U.S. scientists are warning of a potentially "serious risk to human health" after finding that major American food crops are widely contaminated by DNA from GM crops engineered to produce industrial chemicals and drugs. These so-called "pharm" crops could already be poisoning ostensibly GM-free crops grown for food. Until now concern about GM contamination has focused on cross-pollination in the field. But the authors guess that much of the contamination has arisen from a failure to keep GM and traditional seeds apart during manufacture and distribution.
Yesterday the Union of Concerned Scientists released a 70-page report titled "Gone to Seed" that documents how genetically engineered DNA is contaminating most of the crop seeds in the United States. This contamination seriously threatens organic crops, that by definition are produced without "bioengineering," otherwise know as genetic engineering. As stated in the executive summary of the new Gone to Seed report, "Transgenic contamination of traditional seed varieties poses a special threat to the future of organic agriculture, an increasingly important sector of U.S. agriculture." It further states, "The ease with which the traditional seed supply can be contaminated with transgenically derived DNA unfairly frustrates organics farmers seeking to deliver high-quality products."
The Union of Concerned Scientists is a highly respected organization. It is terrific that they have produced this important report exposing the massive genetic contamination of the seed supply that is taking place. I hope this report will be instrumental in mobilizing many more concerned consumers, environmentalists and the organic industry to get more actively involved in the battle over genetically engineered foods.
For further information you can view the Gone to Seed PDF reports:
Four-page Executive Summary February 23, 2004 or the Complete 70-page Report February 23, 2004
New Scientist February 23, 2004