GMO Free: Exposing The Hazards of Biotechnology To Ensure The Integrity of Our Food Supply
GMO Free: Exposing The Hazards of Biotechnology To Ensure The Integrity of Our Food Supply
on food.
Maybe Canada could come up with better
ways for sustainable agriculture? We have
the technology for it and this is a really
smart idea that we should take inspiration
from. We could find a way to make our
crops stronger, help the environment and
probably increase the biodiversity.
Vocabulary
Research Essay
Have there been any GM crops with serious safety
concerns?
Genetically modified crops have been a controversial topic for
decades. Many safety concerns have arisen over the side effects and
long term repercussions for the environment and consumers.
Through the years there have been many GM crops created and
some have caused illnesses in consumers, and created huge
problems. One major crop that has done this is StarLink corn.
StarLink corn is a type of Bt corn (Bacillus Thuringiensis),
created by Aventis Crop Science, that was genetically modified to
produce insecticide within the corn itself and to reduce the amount of
pesticides being sprayed in the fields. Bt corn made in 1999 and 2000
produced a protein called Cry1A(b), but StarLink created a slightly
modified version of it, called Cry9C. When the government tested the
protein to approve growing of the crop, they found out that the Cry9C
protein was harder for the digestive system to break down. Because
of this, the Environmental Protection Agency had suspicions that it
might be an allergen and did not approve the crop for human
consumption. In 1998, the EPA granted permission to grow the crop
for other uses such as animal feed and the production of fuel alcohol.
The only issue with banning the corn from human consumption would
be that they could not guarantee that. When corn is processed in
factories, sometimes they end up getting mixed together, for example
the corn that goes in tacos, animal feed, and automobile tanks. Grain
dealers dont separate the human and animal feed corn. Corn pollen
often blows into other fields, where it can pollinate other corn. In
2000, reports revealed that StarLink corn was found in Taco Bell
brand taco shells, and then the Centre for Disease Control received
around 37 reports about food poisoning and reactions to the taco
shells. Other corn products like chips and tortillas were also using the
corn. In the end, about 300 products were recalled. Tx0his was the
first time genetically modified food was recalled in the United States,
which became a big deal. There was a threat to the U.S economy,
because many foreign buyers could not import transgenic food. The
buyers then turned to countries like China, Argentina and Brazil for
corn that was free of StarLink. Many states and farmers in the U.S
who found Starling in their crops threatened to sue Aventis, but ended
up negotiating to protect themselves financially. In 2001, Aventis
started a program and bought back all the corn that had been mixed
with StarLink and put it into animal feed and industrial use. After all
the recalls, 51 people reported allergic reactions to the FDA but only
28 of them were possibly related to StarLink, and when they did blood
tests of the 28 who reported, they found that none of the reactions
were associated with the StarLink Corn. In the end, the reason that
StarLink corn made its way into human food was because of a cross
pollination issue where the GM corn and regular corn crops were
planted too close together due to farmers not being aware, or ignoring
the buffer zones. This finding adds to the issues surrounding the
safety of GMO crops. How can we keep these products from
contaminating the food supply?
GM crops are still a controversial topic today and there are still
safety issues. It does not matter if you get the crop tested, because
you can never know for sure if it is safe. Even though StarLink was
tested, and was banned from being used in food products, it still
Works Cited
Troy, Eric. "What Is the StarLink Corn Controversy and How Was
Taco Bell Associated?" CulinaryLore.com. 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 17
June 2015. <http://www.culinarylore.com/food-science:starlink-cornand-taco-bell-shells>.
"StarLink Corn." Transgenic Crops: An Introduction and Resource
Guide. Web. 17 June 2015.
<http://cls.casa.colostate.edu/transgeniccrops/hotstarlink.html>.
"StarLink Corn: What Happened." StarLink Corn: What Happened.
Web. 17 June 2015.
<http://ccr.ucdavis.edu/biot/new/StarLinkCorn_new.html>.