Scientific studies show most fears over GMOs unfounded

The virulent attack on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or genetically enhanced products on their supposed harmful effects on the environment, on humans and animal health safety and even their allergenic impact on the biological system have been proven false by the scientific communities here and abroad.

A handout produced by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Application (ISAA), the global knowledge center on crop biotechnology, presented 16 myths on biotechnology and scientific findings of the New Zealand Royal Commission on Genetic Modification (RCGM). (This paper will just pick half of the most popular myths.) The handout was distributed to a large group of newsmen who toured the science community of UP Los Baños’ Institute of Plant Breeding and SEARCA-Biotech Information Center last Tuesday.

IPB scientists Dr. Antonio Laurena and Eduardo Fernandez also said that those opposing biotechnology for unfounded fears are depriving the farmers and consumers options on beneficial crops to grow and food to eat thereby making the country ever dependent on imported food and animal feeds, which are themselves already products of biological engineering.

Their lectures sought to explain the process and the results of biological modification and why, contrary to popular though unfounded beliefs, these are not harmful to humans, animals and the entire ecological system.

Myth No. 1: That golden rice (rice being the staple of two billion people in the world) will not produce health benefits that advocates claim was found by the RCGM to improve the nutritional (particularly iron and Vitamin A) quality of rice thereby correcting the nutritional deficiencies of some 400 million world sufferers of Vitamin A deficiency and over 3.7 billion of those deficient in iron. It also contained higher doses of beta carotene, known for getting rid of cancer cells.

Myth No. 2: L-tryptophan (an amino acid for building dietary protein for brain function) produced from GM bacteria caused deaths in humans in the US was later found by US courts as a manufacturing fault rather than genetic modification. True, L-tryptophan produced by Showa Denko KK (using vat fermenters, GM bacteria and purified by filtration) in 1989 led to new illnesses such as painful and swollen muscles, rashes and gastro intestinal problems and large numbers of white blood cells in the body. This batch of L-tryptophan used not only a new GMO that produced a more concentrated product but also different filtration system using less charcoal that bypassed a membrane filtering step to purify the product.

Myth No 3: Genetic modification causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or the mad cow disease – a degenerative sickness affecting the central nervous system of cattle reaching 178,000 cases since its first confirmation in 1986 in Great Britain – epidemiologic data suggested that BSE in Great Britain involved aniomal feed contamination using contaminated meat and bone meal as protein source. In 1988, the UK government enacted a law requiring all cattle suspected of suffering from BSE to be destroyed and sent for diagnosis. In 1996, BSE was linked with a new variant of CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease), a slow degenerative human disease also affecting the central nervous system at the rate of one case per one million people a year. In 1996 and 1997, the UK Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) found no causal association between BSE and VCJD.

Myth No. 4: Transgenic crops can cause allergies in humans and animals, the Royal Society of UK – its independent national academy of science – said "there is no evidence that GM foods cause allergic reactions. The allergenic risks posed by GM plants are in principle no greater than those posed by conventionally derived crops and by plants introduced from other areas of the world."

Myth No. 5: Pythoestrogen levels in (roundup ready) herbicide soybeans can cause breast cancer was found to have no causal relationship between GM soybean produced by Monsanto and phytoestrogen-related risks for women and children. The Swiss Working Group on Genetic Engineering (SAG) found that the source of this information was a study in 1988, when Roundup Ready soybean did not yet exist.

Myth No. 6: Bt (bacillus thuringensis) corn threatens the existence of Monarch butterfly populations. Scientific studies indicate that there is no overlap between breeding time and pollen shedding in most of the corn regions of the US and that corn pollen does not move far from the field and quantitity of pollen decreases with distance. Studies further showed that even within corn fields, pollen densities were found to be too low to cause mortality in Monarch larvae.

Myth No. 7: GM crops containing viral sequences generate new super viruses. The RCGM received no evidence suggesting that new virus had escaped from containment or had infected animals not involved in the experiment. The UK Royal Society concluded that risks to human health associated with the use of specific viral DNA sequences in GM plants are negligible.

Myth No. 8: Field trials of GM crops will result in uncontrolled release of GM organisms, the RCGM considers "field trials as essential part of risk/benefit analysis prior to any release into the wider environment. Without field trials it is not possible to assess safety. The safety of field trials and adequacy of methods to contain risk, can be adequately assessed and dealt with through risk management programs." It also noted that "no one argued for completely unregulated research. Even the most enthusiastic supporters of genetic modification were clear on the need for the robust regulatory framework and risk management."

RCGM’s 1,400-page report – a result of numerous public dialogues – on GM crops was finally accepted by the New Zealand government after three months of intense debate decided to lift the ban on field trials for GM crops but imposed new rules on any new trials and banned the commercial release of GM products for two years.