A manager we admire often asks his staff, “What problem are we solving here?”
What an important question. Sometimes we create “solutions” when no problem exists – and sometimes our “solutions” have unintended consequences.
Enter the first GMO apples and the first GMO potatoes, just green-lighted by the FDA which calls them “as safe and nutritious as their conventional counterparts.”
Unlike existing industrial GMO crops such as corn, soy and wheat where genetic modification is used to promote herbicide/pesticide tolerance, these genetic modifications have been made to reduce browning of cut apples and to reduce bruising of potatoes.
Neal Carter, founder of British Columbia-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits which owns the patent on the approved apples, explains: “(We) want to see bagged apples become as prolific as bagged baby carrots. We know that in a convenience-driven world, a whole apple is too big of a commitment.”
Wow. In order to “solve” the “problem” of the apple’s “inconvenience,” this company has engaged in genetic manipulation whose long-term consequences are unknown. We do know, however, that there will be inadvertent costs.
For example, if one of the plans for GMO apples is to package them in plastic bags, there will be millions mor e petroleum-based plastic bags being created and ultimately discarded to live forever in a landfill, or perhaps even on the huge trash island floating around the Pacific Ocean.
We are just now beginning to hear about some of the unintended consequences arising from the widespread use of other GMO crops such as corn, soy and wheat heavily planted across the American heartland and beyond. These crops have been genetically modified to tolerate the application of glyphosate, most commonly known as the weed-killer Round-Up™ produced by the Monsanto Corporation.
Evaluating the risks
The cancer research arm of the World Health Organization, The International Agency for Research on Cancer, recently labeled glyphosate a probable carcinogen when used on an industrial scale (in other words, on commercial GMO crops.)
They note it has been detected in the air during spraying, in water and in food. After pointing out that glyphosate has been found in agricultural workers’ blood and urine, the IARC determined that there is “limited evidence” in humans and “convincing evidence” in rats and mice that glyphosate causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers.
Here in the U.S., our own Environmental Protection Agency determined in 2012 that glyphosate met statutory safety standards and could therefore continue to be used “without unreasonable risk to people or the environment.”
Why the big difference? Surely it has nothing to do with the steady and deliberate interplay of top management personnel between Monsanto, the EPA and the FDA (exhaustively detailed in The Ecologist’s ‘Revolving Doors: Monsanto and the Regulators’ by Jennifer Ferrara.)
So let’s really consider the “problem” being solved here. When did apples become “inconvenient?” Apples come with their own skin to prevent browning. Apples can be bitten into whole by most people; easily cut into slices for others and also quickly sauced for those with no teeth at all. When sliced, a sprinkle of lemon juice will ward off browning. They have been a lunchbox staple, keeping the doctor away when eaten daily, for centuries.
Are the known and potential unknown, unintended consequences worth the “solution?” Who is the beneficiary of this technology? You voice your own opinion with every purchase you make. What do you think?
Sometimes it can be difficult to “eat well.” Many face challenges affording and/or accessing quality food. In this instance, however, it should be easy for everybody.
Just pick your favorite traditional variety of apple, wash it, stick it in your lunchbox, pull it out at break time, shine that beauty up on your shirt sleeve so it looks pretty and then take a bite of one of nature’s most convenient, and delicious foods.
Eat well and be well!
Lisa Boulware and Mark Ozias have been growing, processing, selling, purchasing, distributing, preparing and promoting locally-produced food in Sequim since 2004.
