Genetically Modified Organisms: Risking Our Food Supply

Sister Sharon Therese Zayac, OP (Springfield OP)

For almost a decade, Americans in the United States have been playing a role that has been debated and unequivocally rejected by many other people around the world. Yet, it is a role that we have heard little about. It is one in which U.S. citizens were never asked if we wanted to take part. Sounds rather ominous, doesn't it? It may very well be ominous, though not enough scientific evidence is available to determine whether it is or not. And that is precisely one of the major concerns the issue raises. The issue is genetically modified organisms, or GMO's.

For millennia, farmers have raised the plants that make up the bulk of the world's food supply. By tending crops and watching how they adapt and thrive, farmers learned to hybridize, that is, selectively breed plants for the specific character traits they wanted to promote in a particular crop by cross-pollinating that crop with another variety of the same species.

Recently, scientists have taken that selective breeding a step further and have devised ways to alter characteristics of a particular food crop by inserting genes not from the same species but from totally unrelated species of plants and even animals. The most commonly modified crops are corn, soy beans, canola, and cotton. The science of genetic modification is anything but exact, and it raises major concerns.

• Since genetically modified crops are planted in open fields, there is the risk that other crops will be contaminated with their pollen.
• There have been no long-range studies performed to determine if the nutritive value of the plant has been affected or if there are any health ramifications for those who consume these plants.
• No governmental agency provides oversight for these crops nor ensures public safety.

A new concern on the horizon is the development of plants, particularly corn, that have been genetically altered to produce pharmaceutical and industrial chemicals such as diuretics, contraceptives, enzymes, and vaccines. These crops are also planted in the open where winds, birds, and insects can carry pollen to traditional crops.

Countries in the European Union, Asia, and Africa have refused to accept U.S. exports of corn, beans, and cotton because of their genetic contamination. Isn't it time that we ask our government leaders the same questions they have been asking theirs?

Printed with permission from Springfield Dominican's Just Words

Sharon Zayac, OP, serves as Director of Benincasa Ministries and lives at Jubilee Farm, the Springfield Dominicans centor for ecology and spirituality. She is the author of the book Earth Spirituality: In the Catholic and Dominican Traditions.