Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods and Crops

New Viruses and Pathogens

Gene-splicing will inevitably result in unanticipated outcomes and dangerous surprises that damage plants and the environment. Several years ago, researchers conducting experiments at Michigan State University found that genetically altering plants to resist viruses can cause the viruses to mutate into new, more virulent forms. Scientists in Oregon found that a GE soil microorganism, Klebsiella planticola, completely killed essential soil nutrients. Environmental Protection Agency whistle blowers issued similar warnings in 1997 protesting government approval of a GE soil bacterium called Rhizobium melitoli.

Genetic “Bio-Invasion”

By virtue of their “superior” genes, some GE plants and animals will inevitably run amok, overpowering wild species in the same way that exotic species, such as kudzu vine and Dutch elm disease have created problems when introduced in North America. What will happen to wild fish and marine species, for example, when scientists release into the environment carp, salmon, and trout that are twice as large, and eat twice as much food, as their wild counterparts?

Socioeconomic Hazards

The patenting of GE foods and widespread biotech food production threatens to eliminate farming as it has been practiced for 12,000 years. GE patents such as the Terminator Technology will render seeds infertile and force hundreds of millions of farmers who now save and share their seeds to purchase evermore-expensive GE seeds and chemical inputs from a handful of global biotech/seed monopolies. If the trend is not stopped, the patenting of transgenic plants and food-producing animals will soon lead to universal “bioserfdom” in which farmers will lease their plants and animals from biotech conglomerates such as Monsanto and pay royalties on seeds and offspring. Family and indigenous farmers will be driven off the land and consumers’ food choices will be dictated by a cartel of transnational corporations. Rural communities will be devastated. Hundreds of millions of farmers and agricultural workers worldwide will lose their livelihoods.

Ethical Hazards

The genetic engineering and patenting of animals reduces living beings to the status of manufactured products. A purely reductionist science, biotechnology reduces all life to bits of information (genetic code) that can be arranged and rearranged at whim. Stripped of their integrity and sacred qualities, animals that are merely objects to their “inventors” will be treated as such. Currently, hundreds of GE “freak” animals are awaiting patent approval from the federal government. One can only wonder, after the wholesale gene altering and patenting of animals, will GE “designer babies” be next?

What Can You Do?

Guidelines for Local Grassroots Action

Campaign Goals: As the anti-GE campaign in Europe has shown, mass grassroots action is the key to stopping this technology and moving agriculture in an organic and sustainable direction. The OCA advocates the following Food Agenda 2000-2010 as the foundation for our local-to-global campaign work:

* A Global Moratorium on all Genetically Engineered Foods and Crops. These products have not been proven safe for human health and the environment and they must be taken off the market.

* Stop Factory Farming. Begin the phase-out of industrial agriculture and factory farming-with a goal of significantly reducing the use of toxic chemicals and animal drugs on conventional farms by the year 2010. This phase-out will include a ban on the most dangerous farm chemicals and animal feed additives (antibiotics, hormones, and rendered animal protein) as well as the implementation of intensive Integrated Pest Management Practices (decrease the use of toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers through natural composting, crop rotation, cover crops, use of beneficial insects, etc.).

* Convert American Agriculture to at least 30% organic by the year 2010. We demand government funding and implementation of transition to organic programs so that at least 30% of US agriculture is organic by the year 2010-with a strong emphasis on production for local and regional markets by small and medium-sized organic farmers.

Take Action in Your Community

* Circulate our Food Agenda 2000-2010 petition to identify as many people as possible who support our campaign. We will include these names in our local databases for two-way communication and mobilization.

* Help us find retail stores and co-ops that will circulate our petitions and other materials, which can all be downloaded from our website.

* Tell your friends and family about our free electronic newsletter, BioDemocracy News.