2009. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_ZMB.html>. - Ito J, Hosaki Y, Torigoe Y, Sakimoto K . "Identification of substances formed by decomposition of peak E substance in tryptophan". (1992) Food Chem. Toxicol. 30 (1): 71-81 - Kugler Mary. "Eosinophilic Fasciitis & Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome." Rare Diseases - Information About Rare Diseases. 15 Dec. 2003. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/efandems/a/060202.htm>. - Mann, L.R.B.; Straton, D.; Crist, W.E. (August 1999) The Thalidomide Of Genetic Engineering Soil & Health (NZ), retrieved from www.gmfoodnews.com/trypto.html - Mercola, Joseph. "BGH: Monsanto and the Dairy Industry's Dirty Little Secret." BioDemocracy News #38 February/March 2002 Market Pressure: Busting BGH and Biotech 38 (Feb.-Mar. 2002). Organic Consumers Association. Feb.-Mar. 2002. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://www.organicconsumers.org/newsletter/biod38.cfm#bgh>. - Ramsey, Paul. 2006. Moral and Religious Implications of Genetic Control. In Genetics and the Future of Man, ed. John. D. Roslansky. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company.

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- Rolston III, Holmes. 2002. What Do We Mean by the Intrinsic Value and Integrity of Plants and Animals? In Genetic Engineering and the Intrinsic Value and Integrity of Animals and Plants, ed. D. Heaf and J.Wirtz, pp. 510. U.K.: Hafan. - Tulloch, James. "GM Crops: Top Ten Facts And Figures | New Technology | Allianz Knowledge." With Knowledge Comes A Responsibility To Act! | Allianz Knowledge. 07 Oct. 2009. Web. 11 May 2010. <http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues/safety_health/new_technology/gm_crops _factsheet.html>. - Various articles from "CIA - The World Factbook." Welcome to the CIA Web Site Central Intelligence Agency. Web. 12 May 2010. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/>.

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