Genetically Modified Foods

The argument surrounding the need for, and safety of genetically modified (GM) crops, and the inclusion of GM ingredients in food, has been going on for over a decade. Despite strong opposition from consumers and campaigners in the UK and EU, the biotechnology companies backed by many EU member state governments, including the UK, are ploughing ahead with their GM crops agenda.

Time and money are spent on growing GM crops and on trying to convert those against GM crops and foods. However, not all governments are pro-GM. Austria, an EU member state, recently (October, 2007) defied some of the EU big-guns and refused to allow GM corn to be grown in their country.

Several other member states backed them. The EU is not giving up though, and, along with the World Trade Organisation (WTO), USA, Canada and others, continues to pressure Austria. It seems that those in power are on a mission to put genetically modified foods on the consumer plate.

Feeding the World?

GM advocates push the view that the only way to ‘feed the world’ is by growing GM crops. This system, they say, is safe, cheap, faster, and gives a greater yield.

Nothing to do with making massive profits for the corporations who sell it then? In fact the reason people are starving in this world is that they can't get access to food - not that there isn't enough of it to go around.

In the seventies and eighties we had people starving in Ethiopia. Was that because they weren't using GM to grow their crops? No, it was because the corrupt leadership sold much of the grain abroad and allowed landowners to take ownership of the rest. Grain prices doubled and the farmer who grew it in the first place was unable to afford it.

The African people have been the greatest sufferers of starvation. They have also suffered greatly, without a break, from war. The two are of course linked. Wars in Africa, influenced and financed by the West, have consistently led to starvation of its people.

Women, children, the old and the infirm have nothing to eat. That's because all the food goes to those who are doing the fighting. The non-combatants are cut right out of the food supply chain.

Foreign aid, sent in when food cannot be grown because of land destruction, goes to the fittest and strongest as soon as it arrives in the country. That's when it isn't diverted elsewhere, for profit, by corrupt officials.

Let's hear no more of the lie that people starve because of a lack of food in the world. The truth is there is plenty of food without GM. The tragedy is it is kept from those who need it.

Is GM safe?

GM supporters are also saying that research has been carried out and that GM crops and foods are safe for consumption. However, as the anti-GM campaigners point out, this research, shall we say, lacks a certain credibility?

GM food

What is genetic modification anyway? In terms of its application on crops and in food it is a new and unknown quantity; unknown because we haven’t had time to get to know it and what it is capable of.

For many the image of Frankenstein arises; a monster made of disparate parts, created because his maker could create him, a monster that grows frightened of his own image and reacts destructively. Genetically modified foods now go by the name of Frankenfood!

This article looks at the whole GM issue and will answer and respond to all the points and questions raised above. By implication, it make a solid argument for the belief, held by many, that the use of genetic modification in growing crops and the subsequent creation of genetically modified foods is yet another assault on the health of humans, animals, plants and land.

By showing the dangers of GM, the benefits of certified organic food become clearer.

Click on Part 1 - Genetically modified food - Genes, for an understanding of GM at the gene level.

Return from genetically modified foods - substantial equivalence to organic food information

Go to home page