Genetic Engineering Update
by She Sees
from The Flowering Tree,
Newsletter of The Good Medicine Society
Fall 1999Last fall’s issue of The Flowering Tree contained a lengthy article about the genetic engineering of our food, the efforts on the part of European citizens to resist this food, and a petition asking congress for the labeling of these foods. During this past year there has been continuing successful resistance in Europe and the beginnings of a more vocal resistance here in the United States. There is also growing pressure by industry and our government to force this food onto people both here and abroad who do not want it. In the next few months this conflict will become very heated as this year’s crops of genetically altered corn and soybeans are harvested and farmers discover there is no European market for them.
Consumer Power!
Seven European grocery chains (Safeway, Tesco, Iceland, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, the Co-op, and Waitrese) have all announced that they are removing genetically engineered products from their stores and from all food products they process. The American-based fast food giants McDonalds, Burger King, and Kentucky Fried Chicken are now serving only non-genetically engineered foods in their British outlets. Corporate food giants Unilever, Nestle, and Cadbury-Schweppes, which initially supported the biotech industry, have bowed to consumer demands and are removing genetically modified ingredients from their food products for the European market. While these companies verbally chant the safety mantra, they realize that the ultimate control lies with the people who purchase their products. Isin Ferguson, Chairman of Bird’s Eye Walls, a division of Unilever, says, “We have taken this decision in direct response to the wishes of a growing number of customers in the United Kingdom.”
I sent an email to Nestle and Unilever asking if they were removing these products from foods they distribute here in America. Unilever did not respond to my question. Nestle responded with the following:
“In countries where public opinion rejects ingredients derived from genetically modified crops, even though food legislation permits their use, Nestle respects the consumers’ preferences and will provide its customers, as far as technically possible, with products that do not contain these ingredients.”
In August, both Gerber and Heinz, makers of America’s baby foods, announced that they would be removing genetically engineered organisms from their products.
Our voices can make a difference!
U.S. Labeling Petition
At the Natural Law Party’s National Summit on the Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods (held June 17, 1999 in Washington, D.C.), one half million signatures of people asking for mandatory labeling of all genetically altered foods were presented to congress by Mothers for Natural Law. A distinguished panel of scientists, physicians, farmers, clergy, food industry leaders, and consumers presented the health, environmental, and ethical risks of the unchecked genetic manipulation of the world’s food supply.
Although every member of congress was sent a formal invitation to this Summit, not one was in attendance. Dr. John Hagelin, Director of the Institute of Science, Technology & Public Policy, moderated the summit and told those present, “There has been no human testing of these foods, and the effects of eating them are unknown. Soy used in infant formula has genetic material and bacteria never before ingested by the human race...We are rewriting the genetic library of the earth in only three to five years.”
In response to this Summit and the petition for labeling the Grocery Manufacturers Association announced a multimillion dollar campaign to “educate” consumers about genetically altered foods.
“We want to deliver all the information that consumers may want, through 800-numbers, pamphlets, Web sites and other materials,” said Lisa Katic of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. “We want them to know there is no significant difference between GM [genetically modified] crops and conventional crops.”
No Significant Difference?
Bt corn is genetically engineered to contain a bacterial toxin that will kill insect pests that feed on the crop. It seems this corn also kills beneficial insects. In June, Cornell University researchers found that almost 50 percent of monarch caterpillars die after eating pollen from genetically engineered Bt corn.
Long-term effects on humans from eating Bt corn and other genetically engineered (GE) crops have never been tested. The FDA has declared GE foods to be “substantially equivalent” to non-GE foods and therefore has approved them with no substantial testing.
Plantings of genetically enhanced corn have increased from 400,000 acres in 1996 to 22 million acres this year.
from The Flowering Tree,
Newsletter of The Good Medicine Society
Fall 1999
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