Scary Food

Many packaged food products are recalled from the American market due to the presence of all-natural contaminants:

– insect parts– toxic molds from fungi (mycotoxins)– Bacteria– viruses

Ergot Poisoning

• Europe 800s-1800s

• epidemics caused by the contamination of rye with ergot (a poisonous fungus)

• Ergot toxin is ergotamine

• consumption induces hallucinations, bizarre behavior, violent muscle twitching

1691-92 Salem witch trials

• Three young girls – violent convulsions, incomprehensible speech– trance-like states, odd skin sensations,– delirious visions

•Villagers feared the girls were under a spell cast by demons; subsequent panic led to the execution of ~ 20 innocent people.

•rye was a major staple of their diet•rainy and humid rye harvest that year

•When the supply of Ergot- infected rye ran out, the delusions and persecution disappeared.

• a deadly mycotoxin produced by the mold Fusarium

• sometimes found in unprocessed corn • Can cause liver and esophageal cancer,

birth defects

Fumonisin Poisoning

when insects attack corn, they open wounds in the plant that provide a perfect breeding ground for Fusarium.

1990s: Hispanic women in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas

• 6 times the national average of babies with crippling and lethal neural tube defects (NTDS) – spina bifida, Hydrocephalus, anencephaly

• NTDS linked to consumption of unprocessed corn

•These women reported much higher dietary consumption of homemade corn tortillas containing 2-3 x more fumonisin than normal

• 2003 - Food Safety Agency tested six organic cornmeal products and twenty conventional corn meal products for fumonisin contamination.

Know your Organic Food

•All six organic corn meals had 9 to 40 times greater fumonisin than the recommended levels for human health (they were voluntarily withdrawn from grocery stores.)

99% of GM foods in food supply are – Round-up Ready™ soybeans– Bt corn

Genetically Modified (GM) Foods

Round-up Ready Soybeans/cotton

• Round-up (an herbicide) kills weeds

• It degrades in the environment when used properly (sunny and dry weather).

• Crops can engineered to be tolerant to Round-up, so it can be used rather than more toxic herbicides

Bt corn contains a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis.

The "Bt" gene expresses a protein that is toxic to corn-boring insects but is harmless to birds, fish, and mammals (including humans).

Bt corn fends off insect pests Also reduces the levels of the mold Fusarium

• Round-up Ready corn/soybeans and Bt corn consumed in United States, Argentina and Canada Since 1995

• not a single case of adverse health impacts has been documented

Are GM foods SAFE?

•Bt is considered safe to eat because it is digested in minutes and is not absorbed as a whole protein by the body.

BEWARE of Public Skepticism

Golden Rice

• two daffodil genes and a bacterial gene spliced into the rice genome. – barely produced enough b-carotene

• Now golden rice contains a corn gene that provides enough b-carotene

• Still not available due to regulations

Outdated Propaganda against Golden Rice

A normal size serving would be sufficient with the newer golden rice

1999 Gerber foods company succumbed to activist pressure “baby food products no longer contain any gene-spliced ingredients”

• Gerber promised a shift to organic ingredients that are grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers

• Gerber has actually increased the health risk for its baby consumers.

• If a mother some day discovers that her "Gerber baby" has developed liver or esophageal cancer, she might have a legal case against Gerber

Benefits of GE crops

• reduced use of chemical pesticides

• less runoff of chemicals into waterways

• greater use of farming practices that prevent soil erosion

• higher profits for farmers

• less fungal contamination

• More nutritious foods

GE crops and Worker Safety

• Production of Bt cotton has led to enormous reductions in insecticide use (equivalent to 25 percent of all of the insecticide sprayed before the adoption of Bt cotton).

• Reduced exposure of farm workers to broad-spectrum pesticides

• the positive effects on farm workers and the environment should be considered when deciding on the merits of Bt crops

GM Concern

• Pests will evolve to become resistant to Bt (This also normally occurs if a pesticide is heavily used)

• Many varieties of Bt toxin can be genetically engineered to keep one step ahead of the insects.

GE crops can coexist with other farming systems

• the papaya industry in Hawaii was virtually decimated by the presence of a single viral disease caused by the papaya ringspot virus

• 1998: genetically engineered papaya lead to a 20-fold increase in yield.

• Hawaiian organic papaya can be grown disease free if it is produced near GE trees. This is because the GE fruit has eliminated the spread of the virus.

Food Labeling • a “GMO-free” label does not provide

meaningful information.

• Example: GE papaya is immunized with trace amounts ringspot viral DNA

• organic papaya is likely to be virally infected and would therefore carry much higher levels of viral RNA as well as viral protein.