Test-Tube Veggies
By: Andrew Weil, M.D. Source: AARP The Magazine Date Posted:
Q: In the mid-1990s scientists began tinkering with the genes of crop plants—for instance, to extend the shelf life of tomatoes or to create blight-resistant soybeans. Are such genetically modified (GM) foods safe?
A: Actually, human beings have been genetically modifying foods for thousands of years by selectively breeding and hybridizing plants and animals. Whether the results are good or bad depends a lot on the motivation behind the effort. Developing tastier, more nutritious tomatoes is good. Developing hard tomatoes to resist damage from shipping is not so good—at least not for most of us.
apply this same kind of analysis to GM foods, the difference being that now we are able to take genes from one organism and put them in another, often of a different type. That adds a new layer of complexity to the question of safety. Like most major advances in technology, the new methods of genetic modification can help us or harm us.
I do not have a simple answer to the question “Are GM foods safe?”
One possible danger is that GM foods will contain unusual substances that might trigger allergic reactions or other health problems in some people. Another is that foreign genes in widely planted crops such as corn and soy might spread by seed to nearby fields and contaminate non-GM versions of these crops. Yet another is that products of those genes, manufactured on a larger scale than ever before by acres and acres of cultivated GM plants, might have unpredictable deleterious effects on the environment.
The bottom line is: we don’t know.
Given that uncertainty, we had better hope the scientists modifying the genetics of our food sources and the businesspeople marketing their inventions are doing their best to think through all the possible consequences of making these unprecedented changes. Chances are, they are not.
Until I know more, I prefer to err on the side of caution. At the very least I want to know whether the foods I eat have been genetically modified. I want them to be so labeled. At the moment most foods in grocery stores in the United States and Canada contain genetically modified ingredients—largely derivatives of corn and soy—with no notice of that fact on their labels. (There is a grass-roots effort to ensure that GM foods are labeled as such; see www.thecampaign.org.) If you want to avoid GM foods, eat products labeled “organic”—these cannot be genetically modified—and cut down on processed foods, which often contain GM ingredients.
A pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, Andrew Weil, M.D., is a bestselling author and the editorial director of www.drweil.com.
preview