1. GE food may harm your health. Dr. Arpad Pusztai of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland found stunted growth and damaged immune systems, including damage to several major organs (kidney, spleen, thymus and stomach) after feeding genetically modified potatoes to rats.[1]
2. We are being told that GE foods are substantially equivalent to their natural varieties and that therefore it is not necessary to label them. This is totally unacceptable for a large number of reasons, not the least of which is that the consumer is supposed to have the sovereign right of choice of goods based on available information and knowledge. (The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has said that it opposes labeling because it will make GE foods "unsaleable"!! Yomiuri Shimbun 99/5/2)
3. Dr. Pusztai has said on television that he would not eat genetically modified foods himself and that it was "very, very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs."[1]
4. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) cannot be equivalents of their natural or conventionally bred hybrid counterparts, for several reasons:
a) Genetic material from different species is recombined. I.e., the "species barrier" is hurdled to combine genetic material from organisms that could not interbreed in nature.
b) The introduction of exotic genetic material into a genome (the totality of the genetic material of a cell or organism) may result in completely unpredictable biochemical or physiological traits in the new transgenic organism.
c) The introduction of new genetic material into a genome is generally carried out using "vectors". In order to do their work vectors must be capable of invading and inserting their genetic material into the cells of a wide range of species. Thus many are derived from disease-causing viruses and other such lovelies. They can pick up new genetic material and pass it on to a wide range of plants and animals -- effectively they are pathogenic gene-shufflers. Many carry marker genes for antibiotic resistance (inserted to help researchers know when new genes have "taken"). This may be contributing to the spread of antibiotic resistance.[2]
5. The biotech companies oppose labeling of GE foods because by mixing non-GE and GE crops we can be forced to consume them without ever knowing what we are eating. That would enable them to market their wares to farmers without having to bother with tricky "public acceptance" issues.
6. As part of their PR strategy, biotech companies also tell us that transgenic crops will help alleviate world hunger, poverty and environmental problems. The logic is that increased yields (better land productivity) will increase farmers' income and reduce pressure on marginal land and other resources such as forests -- a second Green Revolution. For the following reasons (Numbers 7 through 11) these are half-truths at best.
