http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1102-07.htm
Published on Sunday,
November 2, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
Scientists Confirm Risks Of Genetically
Engineered Crops
by Richard Caplan
With hardly a mention in the American press, the results
of the largest field study ever conducted on genetically
engineered crops were just made public in Europe. The
British government research concluded that genetically
engineered crops could lead to significantly lower numbers
of insects, an important part of the wildlife food chain.
Of the three crops
examined - corn, canola, and sugar beet
- the genetically engineered varieties of canola and sugar
beet were found to be more harmful to wildlife than conventional
varieties. The results for corn were inconclusive because the
chemical used to kill weeds in non-genetically engineered fields
was an insecticide so dangerous that the European Union has
now decided to ban it.
The environmental risks
of genetically engineered crops are many,
and this research only examined a small subsection. For example,
the long term impacts of genetically engineered crops on the soil,
or the impacts of gene flow from genetically engineered varieties
to conventional varieties, were not examined in this research,
and the incomplete research on these two issues alone raises
serious issues that should necessitate caution before going
forward with commercial plantings of genetically engineered
varieties. But with only the findings of the research from
the new studies, overseen by Britain’s Scientific Steering
Committee, the independent research work recommended that
canola and beet should not be grown in Britain.
In the United States,
more than 40,000 Department of Agriculture
(USDA)-authorized field trials have taken place over the past
16 years, with each trial an opportunity to examine the
environmental impacts of genetically engineered crops on the
environment. Yet because of a policy seemingly designed to
find nothing, nothing has been found.
Thus the British government
was able to determine in three
years of research what the U.S. government and biotechnology
industry couldn’t figure out in sixteen.
Last week, the USDA
released information about compliance
with their field testing regulations. After years of pressure
to release this information under the Freedom of Information
Act by U.S. PIRG and other groups, the agency announced that
115 violations of their regulations have taken place over the
past decade, that most were not previously disclosed, and
that in almost all cases the response to institutions breaking
the rules was nothing more than a phone call or letter.
So we are left with
an unfortunate situation: the most recent
and comprehensive research on the environmental risks of
genetically engineered crops indicate negative environmental
impact, and yet the crops are already planted widely in the
United States. Of course the situation is even more serious,
because the risks associated with genetically engineered crops
are not limited to their environmental impacts, but also
include human health risks. While oversight at USDA regarding
environmental risk is inadequate, oversight at the Food and
Drug Administration regarding human health risk is almost
nonexistent, since the agency does not even require any
mandatory pre-market safety assessments for genetically
engineered crops.
Genetically engineered
crops were introduced in the
U.S. before regulations were put in place to handle
them., Research on their environmental and human health
risks increasingly points to serious problems. Hopefully
the most recent round of studies will jolt U.S. regulatory
agencies into taking appropriate action to protect the
American public.
Richard Caplan has
been a Food Safety Advocate with
the U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Washington,
DC since 1999. U.S. PIRG is the national lobby office
for the state PIRGs, non-profit, non-partisan public
interest advocacy organizations active around the country.
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