GMO Foods and Genetic Engineering

Genetically engineered (GE) or genetically modified (GM) foods are produced from plants and animals that have had changes made to their DNA, which introduce or modify genetic traits.

Most packaged foods contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) engineered to be resistant to herbicides and pests; corn, soybeans and canola oil are prime examples. Concerns about GMOs range from their safety to how genetically modified plants’ pollen effects the environment, to the increasing use of herbicides associated with their use, with decreasing effectiveness. Polls show that consumers want mandatory labels on foods containing GE ingredients. ¹⁷ These false narratives are perpetuated by biotech and other agribusiness corporations, but also by land grant universities (which receive more funding from agrochemical companies than public dollars, many agricultural scientists and farm organizations. ¹⁹

However, technology and the industrialized food system are not currently feeding the world, so there is reason for skepticism about this claim. Globally, agriculture produces more than one and a half times the number of calories needed to feed the world population, yet one in nine people goes hungry. ²⁸ 2016 studies by both the National Academies of Sciences and the New York Times found no evidence that yield increases could be tied to GM technology. ²⁹³¹³⁵

Patents and other legal measures put control of this long heritage of seed development, and therefore our future food security, in the hands of a very few companies. The seed industry is one of the most concentrated in the US economy. Almost 80 percent of corn and more than 90 percent of soybeans grown in the US feature Monsanto/Bayer seed traits, while the top three seed firms control more than half of the total seed market, with Monsanto/Bayer alone controlling one quarter. ³⁶ Up-to-date numbers on seed market control are difficult to come by, however, because huge mergers in the industry, including the 2017 Dow/Dupont and the 2018 Monsanto/Bayer mergers have shifted the landscape.

These companies value their patents and other intellectual property highly. Monsanto/Bayer has filed suit against 147 farmers for violating the terms of their planting agreement and has also at times threatened or intimidated farmers. ³⁷⁴¹ States responded by taking the matter into their own hands. More than 70 labeling bills or ballot initiatives were introduced across 30 states, and labeling laws were passed in Vermont, Connecticut and Maine. ⁴² In high-profile cases in Washington State and California, bills were defeated due to aggressive lobbying efforts by big food and biotechnology companies to the tune of $63.6 million in 2014. ⁴³

In 2016, a federal law was passed, mandating labeling of GE ingredients in foods, which strikes down or pre-empts state labeling laws. The federal law’s many critics dubbed it the Denying Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act, because not only does it override state efforts (which in some cases, as in Vermont, are stringent), but because many GMOs would be exempted from being labeled. Further, the federal law states that labeling can be in the form of a digital QR code or toll-free phone number rather than a textual label that clearly marks the product as containing GMOs.