GMOs - from the label to the table

The pulse oximeter beeped raucously, reminding me to breath deeply. I had just woken from a ten-day drug-induced nap that prevented me from causing any more damage to my hemorrhaging lungs. I coughed gently, my throat sore from the ventilator that I unconsciously yanked out the night before. Apparently my subconscious disliked invasive tubes as much as my conscious self. I exhaled, just grateful to be alive.

It wasn't quite Spring in 2010. I had had a recurring cold all winter and couldn't seem to get rid of it for longer than two weeks. Finally, my body had enough and I became severely ill, coughing up alarming amounts of blood. It took doctors weeks to figure out what was causing my lungs to bleed. I was self-destructing. I had p-ANCA vasculitis, a rare autoimmune disease that causes, in my case, antibodies to attack the blood vessels in my lungs. After an internal battle that took me to the intensive care unit by life-flight to the regional hospital and nearly two weeks of unconsciousness, my life was spared with the help of hefty drugs and lots of machines. There I laid wondering, what sparks autoimmune diseases to wreak such havoc? Little did I know that genetically-modified foods play a part in cases like mine.

Courtesy of plantsci.cam.ac.uk

Genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs, are very prevalent in our grocery stores today. Over 80% of the processed foods you see in the market have genetically-engineered ingredients (Non GMO Project). GMOs are produce, grains, and other plants that are engineered for desirable traits, such as resistance to weed-killer, insects, and drought. Scientist have found a way to remove segments of DNA from organisms like corn, soy, cotton, and other crops and replace them with another organism's DNA (Improving Agriculture). This process has been a controversial subject since it's beginning due to health and environmental concerns. Bioengineering these new plants is a recent technology, and I believe that GMO products should be labeled.

Before my encounter with p-ANCA vasculitis, I had a pretty care-free life. It didn't matter to me what foods I ate, as long as they tasted good. I led a pretty active lifestyle, in fact, I was ascending up a mountain bike trail when my bloody cough became severe. I really didn't even know what autoimmune diseases were or how they affect us. Autoimmune diseases are unlike any other disease because the immune system becomes confused and attacks parts of one's own body, mistaking the body's tissue for a foreign invader.

According to research by medical author Donna Jackson Nakazawa, autoimmune diseases have been on the rise for the last forty years. Most common conditions include type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, celiac, fibromyalgia, psoriases, and lupus and there are more than eighty known types of autoimmune diseases. And the rates of these conditions keep rising. Lupus and multiple sclerosis have nearly tripled over the past four decades. Type 1 diabetes has increased during the same time period. Approximately one in twelve Americans have an autoimmune disease (Nakazawa, 2008). Traditional medicine really can't pinpoint the cause for this epidemic of autoimmune disorders, but this dramatic increase over such a short period of time must be caused by things other than heredity. Virginia T. Ladd, President and Executive Director of the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association said, “With the rapid increase in autoimmune diseases, it clearly suggests that environmental factors are at play due to the significant increase in these diseases. Genes do not change in such a short period of time.” (Rattue, 2012).

Despite the lack of concrete causes that trigger autoimmune diseases, there is evidence that food allergies could be the culprit. I'm not talking about IgE-mediated allergies where you eat seafood or peanuts and your throat swells shut or you break out in hives, but a much less-noticeable battle going on in your digestive tract. Hidden food allergens reduce the digestive system's ability to absorb nutrients of certain foods, leaving them undigested. Undigested food particles can leak through the wall of the intestines, becoming foreign invaders that the immune system creates antibodies to attack. This sparks inflammation in our bodies, weakening our immunity. Prolonged exposure to these allergens confuses our immune systems, so that they attack us instead of the offending food, resulting in an autoimmune disease (Lopez, 2007).

So how do genetically-modified foods affect our bodies? In GMOs, the DNA that is being inserted into the target organism's genes is from a completely different species, often from bacteria, animals, and humans. This creates a transgenic organism. These species wouldn't usually mate or have offspring together. Jeffrey Smith, an expert in GMOs, explains why this is a problem: “The process of genetic engineering can cause hundreds or thousands of mutations up and down the DNA and up to 5 percent of the existing natural genes can change their levels of expression. And these are not evaluated in the superficial studies that are being done before the crops get on the market as food,” (Phillips, 2012). Now the problems that can occur with these new organisms are health issues caused by unknown allergies from things that normally wouldn't have to be tested for because humans naturally wouldn't be consuming them. Do you think that you would like to know which of your foods are made with GMOs?

Proponents for GMOs argue that humans have been genetically altering our crops for thousands of years, since the beginning of agriculture. But there is a difference between cross-breeding and genetic engineering. Cross-breeding is natural and produces traits without any lab experiments. Genetic engineering has begun within the last 20 years and has minimal safety studies on its impacts upon our health and the environment.

Credit: istockphoto

GMO producers claim that their products are more nutritious than regular crops. Monsanto, the world's largest GMO producer and seed company, uses the sample of Beneforté broccoli on their site to show how they are making food more nutritious. Beneforté broccoli is bred (read: not genetically modified) to contain three times the amount of glucoraphanin than regular broccoli. Glucoraphanin is a nutrient that naturally boosts the body's antioxidant enzymes and maintain levels of vitamins A, C and B (Improving Lives). The hyperlink used in Monsanto's page takes the reader to an article on USA Today about scientists in the U.K. who developed the broccoli by cross-breeding a traditional broccoli with a wild Sicilian variety (so the result is NOT transgenic like most GMOs). The article clearly states that, “No genetic modification was used” (U.K. Scientists, 2011). The U.K. has the strictest laws and regulations concerning GMOs of any country, and all GMOs for human consumption there are either banned or labeled (Foods in Britain and Europe). At best, GMOs are no more nutritious than regular produce.

GMO producers also claim that GMOs help to reduce world hunger. Due to modern agriculture, we produce much more food than we need. So it's not the lack of food that is causing world hunger, but limited access to it. GMOs like Golden Rice, which was bioengineered to contain beta-carotene, helps the human body produce Vitamin A. But the very countries that need these foods the most are also the ones that can't afford the additional irrigation systems and fertilizer that these crops require to grow properly (Robbins, 2011). Also, Monsanto and other biotech companies patent their seeds and use what they call a “Technology Protection System” - their crops produce seeds that are sterile, preventing farmers from saving some from the harvest and planting them for next year's crop. These “suicide seeds” keep customers coming back year after year to get the desired seeds. Will GMOs really help end world hunger?

Are GMO crops better for the environment and do they pose a more sustainable way to grow than traditional crops? Proponents of GMOs claim that because GMOs are engineered for resistance to insects and weeds, they require less insecticides and herbicides. But Monsanto's “Roundup Ready” seeds are engineered with chemicals in them so when the herbicide Roundup is sprayed on the fields, the crops survive and the weeds die from the toxic chemicals. Unfortunately, we are now seeing super-weeds developing greater resistance to Roundup and other herbicides and more toxic levels of herbicides are being used. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) crops are engineered to contain a bacterial gene that kills insects when eaten. Again, we are seeing super-bugs evolve with resistance to Bt (GM Crops).

Courtesy of sunfood.com

If the claims are true that GMOs are more nutritious, will help end hunger, and are better for the environment than traditional crops, it raises the question: why wouldn't biotech companies want to label their products? If they are more nutritious than organic produce and they were grown sustainably, wouldn't that be a great selling point? Or are large biotech companies trying to hide something by fighting laws that would require labeling of all GMO products? In 2012, biotech companies poured 23.7 million dollars into the campaign against California's 37 Coalition requiring labeling on all GMOs (Phillips, 2012). Many states, including most recently Connecticut and California, have had coalitions to mandate GMO labeling. Each time, they have been shut down by enormous campaigns funded by biotech. With evidence that GM crops are not more beneficial than traditional crops, what is the future of GMOs? I feel that people have a right to know what's in their food, and that the labeling of all products containing genetically-engineered foods is the only responsible thing that biotech companies can do.

Works Cited

1. “Genetically Modified Organisms - FAQ.” Non GMO Project. n.d. Web. 6 December 2013.
2. “GM Crops and Foods in Britain and Europe.” GeneWatch. n.d. Web. 7 December 2013.
3. “GM Crops – Just the Science.” Non GMO Project. n.d. Web. 7 December 2013.
4. “Improving Agriculture – How Are We Doing It? Biotechnology 101.” Monsanto. n.d. Web. 6 December 2013.
5. “Improving Lives – What is Monsanto Doing to Help?” Monsanto. n.d. Web. 7 December 2013.
6. Lopez, Len. “Food Allergies, Inflammation and Autoimmune Diseases.” The Christian Post. 12 March 2007. Web. 18 November 2013.
7. Nakazawa, Donna Jackson. “The Autoimmune Epidemic: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World Out of Balance.” AlterNet. 18 March 2008. Web. 18 November 2013.
8. Phillips, Camille. “Link or No Link? Controversy Simmers Over Allergies and Genetically Modified Food.” Harvest Public Media. 22 August 2012. Web. 19 November 2013.
9. Phillips, Camille. “The Money Behind the No on 37 Coalition.” Harvest Public Media. 17 August 2012. Web. 19 November 2013.
10. Rattue, Grace. “Autoimmune Disease Rates Increasing.” Medical News Today. 22 June 2012. Web. 4 December 2013.
11. Robbins, John. “Can GMOs Help End World Hunger?” Huffington Post. 1 August 2011. Web. 7 December 2013.
12. “U.K. Scientists Grow Super Broccoli.” USA Today. 26 October 2011. Web. 7 December 2013.