Green is Better: New poison on your plate

Source: Food Freedom - Decentralize, Grow Your Own, Buy Local

If you have never heard of Genetically Modified (GM) foods before, your ignorance is NOT bliss. I will tell you why in a moment.

But first, here’s the breaking news: FDA is on the verge of approving GM Salmon. That would make it the first animal species on this planet that has been given the God-Treament by Man!

Source: CNN

I decided to write this article after I saw the sorry excuse of a report CNN put out today to describe the issues around GM Salmon... a sorry excuse much like a lot of their reporting these days.

Anyhow, getting back to the point. AquaBounty Technologies has submitted an application to the United States Food and Drug Administration to obtain a license for producing and selling their GM Salmon. The genetic modification allows the salmon to grow 50% faster than non-GM salmon. This means GM-salmon is market ready in 18 months instead of the standard 30 month growth cycle for non-GM salmon.

How does FDA decide whether the product being proposed should be certified or not? According to Professor Anne Kapuscinski who is a fisheries biologist at Dartmouth College and spoke to NPR on Sep 7, 2010, FDA looks for 3 things in making its decision whether to grant a licence:

1. What is the impact of the GM product on Humans?

2. What is the impact of the GM product on the Environment?

3. What is the impact of the genetic modification on the Animal (salmon) itself?

The above questions are worthwhile, but there are 3 major problems with the certification process:

1. The data for answering the above questions is provided by the applicant itself (Aquabounty Technologies). FDA does not carry out its own tests. Among other reasons, a key factor is that FDA wouldn’t have the time, resources or money to carry out its own testing for every product certification application it receives. Unfortunately this always means leaving the fox to guard the henhouse!

2. When it comes to environmental impact, the FDA does NOT set a criteria that would determine PASS or FAIL. It simply requires the environmental impact to be recorded. This would be like saying that its ok for electronic manufacturers to simply dump lead, mercury, arsenic and other toxic chemicals into the waste pipe as long as they let you know that these chemicals will make their way into your water and food supply and wreak havoc with your body. No, that is simply wrong! Its unacceptable that FDA doesn’t have clear and strict requirements that protect consumers but allow the money lobbies to get away with their crimes. Of course this has everything to do with money and politics that prevent good regulation in this case like so many other cases from being put on the books because ideologues cry “less government” but still want all the safety and protections they can get from the government.

3. FDA is leaning towards not requiring GM-salmon to carry a label that states that it is genetically modified. Do you realize how awful that is? It means you will have no way of even knowing whether the salmon on your plate is GM or not unless ofcourse if the non-GMO salmon producers label their product as such. Still, who will believe the lables if there is no standard's body that provides the differentiating certificate (a seal of approval). Knowing how little time consumers have to do their own research and the almost blind trust they have in the FDA (or similar authorities), its not a stretch of the imagination to state that gullible consumers will be taken for a ride.

It may turn out that despite all the caveats mentioned above, there is really no danger to human, animal or environmental health after all. However its worth noting that GM-anything (GMO = Genetically Modified Organisms, to be precise) has a checkered past and the case against it has been growing ever stronger.

At the core are 3 problems which GMOs potentially pose:

1. Allergenicity. In other words GMOs have the potential for generating allergic reactions and we have no way of knowing at this point which food allergies may be caused by which genetic modification. Further there is a real danger of the new allergies thus spawned having no cure.

2. Gene Transfer. In other words the potential for alteration of the human gene sequence leading to unintended consequences. For instance it is being found that the puberty age in the United States has been dropping leading to girls developing breasts as early as the age of 7 and 10 year old boys standing 6 feet tall.

3. Outcrossing. In other words the potential for genes from the GMOs to make their way into the wild and alter the gene sequences of naturally occuring organisms (plants… and now salmon?!). Unfortunately this is not just a possibility but now a documented reality.

If you are mad now, make your voice heard. Sign a petition, call your elected representative, leave a comment in this blog.