The scoop on 'GM' foods.

In my last post, I rather flippantly noted that the topic of Genetically Modified foods was worthy of a blog in its own right. However, now concentrating more seriously on it, I realize that it would have to be one hell of a long blog to do justice to the hot debate that surrounds this advancement in technology! Here I aim to try and give a brief overview; the good, the bad and the ugly ... and hopefully arm us all with some information from which we can make our own decisions (yes, ok, I surrender, this is still a relatively long blog…..)

In simple terms, Genetically Modified (GM) foods or Genetically-Modified Organisms (GMO) most commonly refer to plant crops which have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits (such as increased resistance to herbicides, weather extremes, improved nutritional content etc). Historically, this was achieved by selective breeding, but plant breeding methods are time consuming and often not accurate, so in walks Mr. Technology, and suddenly we are feeding the 5,000 from one field of genetically-doctored corn ...

There are fierce and raging arguments going on around the world as to whether this technique is safe and acceptable, and it would require a dissertation of many thousands of words for me to explain the details, but here are the commonly quoted pros and cons:

Pros:
- GM foods promise to meet the booming population needs predicted over the next 50 years; conventionally created crops do not. This is due to the fact that GM crops have a higher degree of pest-resistance (loss of yield from pest damage is huge and can be devastating to farmers and food availability in developing countries), herbicide tolerance, disease resistance and extreme weather tolerance.
- GM foods can be engineered to contain specific nutrients for specific areas of the world which are malnourished (eg. blindness is a problem in developing countries due to vitamin A deficiency and researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology for Plant Sciences have created a strain of rice ('golden rice') containing an unusually high level of beta-carotene (vitamin A)).
- There is a proposal that foods will be created which contain specific pharmaceuticals within the food so that edible vaccines can replace conventional vaccines(!) and this would be easier to administer in developing countries (a little scary?!)
- Plants such as popular trees which have been GM to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil can help reduce soil and groundwater pollution.

Cons:
- Unintended harm to other organisms caused by contamination to natural food sources from the GM crops (high mortality rates have been seen in the Monarch Butterfly caterpillar due to this). This impacts the whole food chain reliant on the Monarch Butterfly.
- Reduced effectiveness of pesticides due to developed resistance (think: mosquitoes and the-now-banned DDT).
- Cross-breeding between GM crops (in the fields) will cause gene-transfer to non-target species, creating a whole new plethora of GM food options (terrifying thought?!).
- Increased food - allergies in children and adults due to the introduction of new genes ...I'm thinking that this must SURELY screw with our digestive systems??
- Unknown risk to human health - I think the general consensus is that there hasn't been enough testing in this area... this category also embraces an increase in antibiotic resistance which could be potentially fatal...
- Due to the high costs involved in bringing a new GM crop to market, farmers are beginning to patent their specific GM plant - increasing seed prices and further increasing the gap between the rich and poor farmer.

At the moment, the US is the largest producer of GM crops, and more than a dozen other countries have adopted the technology, including Argentina, China, Canada, Australia, India and Mexico.

In contrast, the EU has banned GM foods from being imported or produced on their soil.

So the world is split ... this is an advancement in technology that could 'cure world hunger' but also disrupt the balance of 'nature' for ever more (let alone the balance in your own body when you eat the food). If you live in the US, I'm afraid it's virtually impossible to eat a GM-free diet, even if you shop solely at the delicious but bank-breaking Whole Foods (which claims to be a GM-free store), since both the labeling regulations and the GM-detection-protocol leave much to be desired at this point. The EU do not import any foods with GM ingredients, but from the research I have done, it appears wishful thinking to believe that there is no cross-contaminated ingredients from GM crops in these imported products...

The whole topic leaves me slightly at a loss for words, to be honest (despite this rather lengthy posting!). I whole-heartedly love and support the push to overcome world-hunger, but not at the expense of human wellness, and the little bit of nature we've got left ... as a consumer, I just remind you that money is power. If you do feel you would like to avoid GM foods as much as possible, there are brands which do not source from GM crops such as Frito-Lay, Whole Foods market brand and Gerber baby food (among others), so look for the 'No GMO ..' labels. As with everything, the dollar talks, and businesses will watch what the consumer supports so hopefully being educated will help you as an individual to drive the next chapter of this story in the direction you want it to go.

To re-cap what I said in my last blog, the foods which are most commonly genetically modified are: soy, corn, cotton and rapeseed oil. So yes, that in turn means that 60-70% of processed foods on the shelves of American grocery stores contain GM ingredients. Yikes! I guess that plays into my mantra.... focus on whole foods, and try and avoid the lure of those colorful cardboard boxes! In case you’re in any doubt, I’m personally siding with my mother-country, hoping to God that this powerful technology doesn’t advance faster than our intelligence on the subject.