Lou's Foods

Lou's Foods
An Introduction to Current Food Issues

Over the past several years, I've had the opportunity to talk with lots of people about important issues concerning our food supply. In that time, I have found that there's a lot of incomplete (and sometimes inaccurate) information out there. While the information presented here is by no means comprehensive, it will hopefully provide a reasonably evenhanded introduction to issues such as organic farming and genetically engineered foods. I must admit that I tend to support genetically engineered crops more than I oppose them, but I have tried to achieve some balance in my descriptions of the technology and its possible pitfalls.

Pesticides in Organic Farming Most consumers don't realize that state and federal laws allow organic farmers to use a wide range of chemical pesticides on their crops. What, then, makes something "organic"?

Bovine Growth Hormone Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is being used to increase milk production in cows. There are serious issues surrounding the use of rBGH, such as the health of the cows and the inability of small dairy farms to compete. Organized opponents of rBGH, however, instead tend to focus on (generally baseless) threats to consumer health.

Bt Crops The genes encoding insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis have been inserted into a number of different crops. One potential problem associated with these crops may be the development of resistance to Bt. In addition, certain types of Bt (such as that found in StarLink corn) may be more stable during digestion and could present possible allergy risks.

Herbicide-Resistant Crops Glyphosate (a.k.a. RoundUp) is one of the most widely used herbicides, due in part to its low toxicity and its low persistence (rapid degradation) in the environment. Before RoundUp-resistant (RR) crops, it was standard practice to completely cover a field with herbicide to kill all of the weeds before planting. RR crops are designed to resist RoundUp so that herbicide can instead be applied to fields after crops have begun growing, only in those sections where weeds present a genuine problem, thus reducing the amount of herbicide required. The spread of RoundUp resistance beyond field boundaries, however, is a potential problem which needs to be addressed.

GM Food Safety Genetically modified foods undergo extensive safety testing before being sold for consumption. These tests are generally performed by the companies marketing the product, in much the same way that pharmaceutical companies are required to test their products for safety before being sold. In instances where tests reveal potential problems, companies are either prevented from selling their product or they are required to restrict the use and distribution of their product (e.g. StarLink Bt corn).

GM Food Labeling Many consumer advocates have called for the labeling of products containing GE foods. Companies generally are opposed to the practice, and scientists are divided on the issue. While consumer groups typically express reluctance and fear when it comes to the consumption of GE foods, companies point to safety test data that indicate no harmful effects from consuming GE foods. Scientists are often faced with reassuring an underinformed public while trying to identify and investigate areas of genuine concern.

COMING SOON

New Methods vs. Old The key difference between new and old approaches to crop development is the use of recombinant DNA technology. This set of techniques makes it much easier to insert genes from a variety of sources into plants, a process that would be much more difficult (though not necessarily impossible) to achieve through traditional breeding techniques. Traditional methods such as irradiation, wide crosses, and embryo rescue could theoretically produce many of the same results, but with a much greater investment of time and resources required and, in some cases, more uncertainty about the composition of the final product.

Golden Rice Vitamin A deficiency is responsible for widespread blindness and even death in many parts of the world. Genes from the daffodil have been inserted into rice to produce vitamin A-rich Golden Rice. While this food does not raise the level of vitamin A intake to the Recommended Daily Allowance, it does provide the small amount that it takes to prevent the severe cases of deficiency, which result in blindness and death. Golden Rice was intentionally produced off-patent so that anyone may use it without any licensing required.
Flavr Savr Tomatoes A copy of the gene responsible for softening tomatoes was inserted in reverse ("antisense") into tomato plants to cancel out the effects of the normal gene. Flavr Savr tomatoes were not very successful in the marketplace, however, in large part because they chose to modify a processing (cooking) tomato instead of a tomato bred for fresh eating.

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Pesticides in Organic Farming	Most consumers don't realize that state and federal laws allow organic farmers to use a wide range of chemical pesticides on their crops. What, then, makes something "organic"?
Bovine Growth Hormone	Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is being used to increase milk production in cows. There are serious issues surrounding the use of rBGH, such as the health of the cows and the inability of small dairy farms to compete. Organized opponents of rBGH, however, instead tend to focus on (generally baseless) threats to consumer health.
Bt Crops	The genes encoding insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis have been inserted into a number of different crops. One potential problem associated with these crops may be the development of resistance to Bt. In addition, certain types of Bt (such as that found in StarLink corn) may be more stable during digestion and could present possible allergy risks.
Herbicide-Resistant Crops	Glyphosate (a.k.a. RoundUp) is one of the most widely used herbicides, due in part to its low toxicity and its low persistence (rapid degradation) in the environment. Before RoundUp-resistant (RR) crops, it was standard practice to completely cover a field with herbicide to kill all of the weeds before planting. RR crops are designed to resist RoundUp so that herbicide can instead be applied to fields after crops have begun growing, only in those sections where weeds present a genuine problem, thus reducing the amount of herbicide required. The spread of RoundUp resistance beyond field boundaries, however, is a potential problem which needs to be addressed.
GM Food Safety	Genetically modified foods undergo extensive safety testing before being sold for consumption. These tests are generally performed by the companies marketing the product, in much the same way that pharmaceutical companies are required to test their products for safety before being sold. In instances where tests reveal potential problems, companies are either prevented from selling their product or they are required to restrict the use and distribution of their product (e.g. StarLink Bt corn).
GM Food Labeling	Many consumer advocates have called for the labeling of products containing GE foods. Companies generally are opposed to the practice, and scientists are divided on the issue. While consumer groups typically express reluctance and fear when it comes to the consumption of GE foods, companies point to safety test data that indicate no harmful effects from consuming GE foods. Scientists are often faced with reassuring an underinformed public while trying to identify and investigate areas of genuine concern.
COMING SOON
New Methods vs. Old	The key difference between new and old approaches to crop development is the use of recombinant DNA technology. This set of techniques makes it much easier to insert genes from a variety of sources into plants, a process that would be much more difficult (though not necessarily impossible) to achieve through traditional breeding techniques. Traditional methods such as irradiation, wide crosses, and embryo rescue could theoretically produce many of the same results, but with a much greater investment of time and resources required and, in some cases, more uncertainty about the composition of the final product.
Golden Rice	Vitamin A deficiency is responsible for widespread blindness and even death in many parts of the world. Genes from the daffodil have been inserted into rice to produce vitamin A-rich Golden Rice. While this food does not raise the level of vitamin A intake to the Recommended Daily Allowance, it does provide the small amount that it takes to prevent the severe cases of deficiency, which result in blindness and death. Golden Rice was intentionally produced off-patent so that anyone may use it without any licensing required.
Flavr Savr Tomatoes	A copy of the gene responsible for softening tomatoes was inserted in reverse ("antisense") into tomato plants to cancel out the effects of the normal gene. Flavr Savr tomatoes were not very successful in the marketplace, however, in large part because they chose to modify a processing (cooking) tomato instead of a tomato bred for fresh eating.