Activist refutes Cruz claim on GMOs

I read Neal Cruz’s column “GMO plants and cheaper brands of cigarettes” (Opinion, 12/16/13) and I was very disturbed by it.  The dangers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to health, to the environment, to the economy and to our country’s food sovereignty are very real. Not only Greenpeace is warning us about this; so do many reputable scientists all over the world. Many countries have in fact banned or imposed labeling on GMOs.

GMOs do not lessen the use of agricultural chemicals. In fact, there have been studies showing that countries planting GMOs end up using more herbicides and pesticides than those planting non-GMOs. Remember that the companies that have patented GMOs are first and foremost chemical companies. The biggest one is Monsanto, which is also the maker of DDT and Agent Orange, which it claimed were not dangerous for humans. History has judged that declaration.

GMOs are always planted with partner chemicals, and it is a misconception that GMOs lessen the use of chemicals.

Greenpeace members have been ordered arrested by a regional trial court for pulling out “Bt talong” plants (GMO eggplants) in test areas, while the Supreme Court just ruled with finality that the field trials for BT talong be stopped. After listening to experts from both sides, the high tribunal saw that our biosafety rules governing GMO field trials are not adequate and so the field tests actually endanger our environment.

I think the scientists who carelessly planted these GMOs without any regard for adequate biosafety regulations should be the ones jailed for posing a potential environmental hazard. Remember, anything that is released in our environment including in our test farms, cannot be recalled anymore. It can contaminate our local varieties and wreak havoc on our ecosystem. In the United States, GM wheat was field-tested and destroyed after the project was abandoned. Ten years later, GM wheat was found growing wild in some farms!

Do you also know that all GMOs which are already in our food supply have never been tested for safety as food? The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has ruled that GMOs are equivalent to traditional crops and therefore they do not have to be tested for safety. They stick to this ruling despite evidence linking GMOs to cancers, internal organ damages, severe allergies, infertility, etc. USFDA rulings are of course adopted in our country even without confirmatory tests. The local FDA cites the Codex Alimentarius for its ruling that GMOs are safe. These are not scientific studies but mere guidelines made by partner countries.

I would like to propose that Cruz meet with us so we can inform him more about GMOs.  And I hope he can write about the very real dangers they pose and correct the wrong information he shared in his Dec. 16 column on GMOs.

—GIGI CHUA,

Consumer Rights for Safe Food