Why I think we should be very wary about GM foods.

Monsanto: the people that brought us PCB's, Dioxin and Agent Orange. Should we really trust them to drag us into the era of genetic modification?  Thanks to the Ecologist on which the last section is based and to Gathered Images for publishing the above public domain postcard art where the information came from.

It is a well-known fact that in nature survival of the fittest is the norm.  Because of this, organisms can develop resistance to certain chemicals.  By this process, plants will gradually develop resistance to a chemical such as a herbicide and if these are the plants the herbicide is supposed to suppress, the chemical becomes useless for it's original purpose.  This same process is causing concern in other areas such as antibiotics where doctors are worried that certain organisms are developing strains resistant to common antibiotics.

Now one of the things that worries me most about genetic modification is that by introducing products such as Monsanto's "Round-Up ready soya", we are deliberately introducing the gene sequences that cause such resistance into the natural world.  Looking at it from a theoretical point of view, if there is a finite chance that the gene sequence can be transferred to another species of plant or animal, then we should not be doing it.  If the resistance crosses into other plants and causes a significant increase in tolerance to the herbicide in question then that herbicide becomes useless and other avenues have to be explored.  All we are doing is accelerating evolution at an unknown rate.  Experimentation can determine that rate, but the way things are being managed at the moment, we'll find out far too late.

PCB's have been used in the manufacture of electrical equipment and are found in coolants, lubricants and waterproofing products.  Released into the environment they can accumulate in the body fat of animals, causing cancers and reproductive and immune system disorders.  Fish, seals and polar bears have been found with high levels of PCB's, bear cubs have been born with both male and female sexual organs.  Mediterranean dolphins can have PCB levels 17 time that which requires foods to be labelled and handled as toxic waste.  Monsanto have produced enough PCB's to kill off all mammal life in the world's oceans.

DIOXINS have been described as "the most toxic substances known to man", they are found in herbicides such as Monsanto's 2,4,5-T which blended 50:50 with 2,4-D was used by the US military to defoliate the rain forest eco-systems of Vietnam.  This mixture (known as AGENT ORANGE ) has been linked with skin ailments, liver disorders, cancer and deformities in the unborn.  Hundreds of thousands of babies have been born with dioxin related deformities and many more have died in the womb.

Monsanto are developing GENETICALLY MODIFIED PLANTS bred to tolerate higher doses of the corporations Roundup herbicide.  The logical result will be an even greater use of this herbicide and the elimination of other plant life from contaminated fields.  Along with those plants the creatures which feed on them may be lost, together with birds and mammals further up the food chain.