Genetic Pollution Threatens Trade, Health and the Environment

In the past few weeks, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have again been at the forefront of controversy involving contamination of rice and grass varieties.

Environmentalists, politicians, and scientists have long feared that the introduction of genetically modified seeds and plants could cause detrimental effects from "genetic pollution," which occurs when an engineered gene enters another species of crop or wild plant through cross-pollination. This contamination may pose public health threats, create superweeds which could require greater amounts of more toxic pesticides to manage, and threaten extinction for rare plants and their weedy relatives relied upon for crop and plant biodiversity.

In 2000, a type of bioengineered corn (Starlink) that produces its own pesticide and was approved only for use in animal feed, contaminated many of our food products, causing a massive recall of tortillas, corn chips and other corn-based products. Again, in 2002, regulators found genetically engineered corn modified to produce pharmaceuticals sprouting in a Nebraska soybean field.

Yet, despite the continuing reports of contamination from genetically modified organisms, the federal government has refused to take adequate steps to safeguard our food crops, their relatives, and public health. The recent contaminations involving rice and grass varieties underscore the need for a more stringent standard of oversight for genetically modified organisms.

• On August 18th, the USDA announced that an unapproved genetically engineered variety of long grain rice has contaminated the food supply. In response, Japan announced that it would stop importing all U.S. long grain rice, South Korea demanded that there be no genetically engineered content in U.S. rice shipments, and the European Union announced that it will not permit unauthorized GE products to reach its citizens. According to EU Commission spokeswoman Antonia Mochan, "We are preparing measures... in order to ensure that unauthorized GE products do not reach European consumers."
  
  
• On August 5th, it was reported that genetically engineered herbicide-resistant bentgrass has been discovered in the wild in Oregon. Norman Ellstrand, UC plant geneticist, said, "such resistance could force land managers and government agencies... to switch to nastier herbicides to control grasses and weeds."

These ecological impacts resulting from the vast introduction of genetically modified organisms are perhaps the least completely understood, though certainly the most significant, for our sustained health and well-being.

Update - November 2006: Genetically Engineered Rice Wins USDA Approval