Ingredients
found that GM potatoes damaged the stomach and intestines of rats.
In 2006, Australian scientists found that an experimental GM pea produced a dangerous immune response in mice. In 2007 French scientists analyzed data from a study on Monsanto Company’s GM corn,
MON 863, and found that it damaged the livers and kidneys of rats.
There are also environmental concerns. A famous 1999 Cornell
study found that monarch butterfly larvae died after being fed milkweed plant leaves containing pollen from GM corn. A 2002 study by
Alison Snow, a biology professor at Ohio State University, found that
the bacillus thuringiensis GM trait has the potential to migrate to weeds
and strengthen them. Also, a 2007
study published in the Proceedings of
the National Academies of Sciences found
that pollen from GM corn produced
increased mortality and reduced
growth in caddisflies, aquatic insects
that are essential food for fish and
amphibians.
Contamination Challenges
“Gene flow” is the major GMO
threat facing organic farmers. GM
crops, such as corn, can pass their
modified genes to neighboring fields
of organic crops through cross pollination. The organic corn would then
contain the altered genes.
Genetic modification of food
crops, which manipulates the DNA, is
diametrically opposed to organic production with its holistic approach of
working with natural systems. As a
result of this different philosophy and
the risks associated with GM crops,
genetic modification is an “excluded
method” in the National Organic
Program (NOP).
While GMOs are prohibited in
organic production, many leaders in
organic feel that the NOP could do
more to protect organic’s non-GMO
integrity. “Right now we are repeating
the mantra that GMOs are not
allowed in organics, yet (organic)
standards do not require nor encourage the use of the practical and relatively affordable tool of testing for
GMO contamination,” said Dag
Falck, organic program manager,
Nature’s Path. “Climbing GMO levels
in organic may be happening right in
front of our closed eyes,” he said.
That was the experience of an
organic soy processor who lost
$100,000 last year due to GMO contamination of organic soybean oil.
The problem was traced to a railcar
of organic soybeans. DNA tests on
the soybeans found GMO levels as
high as 20 percent, raising questions
of fraud. The processor blamed the
supplier; the supplier blamed the
