Five Problems with GE Foods By Maude Barlow

Corporations claim they are the food of the future. Critics call them 'fankenfoods." They are tomatoes made with the DNA of fish, corn grown with the aid of scorpion genes. They can be found in french fries and infant formula, salad dressings and breakfast cereals.

Genetically engineered (GE) foods are quietly making their way into Canadian homes, transforming _ perhaps for ever_ what we eat. Biotechnology companies insist they're safe; many scientists aren't so sure. In spite ofcorporate assurances _ or perhaps because of them _ worries about GE foods are on the rise.

It's estimated that as much as 75% of all pre-packaged foods may contain genetically engineered substances. But you won't see them listed among the product ingredients. That's because across North America large quantities of staples such as corn, soya and canola are now genetically engineered, then mixed with regular crops before being processed into foods. Today, 57% of the canola, 45% of the corn and 25% of the soya grown in Canada is genetically engineered.

Opinion polls have repeatedly shown that over 90% of Canadians believe genetically engineered foods should be labelled. And we're not alone.

Bowing to recent public pressure in Europe and the U.K, grocery store chains there pledged to remove GE foods from their shelves. Canadian grocery chains haven't followed suit _ yet.

Despite claims that GE foods are safe, no long- term tests have been done to assess their impact on human health. Some scientists including the British Medical Association and the U.S. based Union of Concerned Scientists, worry that GE foods could have serious consequences for our health in the future.

The federal government is supposed to ensure food safety, but the only research conducted on GE foods is that paid for by the biotech industry. And under the government's "cost recovery" program, funding to check the industry's research comes directly from the very companies whose products are under scrutiny. Government scientists are under pressure to speed up approval and to regard industry as their "client"

The GE industry is dominated by five of the world's leading chemical companies. They include Monsanto (makers of toxic POBs and Agent Orange), DuPont (makers of weapons_grade plutonium, leaded gas and ozone-depleting CFCs) and Dow (makers of Napalm and silicone breast implants), as well as two new companies, Swiss_based Novartis (the number_one agrochemical company in the world) and Aventis (the soon_to_be_completed merger between French and German chemical giants Rhone_Poulenc and Hoechst).

Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, these chemical giants have re-invented themselves into "life sciences" corporations, acquiring lucrative control over much of the world's pharmaceutical and food production. Monsanto, for example, now owns some of the largest seed companies in North America, virtually guaranteeing the company's claim that GE crops are the future of agriculture _ at least, in North America. Novartis, the number-one supplier of pesticides and seeds worldwide, owns Gerber, the largest manufacturer of baby food in the United States.

4 Environmental Experiments

GE crops are designed to be different; some are pest_resistant, many are pesticide_resistant. As a result, say environmentalists, many products already in farmers' fields run the risk of increasing pesticide use, and giving rise to super_weeds and even super_bugs. Monsanto's specially designed "terminator" seeds, for example, allow crops to withstand punishing amounts of Monsanto pesticide. Environmentalists worry that it such crops cross over into regular crops or into the wild, it could lead to crop failure and environmental devastation.

Biotech companies often claim that genetic engineering is no different from traditional plant breeding. In fact, the science is new and the methods employed far from precise. The most common technique is to literally blast genetic material into a host organism using a "gene gun."

The foreign gene may end up anywhere _ next to or even inside another gene, disrupting its function and lead to totally unexpected results. The results could take years to manifest themselves.

GE crops have placed Canada on a collision course with the European Union over trade. European countries remain unconvinced of the safety of genetically engineered foods. The EU wants GE foods clearly labelled and has imposed a moratorium on the import of GE crops.

Ottawa has already challenged a European ban of Canadian hormone-treated beef at the World Trade Organization. In fact, Canada _ along with our largest trading partner, the U.S. -is one of the world's biggest boosters of the trade in GE crops. This despite the fact that Canadian farmers, now faced with tumbling world crop prices and a European ban on GE foods, are seeing their markets shrink.