THE ETHICS OF OUR TIME VI

GENETICALLY-MODIFIED CROPS (YOU’RE SOAKING IN THEM NOW)

Man has been successfully breeding crops since before the Middle Ages. Lately we’ve been able to modify them more aggressively, by using a virus to carry altered genetic instructions directly into a plant’s genome. When successful, these new traits breed true, and if they’re particularly successful they may replace naturally-evolved crops. This has been going on since 1980, and GM foods have been in the markets since 1990. In the produce section of the store, fruits and vegetables grown through GM techniques are labeled with a sticker containing a five-digit number beginning with ‘8’. However, no such labeling is required on foods which have GM products included in them. For example, if a package of corn chips have used GM corn, no disclosure is required.

There is a difference between GM crops and Irradiated (or Radiated) foods. Irradiated foods have simply been passed near a source of radiation in order to kill the bacteria which causes it to spoil. No radiation remains in the food. If it did, that would be contamination. Contaminated foods are not knowingly sold.

It would appear that American consumers have been unknowingly eating GM products for the last two decades. The alarming thing about it is that very few studies have been done to determine what effects eating GM foods might have on humans. There is some evidence that the altered genes can make changes in our bodies (picture those genetic modifications continuing after their source is eaten). There’s also been very little investigation into how breeding (for instance,) bug-resistant crops might affect the ecology. Doesn’t it seem like this is something the FDA might have looked into before these foods were placed on our shelves?

It could be that GM crops come with their own failsafe. We don’t want insects in our food, and we don’t want them eating food we could be eating instead. But if we make crops that resist them so well that the insects starve to death (or are killed by eating them), the ecosystem may break down to the point where the crops themselves fail.


GLOBAL WARMING

Are we all finally in agreement that the earth is getting warmer? Now that Santa’s North Pole home is experiencing tides and an infestation of underwater life? The Earth herself is a system that is so complex and co-dependent that no one can make accurate predictions at this time. Still, it’s looking like way past time we deal with this cooperatively. That means Green technologies NOW. It means action from EVERYONE, immediately.