Will GM Foods
Irreversibly Alter Our Lives?

As-Salaam Alaikum,

Dear Muslim Family and Friends,

There are arguments pro and con toward using GM food to feed the hungry. We hear of these multinational companies developing these new hardier strains of corn, wheat, soy bean which can withstand the most adverse of conditions.

We also here that these altruistic companies want to make this food stock and seeds available to not only poor countries, but also developing and developing ones.

With such generosity; one can only stand up and applaud these conglomerates for putting people before profits.

But wait…Wasn’t it not too long ago that we learned of a terminator gene.

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Read this:

The terminator gene is a specific genetic sequence inserted into a seed’s DNA.

Once activated by a synthetic chemical catalyst of the manufacturer’s choosing, the sequence renders the seed and crop it produces sterile.

Patented by the USDA and Delta and Pine Land Co., now owned by Monsanto, this terminator technology has no agricultural or economic benefits for farmers or consumers.

The only motivation is to protect intellectual property rights, according to owners of the technology. They claim that it allows them to be able to recover investments on research, and produce profits from their technology, as planters must re-purchase seeds every year.

Opponents claim that corporations will only use this to squeeze more money out of dependent farmers, and begin a monopoly of chemically saturated suicide seeds.

Possibility of Transfer.

Transgenic plants have already been shown to transfer certain genes to wild relatives or bacteria.

The possibility that the terminator gene could be transferred is not denied by anyone. In fact, the tendency of genetically manipulated plants to “leak” traits is greater than others.

“They learned that the transgenic plants were 20 times more likely to outcross than the mutants-they were “promiscuous,” as a headline in the journal Nature put it.

”Nobody knows why,” Bergelson says. “We’re still trying to find the mechanism that drives the pattern we saw. There’s a lot we don’t understand, including how common it is

“It’s inevitable that they will get out,” says ecologist Joy Bergelson of the University of Chicago. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that there will be negative repercussions.

But there could be some. And right now we don’t know enough about what they could be and when they could occur.”‘ There is some speculation on the subject, however, despite the limited empirical evidence.

Even if the terminator gene were to spread to wild weedy relatives, then it could help control the spread of genetic hybrids and accompanying artificial traits.

“Moreover, if Terminator genes were packaged with other transgenic traits, they could help ensure that crop-weed hybrids would be sterile-potentially eliminating a difficult problem.”

In fact, some believe that an added attraction to use of the terminator gene is the possibility that it will prevent more genetic transfer from occurring.

Possibility of Transfer.

Transgenic plants have already been shown to transfer certain genes to wild relatives or bacteria.

The possibility that the terminator gene could be transferred is not denied by anyone. In fact, the tendency of genetically manipulated plants to “leak” traits is greater than others.

“They learned that the transgenic plants were 20 times more likely to outcross than the mutants-they were “promiscuous,” as a headline in the journal Nature put it.

”Nobody knows why,” Bergelson says. “We’re still trying to find the mechanism that drives the pattern we saw. There’s a lot we don’t understand, including how common it is.”

“It’s inevitable that they will get out,” says ecologist Joy Bergelson of the University of Chicago. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that there will be negative repercussions. But there could be some. And right now we don’t know enough about what they could be and when they could occur.”‘ There is some speculation on the subject, however, despite the limited empirical evidence.

Even if the terminator gene were to spread to wild weedy relatives, then it could help control the spread of genetic hybrids and accompanying artificial traits. “Moreover, if Terminator genes were packaged with other transgenic traits, they could help ensure that crop-weed hybrids would be sterile-potentially eliminating a difficult problem.” In fact, some believe that an added attraction to use of the terminator gene is the possibility that it will prevent more genetic transfer from occurring.

In fact, common sense recommends that the terminator gene would not spread far, because gene transfer through hybridization relies on fertile gametes of each species, the production of which is suppressed by this gene.

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Human health risks Allergenicity Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals.

A proposal to incorporate a gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans was abandoned because of the fear of causing unexpected allergic reactions31.

Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies. Labeling of GM foods and food products will acquire new importance, which I shall discuss later.

Unknown effects on human health There is a growing concern that introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health.

Read the entire article : http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

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The above is the information that we know today. Will what we discover 10, 20 or 50 years from now cause irreparable damage to lives and the environment?

What choices will we have if indigenous farmers can not compete under World Trade (WTO) Organization rules to grow foods as cheaply as larger countries can supply it?

When this happens will these countries end up like The Republic of Haiti: http://www.stwr.org/food-security-agriculture/the-us-role-in-haitis-food-riots.html

So can a food slave stand up to his master when the master has hold of the slave’s neck?

What recourse will people have when large producers of agricultural products put economic pressure of countries to force them to import GM foods?

Can a smaller nation say No to that trading partner it economically depends on humanitarian grounds?

These are just some of the issues governments and indigenous farmers have to face and will have to face in the near future.

For the consumer; it’s a matter of choice. As long as the food you purchase is correctly labeled, you can accept or reject GM foods.

The most important point is to Keep Yourself Correctly Informed on both sides of the argument.

PS. Click link to read more about terminator genes: http://www.purefood.org/Patent/termgene.cfm

As-Salaam Alaikum


Muneer A. Rasheed
International Consultant & Advisor (PPIM)

Asia Source Consulting
The World Muslim Consumer Association

From GM Foods back to Muneer's Blog!