GM Crops are our future?
Some says GM crops are harmful, unverified which will pose some harms to us, human. Some says GM crops are beneficial to human, and with this we could conquer the world hunger.
Current Status of GM Crops in Canada
Currently, there are several GM Crops that are grown in Canada. There are Corn, Canola, soy and sugar beet.
The Regulation of Genetically Modified Food addresses that
“ Manufacturers and importers who wish to sell or advertise a GM food in Canada, must submit data to Health Canada for a pre-market safety assessment, as required under Division 28 of Part B of the Food and Drugs Regulations (Novel Foods). This safety assessment provides assurance that the food is safe when prepared or consumed according to its intended use.”
There are seven regulatory process;
Pre-submission consultation, Pre-market notification, Scientific assessment, which includes some scientific evaluation which evaluates development, composition, potential for production of new toxins in the food, allergic reactions, microbiological and chemical safety of the food, potential for any unintended or secondary effects, key nutrients and toxic-ants and constituents. After that if information provided about a GM food is insufficient, further document will be requested. Once evaluation is done, Health Canada will summarize the findings and recommendations in a report. Once evaluation is completed, proposal will be prepared. It ensures that all issues have been addressed. After that Decision is made whether or not to approve the product. If it is got approved, they will receive letter of no objection. It should be labeled under CFIA Foods and Drugs Act.
So basically, it’s allowed in Canada, with some procedures.
Ref. Health Canada. (2012, December 12). The Regulation of Genetically Modified Food. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/science-research/reports-publications/biotechnology/regulation-genetically-modified-foods.html
In other Countries?
Currently, in my home country South Korea, they partially allows research field trials. But partial GM crops usage with notice on the final package is allowed. Unless the final product shows traces of GMO, the labeling is unnecessary. From the library of congress, it says that
“A person who intends to import, produce, use, or develop GMOs must follow the risk assessment procedure through the relevant central authority before the person applies for permission to import, produce, or use a GMO.[25] The risk assessment process is designed to identify and evaluate the possible adverse effects of GMOs on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, taking into account risks to human health.”(LMO Act art. 2, para. 5; Enforcement Decree art. 2, para. 1.)
So it’s similar with Canada, but they are little bit different.
In United States GM Crops are allowed same as Canada. From the FAS Case studies page,
In 2004, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation that would have required any product grown in a food crop to receive pre-market approval, whether or not it was intended to be eaten. Thus, before any pharmaceutical was produced in a food crop, FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition would conduct a food-safety analysis to ensure that accidental human exposure to the drug through the food supply will not cause health risks.
Creator assumes the liabilities. but the different thing than Canada is they do not require the label.
EU has some GMO-Free regions. Their laws are different country by country.
Ref. U.S. Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://fas.org/biosecurity/education/dualuse-agriculture/2.-agricultural-biotechnology/us-regulation-of-genetically-engineered-crops.html
Advantage of GM Crops?
GM crops proposes that they are enhanced crops. They may have enhanced taste, better best before dates, more yield, resistant to pesticide and herbicides.
First generation GM crops had improved traits. Herbicide resistant beans and corn are best case. Cotton and corn have been modified to incorporate Bacillus thuringiensisgenes, producing proteins that are toxic only to larval pests. Also, crops could bey modified to protect plant viruses or fungi. Even though seeds might be more expensive because of the patents,
GM crops lower the costs of production by reducing inputs of machinery, fuel, and chemical pesticides. Due to effective pest control crop yields are higher.
There are some important environmental benefits. It could control farm runoff that pollutes water systems. Reduced mechanical weeding prevents the loss of topsoil Reduced pesticide exposure for farmers, rural laborers, and finally the consumers will lead to better health conditions.
It also generates employment, because more workers are needed to harvest the significantly higher yields. One study in India says that Bt Cotton produces 82% higher incomes for small farm households compared with conventional standard cotton. Some research show that direct and indirect effects of Bt cotton increase aggregation welfare by over 2 billion dollars per year only in India. Also as same as GM beans and corn, generates large welfare gains, est. 5 billion per year at the global level.
Second generation GM crops involve enhanced traits rather than “resistant”. There are traits such as higher nutrient content. Golden Rice is one of the very first GM crop that is bio-fortified to cure Vitamin A deficiency. Other bio-fortification projects include corn, cassava, and banana plants, with enhanced nutrients.
Ref. G. (2015, June 10). 13 Main Advantages and Disadvantages of GMOs. Retrieved April 09, 2018, from https://greengarageblog.org/13-main-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-gmos
Are they posing a threat to humans?
Monsanto Suicide
FALSE
Monsanto suicide is best case of hoaxes of GMO. One Article from Al Jazeera says that
More than 250,000 farmers have committed suicide in India after Monsanto’s Bt cotton seeds largely failed. Many farmers decided to drink Monsanto pesticide, ending their lives.
In fact, more than 270,000 Indian farmers had suicide since the mid 1990s according to India’s National Crime Records Department. Most common factor to suicide are a combination of social problems, such as personal and family problems and financial difficulties and pre-existing mental illness.In the paper from Anoop Sadnadan, Rather than the GMO crop failure, Indian banking polices contributed to more suicides. When the bank reform happened early 1990s, particularly entry of new generation private banks and foreign banks led banking in India competitive and finally the reason, fewer loans to agriculture and farmers. Bank saw lending to the farm sector as unprofitable and unreliable. Sadanadan found out that states with the highest farmer suicide were those bank offered least credit to farmers. This led to farmers to go to private lenders, who charge extraordinary rates as high has 45%. In those state with better institutional credit and farm insurance had lower suicide counts. In his upcoming paper, Sadanadan writes that he also found “no evidence to suggest that the cultivation of a particular crop was related to suicides in India.” Moreover he says that cotton was cultivated in some 10 other states that did not witness high incidence of farmer suicides. He also says that cotton was cultivated in some 10 other states that did not witness high incidence of farmer suicides.
Ref. Kloor, Keith. “The GMO-Suicide Myth.” Issues in Science and Technology 30, no. 2 (Winter 2014).
GM corns and Rats cancer
Withdrawn
Some scientist had said that GM corns had caused cancer in the lab rat. But it was withdrawn by publisher Because it had been controversial because of it’s review process. It was not reviewed properly.
Ref. Casassus, B. (2013, November 28). Study linking GM maize to rat tumours is retracted. Retrieved April 09, 2018, from https://www.nature.com/news/study-linking-gm-maize-to-rat-tumours-is-retracted-1.14268
Bt Toxins kill human embryos?
Probably False
This is from unreliable source.
New research from the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre in Quebec, Canada shows that Bt toxin not only accumulates in human tissue but also kills human embryo cells in pregnant women. The researchers looked at pesticides associated with genetically modified (GM) foods, and particularly Bt toxin engineered into some varieties of GM corn and soy.
I could not find anything on google (such as nature, google scholar) about Quebec researchers stories. I found only the paper abstract for it, but it doesn’t says that it’s quite right. Also I could not find any information on reliable sources such as CBC, CTV, Globe. So it would be probably false.
Monsanto’s Bt-Toxins Found to Kill Human Embryo Cells. (2014, May 07). Retrieved April 10, 2018, from http://naturalsociety.com/monsantos-bt-toxins-found-kill-human-embryo-cells/
The things that need to be considered
GMO is currently really controversial on the Canadian food society. They are sometimes considered as evil, and Satan plants. Ethically, there are some worries that people should not touch the nature. But we are humans. We could do whatever we want and probably not screw it up.
Environmentally there are chances that GM Products my evade the original plants, and crossed. It would make a Franken-plant. But this is what happens without GM products. In case of grafting, we mix up the plant’s branch to make the enhanced plant. This is Franken-Plant right now. It is existing. Also, cross breeding is Franken-plant and we had no problem with it. So we could discard that theory that Franken-plant will make unexpected results.
For future generation of Canadian, to keep the food prices low, we need to implement GMO technology in our day to day food. It will significantly lower breads, pastries and tortilla’s price. Moreover there would be enhanced nutrition food, which could help Canada’s low income family’s health.
The future
Scientists are currently working on disease-resistant pigs, bird-flu resistant chickens, hornless dairy cows and highly productive sheep. But it would not be at market soon. It would take more than 20 years to bring a new technology to market, in case of first GM salmon it took 25 years to bring it to the market. In 2016 185 mil hectares of land were planted with biotechnology crops. And most of them are soybean, maize, cotton, and canola. Almost in all Area, most of them contained crops that are resistant to herbicides or insects. Widespread planting of insect resistant crops means the pests are becoming resistant to new technology. But resistant would not win the technology. Planting areas of non GM crop next to the insect resistant crop may help the problem.
More interesting plants are being researched, disease resistant banana, wheat and potatoes are all in the same pipeline, drought tolerant sugarcane and corns.
Getting regulatory acceptance might be a big hurdle for it, but if the safety is confirmed, many people will likely to enjoy GM crops. Also GM technologies is changes, CRISPR-Cas9 genetic scissor could be used to implement new genes into plant or animal or even humans. They are faster and cheaper than previous genetic modification procedure. In labs, genome editing has been used to create disease resistant rice and wheat.
Ref. Nesbit, R. (2017, September 05). The Future of GMO Food. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-future-of-gmo-food/
Opinions
GM crops are still legal in Canada, but there are some procedure to approve it. To enhance development of GM crops, Canadian Government should loosen the GMO approval procedure. It should be more loosen, that more companies and universities could research about it. But the terminator seeds should be restricted. Terminator seeds are those seeds that could not have their offspring by simply planting them. The farmer needs to buy seeds again to grow that plant. The regulation might become loosen, but if there is negative effect on humans and environment, the project should be cut off.