If altered foods are so great, why so many problems?

I remember the "good old days" when the bad agricultural news was crop destruction by drought, flood, and pestilence. I still see that from time to time, but increasingly what I see is about crops that are "altered," and the threats that they pose. We are all supposed to be reassured by the US FDA statements that there is "no difference" between GM foods and non-GM foods. Heck, they don't even need to be labeled. And what about those production additons - such as hormones and antibiotics? No problem says the FDA.

But there do seem to be a few problems.
For example, I was a bit surprise by a Bio-security warning over disposal of GE Sheep (GE Free NZ, 7/18/03). It seems testing has shown that cremating the sheep doesn't destroy either their DNA or prions. This is a problem, as many of the GE sheep are having immune system problems and "spongiform" changes. Spongiform changes are changes that make the brain change consistency to a sponge-like quality.

The harbinger news however is Yes, We'll have no Bananas (Alison, Globe & Mail, 7/19/03). It is estimated that within the next ten years that the banana will be extinct. Why? Because it has been tampered with so much that it is now both sterile and seedless.

"But the stage was set for the final act in the story of this beloved yellow fruit in the 1950s. By then, generations of selective breeding had long since inhibited natural banana reproduction, and genetic tinkering had all but obliterated most commercial varieties. Eventually, one morph remained, the Gros Michel variety. All domestic stock was its clone, an exact genetic copy of that one variety. Every tree was equally vulnerable to plant disease, crop pests and climate variables" (Alison)

For those who keep an eye on these things, the news that every banana is a "clone" will sound quite familiar. We are virtually at that point right now with corn in the US. Virtually all of the commercial corn is a clone. Nowhere does long term concerns about bio-diversity arise more clearly than in agriculture. If we have only one variety of crop and there is an environmental disaster (whether that is bugs, climate change, or disease) then all of that species are susceptible. If the crop is global (which is certainly what bio-tech ag companies such as Monsanto hope for) then all of a species could be wiped out globally. Since the bio-tech folks have gone after the most widely used subsistence crops (rice, corn, wheat, barley, peanuts, soybeans, etc.), then those are the ones that are most susceptible - and most catastrophic if lost.

Plant "gene banks" are scattered all over the world to try and recover from such a catastrophe. Unfortunately, all of the plant gene banks in the world provide no solution to the hunger that would result from such a crop loss -- there simply is not enough unmodified seed available. Further, those stocks are also at risk because as modified plants spread and cross pollination and contamination occurs, the indigenous stocks are irreplaceable. Further, if they are reintroduced they are likely to become contaminated by existing modified species. These fears were brought to light in 2001 with reports of the genetic contamination of indigenous crops in remote portions of Oxaca Mexico.

But I digress. Back to the problems of the clone banana. Is this a signal of the beginning of the end? It is certainly dire - even if you don't care for bananas. I don't know of a modern commercial crop that has gone extinct. Bananas are a popular fruit and this has implications beyond humans. What about other species that depend on bananas as a dietary mainstay? My guess is that this is not going to be last commercial crop heading down the road of history.

Obviously, this news and others about GM foods should throw flags all over the place. It should also through some caution into US policy regarding GM products (as we are the largest producer and promoter), but I doubt that it will. Certainly more public pressure needs to be brought to control the experimentation with the global food supply. This is not just a health issue of "what do GM foods do to you," but a threat to the survival of humans and all other species on the planet.