EDITOR’S SUMMARY: The “advancement” of technology, including food bioengineering, is not necessarily a move in the right direction. “Right”—healthy for human bodies, animals, and the environment. Questioning the expansion of an industry’s methods, products, and intentions is smart and good. Has industrial agriculture gone too far by altering the biology of food and the soil from which it grows? If you think this is too extreme to be beneficial for children, yourself, and your greater community, raise your awareness, look ahead, and consider next steps.
By Janey Bibolet Ward
The soil microbiome is a complex ecosystem that sustains itself through nutrient cycling and continual regeneration. Plants receive energy from the sun, and feed microbial life through the process of photosynthesis. In turn, the bacteria and fungi break down roots, sand, and clay to produce plant nutrients. This decomposition creates the building blocks for new soil. When microbial predators ingest these microorganisms, they deposit their waste products for the plants to fuel their growth. Animals then eat the plants, and deposit their waste as natural fertilizer. This continuous cycle creates living soil that retains moisture, decreases surface heat, maintains soil structure, reduces stress on plants, and prevents pest infestations. Healthy soil can sequester carbon and other greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere, fix nitrogen for healthy plant growth, filter and replenish the fresh groundwater supply, and slow the process of erosion. Understanding the processes that mimic nature’s nutrient cycling can sustain a habitat indefinitely.
In modern, conventional agricultural applications across the world today, genetically engineered crops have been touted as the only solution to be able to feed the world, while soil health is not considered a priority. Reliance on pesticides and herbicides is standard practice. Genetic engineering (GE) was developed in 1973 when Biochemists Herbert Boyer, Paul Berg, and Stanley Cohen inserted genetic material from Escherichia coli (E. coli)bacteria into another strain of the same type of bacteria through a process known as recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology, or cloning. GE identifies a trait from one organism intended to be a beneficial enhancement to another organism’s genome. This “improved” gene is then copied and inserted into the DNA of the recipient organism.
A new organism is grown with this desirable trait, and expresses an altered genome and DNA sequence. The inserted trait is not intended to disrupt any other naturally occurring traits, only to enhance the organism’s potential for survival under duress. In theory, the altered crops were developed to grow successfully in depleted soil or harsh climates. This process is a radical departure from traditional agricultural practices used for hundreds of years, such as cross-breeding, or saving seeds from the strongest plants to ensure genetic diversity and successful harvests. Science is creating new forms of artificial life, and contends they are superior to what nature intended.
The Manipulation of Food
Essential commodities such as corn, soy, and canola are genetically altered to withstand the application of chemical herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. Since 1974, the most commonly used herbicide is glyphosate, commercially known as “Roundup” by Monsanto (now owned by Bayer). Originally, genetically modified organisms—GMO crops—were developed to be Roundup resistant so that the fields could be sprayed, and everything else died except for the crop. Under genetic use restriction technology (GURT), Monsanto developed a process to alter the genetic code of these crops to eliminate the ability for reproduction, rendering seeds sterile. This would prevent farmers from saving seeds to replant the next season. The practice was outlawed in 2006. Proponents argue this technology would prevent genetic drift from GE-altered crops, whereas opponents view this as yet another way to gouge farmers, forcing dependence on the agrochemical companies for commercial viability. From Wiley, Plant Technology Journal, “Genetic use restriction technologies: a review”:
“Variety-GURT (also known as suicide/sterile seed/gene technology, or terminator technology) is designed to control plant fertility or seed development through a genetic process triggered by a chemical inducer that will allow the plant to grow and to form seeds, but will cause the embryo of each of those seeds to produce a cell toxin that will prevent its germination if replanted …”
A wide variety of GMOs created through the GE modification process were approved to enter the global food supply in the 1990s, beginning with tomatoes, summer squash, soybeans, cotton, corn, papayas, tomatoes, potatoes, and canola. Alfalfa and sugar beets were approved in 2005, apples in 2017, and pink pineapple in 2020. In 2015, GE salmon, AquAdvantage, was approved as the first animal product with an application; GalSafe pigs followed in 2020. In 2022, genome-edited beef, PRLR-SLICK cattle, was introduced by the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), housed within the FDA. In 2024, consumers in the United States are likely to eat GMO-plant and -animal products regularly. Commonly used GMO ingredients used in processed foods include cornstarch, corn syrup, corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, and granulated sugar. GE sugar beets are less expensive to produce than sugar cane, and are commonly used in commercial products as a sweetener. The “National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard’s List of Bioengineered (BE) Foods” has been updated and published in the Federal Register.
The Soil Health Institute (SHI) reports that the last 150 years of global industrialized agriculture have destroyed the soil integrity of the majority of the world’s once-productive farmland. Reliance on tractor tillage, monoculture plantings, synthetic fertilizers, chemical insecticides, pesticides, and GMO crops has resulted in land that has been depleted, stripped, and made barren of microbial life. It is well-documented that the industrial toxicants used in this practice are detrimental to all life on Earth. A large number of studies link exposure to these chemicals to cancers, and high amounts of residue have been discovered in air, water, food, human bodies, and breastmilk. According to a systematic review published in May 2022 titled, “Toxic Effects of Glyphosate on the Nervous System,” the dangers of using glyphosate are clearly stated:
“Glyphosate, a non-selective systemic biocide with broad-spectrum activity, is the most widely used herbicide in the world. It can persist in the environment for days or months, and its intensive and large-scale use can constitute a major environmental and health problem. In this systematic review, we investigate the current state of our knowledge related to the effects of this pesticide on the nervous system of various animal species and humans. The information provided indicates that exposure to glyphosate or its commercial formulations induces several neurotoxic effects. It has been shown that exposure to this pesticide during the early stages of life can seriously affect normal cell development by deregulating some of the signaling pathways involved in this process, leading to alterations in differentiation, neuronal growth, and myelination.
Glyphosate also seems to exert a significant toxic effect on neurotransmission, and induces oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction, processes that lead to neuronal death due to autophagy, necrosis, or apoptosis, as well as the appearance of behavioral and motor disorders. The doses of glyphosate that produce these neurotoxic effects vary widely but are lower than the limits set by regulatory agencies. Although there are important discrepancies between the analyzed findings, it is unequivocal that exposure to glyphosate produces important alterations in the structure and function of the nervous system of humans, rodents, fish, and invertebrates.”
The Soil Health Institute predicts that by 2060 this will result in the Earth being at capacity to support the world food supply. The global population has reached eight billion and is expanding rapidly. The living soil it depends on is being destroyed at an alarming rate. Across the globe, conflict over scarce resources has led to national insecurity and war. The refugee crisis is a direct result of destabilized economies, and communities being unable to support themselves in regions where cropland has been destroyed for future generations. In June 2024, the United Nations (UN) reported that over 3.2 billion people were affected by drought and land desertification (where vegetation in drylands decreases and disappears), resulting in food shortages and starvation.
The regulatory framework for GE/GMOs did not keep pace with these early experiments. The rise of the biotechnology industry—”harnessing biological systems and organisms”—expanded into the pharmaceutical industry with the introduction of the first GE insulin drug for diabetes. It was not until 1986 that the U.S. Federal Government established the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology. This policy was designed to provide a pathway for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to work together to monitor the safety of GMOs, and to maintain that these products meet the same safety requirements of traditionally bred plants and farmed animals. In 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations developed international guidelines and standards to determine the safety of GMO foods, known as the Codex Alimentarius for Industrial Food Standard.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) maintains a list of bioengineered foods. In 2017, Congress approved $7.5 million to fund the Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative to educate consumers about food and animal ingredients derived from biotechnology titled “Feed Your Mind.” The Biden Administration issued an Executive Order in September 2022, “Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy,” published in the Federal Register. This declaration directed federal agencies to update the “Coordinated Framework for the Advancement of Biotechnology.” The directive instructs the FDA and EPA to work in tandem to limit safety regulations and avoid thorough testing protocols. This allows the biotech industry to easily introduce even more GMOs and so-called, bioequivalent lab-grown foods, or synthetic biology (synbio), without any cumbersome requirements to protect human health and safety.
In 2024, Bayer introduced laws in multiple states to shield the company from liability lawsuits that claim glyphosate causes cancer. In addition, the potential for glyphosate to create mutant superweeds that can withstand the repeated application of pesticides and herbicides has demonstrated that this path is a dangerous one for global agriculture. The toxicity is well-documented. In January 2024, a groundbreaking lawsuit ordered Bayer to pay $2.25 million to a man who alleged Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Bayer is set to appeal. From the journal, Toxicol Rev, “Glyphosate Poisoning,” alarms were sounded over 20 years ago indicating the complex formulation is dangerous:
“Commercial glyphosate-based formulations most commonly range from concentrates containing 41% or more glyphosate to 1% glyphosate formulations marketed for domestic use. They generally consist of an aqueous mixture of the isopropylamine (IPA) salt of glyphosate, a surfactant, and various minor components including anti-foaming and color agents, biocides and inorganic ions to produce pH adjustment. The mechanisms of toxicity of glyphosate formulations are complicated.”
Into the Earth They Go
Under the guise of agrochemical/biotechnical companies, Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta, and BASF are developing and releasing genetically engineered (GE) soil microbes (bacteria, viruses, and fungi). These are for use in conventional agriculture, without adequate regulation or regard to the potential unintended consequences. The fallacy in promoting GMO biologic soil microbes in industrial agriculture is simply an add-on to current chemical-based systems, with an appearance of supporting or mimicking regenerative farming.
Friends of the Earth published “Genetically Engineered Soil Microbes: Risks and Concerns” in August 2023, detailing the inherent dangers of unleashing GMO microbes into the global soil microbiome and calling this a large-scale, open-air genetic experiment without any regulatory oversight. Little is known about how these microbes will blend in nature, and once unleashed, there is no way to stop them from interacting with living soil, and potentially altering soil biology indefinitely. Introducing GE soil organisms may have the potential to destroy the food supply for future generations without recourse. From Alliance for Natural Health USA, “Feds Open Pandora’s Box”:
“This is a theme through the entire document [“Coordinated Framework for the Advancement of Biotechnology”]. The concerns they are addressing are almost exclusively those of the biotech industry, removing regulatory hurdles and difficulties so the next Frankenfood or GE soil microbe can get approved. In several sections throughout the document, the federal government commits to creating exemptions for certain unspecified categories of biotechnology products.”
“GE soil microbes are even more concerning. As we discussed previously, had it not been for a graduate student’s experiment that sounded the alarm, an alcohol-producing GE bacteria could have been released in the field and caused a massive ecological catastrophe. The idea that we need to make it easier for these products to come to market challenges logic.”
Further discussion on the dangers of manipulating soil through biology comes from Food Tank, “Op-Ed: Biologicals 2.0: Why Genetically Engineered Soil Microbes Are Concerning,” addressing how “every company in the world wants to do something with them”:
“Among the things companies want to do is genetically engineer them [biologics]—specifically, to engineer microscopic living creatures in the soil, like bacteria and fungi, to enhance their ability to kill pests or to or generate nutrients like nitrogen.”
“Microbes can share genetic material with each other far more readily than crops and can travel great distances on the wind. The genetic modifications released inside GE microbes could move across species and geographic boundaries with unforeseen and potentially irreparable consequences.”
Moving in the Right Direction
It may be challenging to source, or create a budget for certified organic fruit, vegetables, pasture-raised meats, and clean, raw dairy. Shopping at farmers’ markets and joining Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are great options to buy directly from growers who practice organic, sustainable farming methods. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to shield organic crops from cross-contamination by way of genetic drift or chemical residues that lurk in the soil and groundwater from conventional farms. You might consider starting an organic garden of your own. Teach your children how to nurture and care for their own plants as food, or sign them up for a local gardening class. Simple will do. Pick a fruit or vegetable you love, and get your hands in the dirt.
Groups such as Organic Consumers Association (OCA), Environmental Working Group (EWG), Moms Across America, Beyond Pesticides, and Center for Food Safety have been working tirelessly for decades to employ stringent regulations and accurate labeling of foods sold in stores. There is more work to be done to ensure organic foods are safe for you to consume. Currently, certification for organic growers is costly, and enforcement is lax. The rules even permit the use of manure from conventional large-scale animal feedlot operations that allow the use of antibiotics, and growth hormones that may contain heavy metals.
The Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), founded in 1997, is a nonprofit organization that reviews products (livestock feed, healthcare, fertilizers, pest control, sanitizers …) intended for organic certification, to determine compliance with USDA National Organic standards. Look for their seal of approval, as well as “Non-GMO Project” butterfly stickers and labels on grocery store items. “A verified non-GMO system supports organic and regenerative agriculture by reducing contamination pressure and protecting the supply of non-GMO seed.”
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Published on September 05, 2024.
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