Genetic Modification - Do you know what you're eating?
 

Is your ‘Good Diet’ and vitamin supplementation making you antibiotic resistant and loading you with carcinogenic heavy metals?

Genetically Engineered food appeared on supermarket shelves globally in the 90’s without the consumers’ knowledge. Since then our own concerns plus warnings from various experts, including doctors and geneticists, have generally been ignored and GE food still remains poorly tested, monitored and in New Zealand, poorly labelled. With up to 70% of processed food in your local supermarket now containing GE foods, it’s worth a further look.

The Trans-Tasman food regulator FSANZ does not test GE foods, it relies on evidence provided by the companies that produce the products. These companies are expected to monitor the effects their products have and notify government authorities of any problems. While this is cost effective for FSANZ and government agencies, it might not be the most reliable way to accurately monitor the effects of GE products.

Substantial Equivalence – a safety standard governing the GE foods on the market today requires that GE food is ‘grossly similar to its natural counterpart’. The assumption is made that if it is similar, it must be safe, ignoring the fact that GE technology bypasses nature and its boundaries in order to create food strains that have never existed before. Unfortunately GE foods unlike their natural counterpart may contain toxic metals, fungi toxins, unexpected allergens and antibiotic resistant genes plus many more unhealthy materials. These may be present in about 70 % of processed foods.

GE crops, otherwise known as transgenic crops, could bring new allergens into foods rendering previously safe foods allergenic. An example is transferring the gene for one of the many allergenic proteins found in milk into vegetables like carrots, a problem unique to genetic engineering because it is the only way to transfer proteins across species boundaries into completely unrelated organisms. A study by scientists at the University of Nebraska shows that soybeans genetically engineered to contain Brazil-nut proteins cause reactions in individuals allergic to Brazil nuts.

Genetic engineering often uses genes for antibiotic resistance as ‘selectable markers’ early in the engineering process. These markers may remain in the plant after their usefulness has passed. There may be two harmful effects of this. First, eating these foods could reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics to fight disease, when these antibiotics are taken with meals. Antibiotic-resistance genes produce enzymes that can degrade antibiotics. Secondly, the resistant genes could be transferred to human or animal pathogens, making them similarly resistant to antibiotics. Should this transfer occur, it could aggravate the already serious health problem of antibiotic-resistant disease organisms.

Some new genes being added to crops can remove heavy metals like mercury from the soil and concentrate them in the plant tissue enabling the use of municipal sludge as fertilizer. Sludge contains useful plant nutrients, but often cannot be used as fertilizer because it is contaminated with toxic heavy metals. The idea is to engineer plants to remove and sequester those metals in inedible parts of plants by placing genetic on/ off switches that cleverly identify edible and non edible parts of the plant. There is a risk of contaminating foods with high levels of toxic metals is possible if these on/ off switches are not completely turned off in edible tissues. There are also environmental risks associated with the handling and disposal of the metal-contaminated parts of plants after harvesting.

Due to the reliance on companies producing GE crops to also provide us with the research and information pertaining to their crops, we are seriously limited in being able to assess the potential risks that these crops may have.

According to FSANZ laws refined products such as sugars, oils, starches, alcohol and additives derived from GE crops are exempt and escape labelling. Animal products derived fully or partly from GE feed including milk, eggs and honey are also exempt. Products made using GE bacteria, enzymes and fungi such as alcohol, cheese, sugar and vitamins also won’t be labelled on the basis that no DNA or protein remains in the final product. However proteins may cause food allergens and proteins are present in oils, hence why people allergic to nuts are usually allergic to the oil as well. With the amount of food from GE crops exempt from GE labelling, you need to know what may be written between the lines.

The main GE products you need to watch out for are Canola oil, corn and soy.

The following list may contain GE:
 

If you have any questions about this week’s topic email: asksarah@tstnz.com 
And remember every published question with Sarah's answer wins a prize plus goes into the 24th August draw to Win a Giftbox of Healthy Treats.
 

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