Genetics & Food: Evolution 2.0

Humans have altered nature for thousands of years. Farmers have trimmed weeds into ever more productive grains and bred bigger, tastier animals. Is genetic engineering only the next evolutionary step or a step too far?

It really depends on how you ask the question: Would you like tastier tomatoes, healthier ham, and vegetables full of vitamins? Who wouldn’t raise a hand?

Now let’s rephrase it: Would you rather buy conventional food or genetically modified products? That’s usually when the enthusiasm fades.

Insulin, the only known treatment for diabetes, has been produced by genetically modified bacteria for 20 years. Before the advent of genetic engineering, patients had to use insulin from the pancreas of dead pigs and cows, which occasionally led to allergic reactions.

Insulin has become the GM success story, but it wasn’t an easy ride, recalls Johannes Klose, Scientific Advisor at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty. “It took [the life-sciences company] Hoechst nearly 10 years to get their first insulin facility running. Nowadays, nobody would be scared. Millions of people use genetically engineered insulin.”

While a conservative and skeptical Europe remains a virtually GMO-free region, America has long accepted GM crops. Some 70 percent of the world’s soybean production and one quarter of all corn is genetically modified, and almost exclusively grown in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina. The Center for Food Safety estimates that up to 85 percent of U.S. corn is genetically engineered as are 91 percent of soybeans.

Its not that Americans don’t care, says Klose, they just don’t know. Whereas the European Union labels all products containing more than 0.9 percent of GM food stuff, no such labels exist in the United States. Once a new GM product has passed controls at the Food and Drug Administration, it is deemed safe to eat and enters the market unrecognizable.

According to the American Institute of Biological Sciences there are “no peer-reviewed publications of clinical studies on the human health effects of GM food.” It is nearly impossible to test the long-term effects on human health and the environment. “You would have to monitor this for decades, but you cannot do this because this would put people at risk,“ says Klose.

By Thilo Kunzemann
October 16, 2009
Source: Allianz