Food Terrorism : Genetic Modulation

Genetically Modulated Food is no longer a topic of discussion only for the Isaac Newton and Louis Pasteur followers. Its the topic of the masses now. Moreover there has been lot of controversy about it. Supporters of this technology say that this increases the yield , reduces the input cost and protect the environment; moreover the food derived is substantially equivalent to the conventional way of agriculture.





However the opponents do not agree, lets see why:



Unnatural Food: It is the contamination of food, it contains tremendous risk which our human population is refusing to accept and acknowledge. When our nature has abundant food then why are we contaminating the food. Why are we making the food a complex subject when it is a romance we ought to cherish.



Supporters claim that people in USA are eating such kind of food for over a decade and they are not dying. But we should now realise that USA can not be the role model for the whole world where 40% of the population doesn't know whether the earth revolves around the sun or vice-versa. Why don't the scientists ever tell us that 4 lakh people in USA are dying because of eating junk food? We can be a healthy nation without such imported stuff or the genetically engineered food.



You will be surprised to know that there has been a clinical trial to know the after effects of GM food. Even the results of that trial say that this food is harmful for human health. There are many potential health hazards in foods bio-engineered in this manner. GM-fed animals in various studies have shown that there are problems with growth, organ development and damage, immune responsiveness and so on. Then can someone tell me why are the governments all over the world refraining from conducting such tests?



Ethical Basis: Genes from pigs have been taken out and put in to cauliflower, gene for milk production in human beings is mutated with the rice gene. All these permutations and combinations have gone beyond the ethics that the society we have been living in worship. It is going to create not only the religious issues but also morality and ethical issues. No questions are being asked. Why should we prefer such food?



Genetic Pollution: When you put your feet on the accelerator of your car , the exhaust releases the chemicals or molecules. These molecules remain the environment for about 100 years and cause the global warming. But these molecules fortunately do not multiply. But when you genetically pollute a food item, the gene released is like a living organism that can and that will multiply. This genetic pollution in the coming years might be much more potent for the humans than the chemical pollution.



Thousands of sheep and goats have died in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab because of eating the BT cotton leaves. Hundreds of buffaloes in Haryana are dying from eating BT cotton leaves. We all know about the controversies about BT cotton and BT brinjal.



With BT crops, a recent study shows adverse human health impacts in farm workers with allergies caused by BT Cotton. Itching skin, eruptions on the body, swollen faces etc., were also reported, correlated with levels of exposure to BT Cotton. In some parts where BT cotton seed oil is being used for cooking purpose, children are even suffering from diseases like Asthma.



The BT gene which is inserted in the brinjal is supposed to produce the toxin which kills the insects feeding on the brinjal. gives the brinjal plant resistance against lepidopteron insects like the Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer and Fruit Borer. When the BT toxin is ingested by the insect it binds to receptors in the insects and then forms pores, ultimately killing the insect.



If you were to keep a BT brinjal in a glass box along with some of the above named insects, results prove that all the insects would die in a short span of time. If living beings like these insects can die why cant we? After all we are also living... aren't we??? Its a big question that we must ask ourselves.



The other controversial but an important angle to the whole situation is Why is there a need to contaminate the food rather than producing it naturally? While it is evident that there is a food supply issue; the question is whether GM can solve world hunger problems, or even if that would be the best way to address the issue. Several scientists argue that in order to meet the demand for food in the developing world, a second green revolution with increased use of GM crops is needed.



I firmly believe and there have been studies that have proved that there is more than enough food in the world and that the hunger crisis is caused by problems in food distribution and politics, not production. Where 62% of Americans are dying due to over eating and obesity, the same % of the Indian population is dying due to famine and hunger.



The other very critical and a long term impact of this GM Food is the risk of Horizontal Gene Transfer about which I would discuss only once we are aware of the current situation and the immediate effects of this 'benefit' that is a fatal hazard in disguise.



GM food is a total waste of technology, time and energy and its high time that we should devote our efforts and money into another solution. We need biodiversity intensification that works with nature’s nutrient and water cycles, not against them.



With few exceptions, governments all over the world are allowing the release of GE organisms into nature without requiring careful scientific investigation of the environmental consequences.



This is nothing less than blind experimentation with the environment with unknown and unpredictable consequences, especially as the released genes cannot be recalled.