WASHINGTON – A report published by a coalition of critics of the biotech industry, the Genetically Engineered Food Alert Coalition, has found that Taco Bell taco shells sold in grocery stores contain a genetically altered corn that could trigger allergies
WASHINGTON – A report published by a coalition of critics of the biotech
industry, the Genetically Engineered Food Alert Coalition, has found that Taco
Bell taco shells sold in grocery stores contain a genetically altered corn that
could trigger allergies in humans. The corn, produced by the Aventis
Corporation (aka StarLink in the human food products market), has been approved
by federal authorities only for animal feed because its genetic modification
makes it harder for humans to digest. The tested taco shells were manufactured
in Mexico and distributed by Kraft Foods, Inc.
When genetically engineered
foods first appeared on the market in the 1990s, they immediately drew
opposition. Their biggest detractors were the Europeans, who protested that
producers in the United States did not label genetically altered crops. Much of
this sentiment came from France, and it was dismissed as nothing more than
French farmer protectionism.
Some of the most common genetically engineered
foods include Monsanto soybeans. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans contain a
gene that makes the plant resistant to the chemical glyphosate, the active
ingredient in the top-selling herbicide Roundup. Critics argue that such genes
could transfer from crops to weeds. Moreover, the altered soybeans would only
perpetuate the use of toxic herbicides ,which can poison
farmworkers.
Another common genetically altered crop is Ciba-Geigy’s Bt
corn, which contains a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that
creates an insecticide to protect the plant from the European corn borer. Many
argue, however, that such a modification would only increase the rate at which
the insects become resistant to insecticides.
It isn’t only plants that can
be genetically altered. In the United States, some 90 percent of the beef on
the market comes from cows that were fed growth hormones. While the American
market has been surprisingly receptive to these products, Europeans have raised
many objections about the possible adverse effects that could come from genetic
manipulation. According to French cattle rancher Pierre Chevallier, European
consumers “are totally aware of what they eat. They demand to know exactly how
the animals were raised.”
Now there is a growing awareness of the dangers
of genetically modified foods in the United States, and many American groups
have sprung up to call attention to the issue. According to Joseph Mendelson at
the Center for Food Safety, “Currently we have a massive loophole where
genetically engineered food comes on the market with no mandatory safety
testing – no safety testing at all – and that, frankly, is simply
unacceptable.”
Paul Thompson, a bioethicist at Purdue University agrees.
“The way genetically engineered food has been brought on this market has really
short-circuited a lot of important ethical and political processes. I think
that some of the people who are concerned about this are quite reasonable and
quite warranted for their concern.”
So were the French right, after all? It
appears so.
On the other hand, there is no reason for us to run scared. We
simply need to get the facts, and that means political oversight and
encouragement of the scientific community’s efforts to properly test these new
foods. Then we can have thoughtful progress.
Jack Anderson and
Douglas Cohn are syndicated columnists who report on the Washington scene.
