Word: starlink
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...almost all of North America it has now become almost impossible for farmers planting natural crops to avoid genetic pollution from migrating GM seeds. In Iowa in 2001, for example, only 1 percent of the fields were planted with genetically engineered wheat (the infamous StarLink variety, in this case), yet eventually 50 percent of Iowa’s wheat fields were contaminated. North of the border, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, organic farmers were so affected that they are in the process of filing a class-action lawsuit against Monsanto for making it impossible for them to grow...
This attitude needs to change. Americans can no longer ignore the G.M. issue. Although there is a shocking dearth of clinical and agricultural testing, the few results we do have don’t look good. Double-blind trials have shown that the StarLink variety of corn, developed by Monsanto, causes allergic reactions in some subjects, while a Royal Society report, commissioned by the British Food Standards Agency, shows that a significant proportion of people who ate genetically modified soybeans had picked up antibiotic resistance from the food...
...what about the international spat over the presence of Cry9C, a protein produced in genetically modified StarLink corn to kill the European corn borer, a common pest? U.S. exports to Asia have suffered because of fear that Cry9C could cause food allergies. The chance that this protein could cause of food allergy is miniscule; its structure differs from known allergens and there have been no reported cases of an allergic reaction. Its presence might even be healthy: farmers need to use less pesticide if the plant provides its own protection. You may have already eaten some Cry9C in your corn...
...with Starlink, the effects are greater than any computer chip mixup. Upon close scrutiny, though, this episode corroborates the view that GM biotechnology fails in both its short term and long term goals. In the short term, apart from the fact that the allergens were not supposed to be in the food in the first place, their presence defeats any notions of increased agricultural productivity. Anyone who's ever suffered from a food allergy will agree that they'd prefer to have less food than something that will send them into shock...
...fact that GM foods can threaten our health, there exists a greater danger that such genes can never be "recalled." Once a gene is released into the environment, human control over it diminishes greatly. If our scientific assessments on the safety of our technology are wrong--and the StarLink case proves that such things do happen--then there can be no effective, corrective action. Even if the government revokes Aventis' right to plant corn because it causes allergies, the gene can pop up "unexpectedly" throughout the environment over a number of growing seasons. Our loss of long-term manipulative ability...