There has been a lot happening with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) lately. The first GMO seeds, known as Roundup Ready soybeans, were introduced to the market by Monsanto in 1996. Roundup Ready Corn was introduced three years later. These seeds were resistant to a powerful and toxic broad spectrum herbicide known as Roundup, which is also produced by Monsanto. The initial genes used to create the roundup resistance was found in bacteria that were somehow growing in the waste behind a roundup production facility.

So how did Monsanto get these genes from a bacterium into a soybean? This is the basic act of creating a genetically modified seed, taking a gene from one species (such as a bacterium) and inserting it into another (such as a soybean). To accomplish this, Monsanto first found the bacterium, chopped it up in little bits, and searched the bits to see which one had the gene in it. Genes are very small and hard to isolate, and it was likely that a small number of other genes were also in the bit that they used. Then, they attached these bits to tiny slivers of gold. But this is not all they attached to the gold, they also attached a cauliflower mosaic virus (CMV) and an antibiotic resistant gene. These loaded gold slivers were then shot at a petri dish filled with soybean cells at high speed. A number of these cells were ruptured by the gold. A number of them had the gold actually get into the nucleus of the cells (where genes need to get to do their thing). To determine which cells were successfully impregnated, the dish was then sprayed with antibiotics, and the cells that didn’t die were assumed to be worthy. These were then cultured out, grown into plants, and sprayed with roundup. The plants that didn’t die were the trillion dollar plants, which were patented at once.

But what else was going on in this imprecise process? First, lets examine the CMV. It is what is known as a ‘promoter’ and was included to turn the gene on. To understand why, think of the gene in your body for eye color. This gene exists in every cell of your body, even your toenails, but if somebody meets you and your eyes are closed, they won’t know what color your eyes are. That is because your eye color gene has a promoter that only turns it on in your iris. The CMV was chosen as a promoter because it is known to turn it’s associated gene on everywhere, all the time. This way, Monsanto did not need to worry about whether they would get the gene into the plant and not have it work where and when they need it.

There are two glaring risks with this CMV usage. The first is that, perhaps, it will turn on the wrong gene sometime. What genes do is take amino acids (of which there are over 390) in a specific order and build a unique protein. If the CMV is accidentally latched on to a protein that, say, causes an allergy in some people, the results could be dangerous. In fact, it was noted that when Roundup Ready Soybeans were introduced into Great Brittan, a 50% increase in soybean allergies was tracked shortly thereafter. Similar data was not tracked in the U.S. Human life threatening acute allergies were introduced with a genetically modified trypsin (a nutritional supplement) and Starlink corn, both of which were pulled from the market after many people fell ill with debilitating painful symptoms.

The other top level risk involved with CMV use is overproduction of the very trait that is being sought. To look at this, let’s look at the next introduced GMO product, Bt crops. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a naturally occurring bacterium that kills many insects in their larval stage. One strain works well on Colorado potato beetles, another works well on hornworms, cabbage looper, and other similar crop pests. Bt has been used by organic farmers for insect control since 1901 and no insect resistance or human health problems were ever built up, but when Bt is sprayed by an organic farmer, it is done in a controlled setting and the bacteria generally die before a few days go by. But when the Bt gene was injected into the plant with the CMV, the toxic protein is produced in all cells of the plant at all times. After a limited feeding studies conducted on rats with Bt potatoes, respected scientist Aphrod Pusztai, who was tasked by the British government to quickly review the data of the study, determined that the rats fed Bt potatoes had many health risks, including lower organ weights, unexplained death, and precancerous cells in the stomach. Pusztai was then persecuted by the British government, even loosing his university job over his refusal to keep quiet about his findings. Further feeding studies were never done, but Bt potatoes were taken off the commercial market. Other Bt crops (including corn, cotton, and soybeans) were not.

GMO crops have also shown to cause other health problems in people and livestock, possibly due to rupturing of neighboring genes during the insertion process. GMO corn feeding has been positively linked to infertility in swine. Is it a coincidence that human fertility is going down now that GMO corn is used in the majority of processed foods? Also, Roundup Ready mustard has been shown to have over 20 times the outcrossing rate of standard mustard (in other words, GMO mustard pollen is over 20 times more likely to pollinate a neighboring mustard plant than it should be). This mustard will spread its genes in a super-natural way. For a crop with a wild counterpart such as mustard, this poses great environmental and seed production risks. Worst of all, long term feeding studies are not being required on GMO crops, not even ones intended for human consumption. This means that if and when GMO foods do cause a negative health effect on people, unless the effects are acute, rapid in onset, and rare, it will probably never be traced to the GMO cause and just be attributed to a random new health aliment. This shields the GMO producers from liability and puts us all at risk.

It has been shown that the antibiotic resistant ‘marker’ genes used in the initial insertion of GMO genes can be transferred to the gut bacteria of the final consumer (known as ‘horizontal gene transfer’. It is hypothesized that this is made more likely due to the rough shot, imprecise method used to insert the genes in the first place. There is concern that this can lead to a buildup of antibiotic resistant bacteria in our environment, and even in our bodies.

What is new with GMO’s in the last few years:

Monsanto has gotten wind of the popular concern with eating too much corn syrup, so they have developed a GMO alternative to corn in what is ironically considered today to be a more healthy alternative, the sugar beet. GMO beets would be especially concerning, as beet pollen is very light and can travel many miles. If GMO beets will be grown regularly on a large scale, it will almost certainly lead to GMO contamination of all beets. The Organic Seed Alliance and their partners (including the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association) has sued seeking an injunction on production of GMO beet seeds. The case is currently pending, and we look forward to hearing results in the near future.

Currently, Pioneer Hybrid and Monsanto are working independently to develop GMO drought resistant crops. This follows a disaster in India after the Bt cotton brought over for bull worm resistance turned out to be much more drought susceptible than their existing varieties. After a year, the worm also became resistant to the Bt cotton, and yields from Bt cotton were drastically lower than the traditional seeds. As the Bt cotton seed was very expensive compared to the traditional seed, farmers took loans to buy them, and many farmers lost their land to the ordeal. This lead to the of first what has now been many waves of mass farmer suicides in India. Further adding insult to injury, Monsanto responded with an aggressive campaign to buy up all of the cotton seed dealers to force India’s farmers to buy seed from them. Currently Monsanto controls an estimated 90% of the available cotton seed in the world.

This year, Monsanto has finally admitted what many farmers have known for years now; that raising roundup ready crops on the same ground year after year will build up roundup resistance in many weeds. The problem is now epidemic for many farmers, and this year, Monsanto is advising farmers not to plant Roundup Ready crops in the same place for 2 years in a row, but to instead rotate and use a different herbicide every other year.

Many efforts have been made recently to use GMO crops to produce vitamins, vaccines, and other pharmacological products, often referred to as ‘pharm’ crops. Unfortunately, in North Carolina, these Pharm genes have managed to contaminate the rice in the USDA’s rice seed bank maintained here.

All in all, GMO’s are unlike any other form of pollution ever created by humans. All other pollutions, even the worst oils spills and nuclear accidents, will dissipate over time. GMO’s act more like a cancer.; they are alive, and they will reproduce and spread. They have the potential to contaminate wild crops and seed crops that were never intended to have GMO genes in them. There is even an experiment currently underway to produce GMO ocean fish that will grow faster than their natural counterpart.

Avoiding GMO crops is not easy. Most conventional dairy, corn, canola, soybean, and cotton (including cottonseed oil in human foods) are contaminated. Most conventional livestock products have been raised on GMO foods. Beet sugar will possibly soon be contaminated as well. Though GMO’s are not permitted in organic crop production or processing, some seed businesses have decided to accept a very small percentage of GMO contamination in seeds they sell as organic. Fedco Seeds has taken the lead in the GMO free seed movement, conducting vigilant testing of their seeds and only selling 100% GMO free seeds in their operation. If you want to be sure your seeds are GMO free, call your seed dealer and ask if the seeds they sold you were tested and shown to be 100% GMO free.