Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are organisms created when the gene from one species is transferred by means of a plasmid into another species.  This is not an example of hybridization, which happens in nature and poses no threat to our food supply.  Hybridization means you let two strains of a species breed or even two separate species and you see what the offspring are.  A GMO is created when a gene from one kind of organism (eg: fish) is transmitted to a completely unrelated species (eg: tomato). 

GMOs are not desirable for a number of reasons.

First, the health risks of GMO’s are unknown and there is no way to really test for thsir long term impacts on humans.  We are in the midst of a huge experiment, which most people will not be able to avoid because they don’t even know it is going on.  Hungry African and Asian nations are concerned enough about it that they are refusing food aid from us where the food contains GMOs.  Europe has been very suspicious of GMOs.  There have been examples of health impacts from use of GMOs.  In Japan, a bacterium modified to synthesize amino acids, did a wonderful job of pumping out the amino acids, but it also made a new one not found in nature.  The new amino acid, in a food supplement powder caused some deaths and a lot of irreversible mental and metabolic damage to hundreds of people until the product was recalled.  Japan does not want GMO food.  Australia does not want GMO food.

Beyond the direct risk associated with consuming GMOs, there is a risk of contamination of the existing varieties of seed with GMO genetic material.  This is more like a certainty than a risk.  If you grow your canola or corn across the road from a GMO field, the pollen from the GMOs blows across and your field is also GMO.  In Ontario it is now virtually impossible to grow non-GMO corn.    So much of the corn crop is GMO that anyone attempting to grown corn that does not carry the GMO traits will without exception, have their crop contaminated.  There is no way for them to provide corn to market that can be certified as being free of GMOs.  A great concern right now is that the seed banks for corn, mostly in Mexico have now been found to be badly contaminated with GMO's.  Tis is serious cbecuse each mother strain has unqique characteristics in terms of how it handles drought, inscets, fungus infection.  If the diversity oif the mother strains is destroyed by one or two GMO varieties, the genetic diversity we have with which to breed noew varieties of corn to witstand new pests and conditions is much reduced.  The loss of this diversity would be a distaster for the human race. 

The traits being bred into food plants will escape to non-target species.  Ten percent already have (that we are aware of) and more are likely to.  The most famous example of this is the milkweed that was cross pollinated by a Bt corn and became toxic to Monarch Butterflies.  Milkweed is the main food of these endangered and amazing butterflies.  Many of them died.

Other traits, such as herbicide resistance being bred into canola, wheat and other crops will escape and make their way into non-food species.  These “weeds” will then carry resistance to the herbicide.  Ironic, isn’t it.

A particular concern, which I think reflects the mindset of the biotechnology industry is that of “terminator” technology.  This is a kind of wheat which is only viable if sprayed with roundup (which the biotech company also makes).  This isn’t such a terrible thing, unless you happen to be across the road from a terminator crop and you don’t use roundup (as organic farmers will not).  Your own crop will not germinate because of cross pollination from the terminator field, or you’ll have a reduced germination rate and will never really know how much of your seed will be viable – since the wind direction during pollination will determine how much of your seed is terminator infected.  You won’t know how densely to plant your crop, since you can’t tell what the germination rate will be, and even with germination testing, you can’t say if the wheat at the top of the bin was from the strip along the road by the terminator crop, or from the middle of the field or from over by the coulee.  Some parts of your field might come up, and other areas not.

The agent that transfers the genetic material from the one species to the other is called a PLASMID.  This is a small molecule that functions kind of like a virus, easily inserting into the DNA of the host (infected) plant.   Plasmids can be attached to genes from one species (eg: fish) and then inserted into another species (eg: tomato).  The result is a tomato that keeps for a very long time, only ripening when exposed to a gas which switches off the fish gene.  Another example is the Bacillus thuringensis gene which produces a toxin which kills chewing insects.  It can be inserted into corn or other plants to control insects that might damage the crop.  The problem with plasmids is that they can jump out just as they can jump in.  Ten percent of biotechnology genes have already escaped into the environment, entering species for which they were not intended. 

Lab rats displayed signs of chronic wasting when fed GMO potatoes.

In Canada, certain products are likely to be GMO if not organic.  Over half the soy, corn and canola crops are GMO.  There are as yet no GMO wheat or potatoes registered for use in Canada.  Bovine Growth Hormone is used in the USA, but not in Canada.  Other crops which could contain GMOs on the supermarket shelves include:

???????????,     ??????????

Good links to teach you more about GMOs include:

????????????????????????????????????

?????????????????????????????????????

????????????????????????????????????