The killing fields - genetic engineering - Brief Article

Vegetarian Times, Dec, 2000 by Abigail Chipley

Critics of genetic engineering have been warning us ever since that technology came into use that fooling with Mother Nature would have its consequences. Sure enough, a Cornell University study published in the May 1999 issue of Nature provided the first empirical evidence of the damage biotechnology could wreak on the environment. Researchers found that monarch butterfly caterpillars suffered a high mortality rate when exposed to the pollen from bioengineered Bt corn. (Bt is the insecticide that the corn has been engineered to produce.) A subsequent study by Iowa State University, published in the August edition of Oecologia, an international ecology journal, seemed to confirm Cornell's findings. Researchers found that caterpillars feeding on milkweed plants placed near Bt corn fields suffered an almost 70 percent mortality rate after 48 hours.

In response to these studies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a preliminary report last September, claiming that the Cornell and Iowa studies had exaggerated the threat of genetically engineered corn to the butterflies. Based on the results of studies conducted by the biotech industry, EPA scientists concluded that Bt corn is unlikely to threaten monarchs. "Whereas there might be individual butterflies affected by this corn, as far as overall population is concerned, there's not too much cause for worry," says Brian Steinwand, an EPA spokesperson.

The report hasn't succeeded in quelling the fears of many in the scientific community, however. "The notion that the EPA can draw conclusions from such limited data is ridiculous," says Rebecca Goldburg, Ph.D., a biologist with Environmental Defense, a nonprofit organization in New York City. "The EPA is just kowtowing to the biotech industry, which sees the Cornell and Iowa studies as a threat to the picture it wants to present." According to Goldburg, it will take more field tests conducted over several growing seasons to conclusively determine whether biotech corn is indeed a threat to the butterflies.

Monarchs aren't the only creatures likely to suffer from the biotech revolution. A study published in the August 31 edition of Science theorized that skylarks, one of Britain's most beloved birds, could experience a 90 percent decline in population due to the planting of genetically engineered sugar beets. British researchers predicted that the use of herbicide-resistant sugar beets will allow farmers to use more powerful sprays, which in turn will wipe out the weeds these birds depend on for food.

But monarch butterflies and skylarks may just be symbols of the dangers inherent in unleashing an untested technology upon the environment. Currently, a great biotechnology experiment is being conducted across great swathes of our nation's land: Twenty million acres of Bt corn were planted in the United States last year alone. The experimentation phase is drawing to a close. By September of 2001, when the license for this crop expires, the EPA will complete a full review of the ecological and human health risks of Bt corn. But considering the way the EPA glossed over the evidence on monarch butterflies, it seems likely that the agency will once again assure the public that biotech corn is a good thing.

To find out if your favorite brands of food contain genetically modified ingredients, visit Greenpeace's new web site: www.truefoodnow.org.