On GMOs: Trick or Threat?

The Halloween season has past, but GMOs keep haunting thousands of consumers. I was only four years old when the Flavr Savr tomato was introduced to the world. Flavr Savr was the first genetically modify organism to be approved for human consumption by the FDA. Interestingly, this GM fruit did not involved any genetic material of other species, in fact, the modification was a blockage of a gene in the tomato itself. Blocking this gene allowed the tomato to slow its ripening process, giving it a longer shelf life and, in theory, better “Flavr” (flavor). The innovation proved to be a fiasco among consumers.

Today we see an even stronger wave of opposition towards GMOs. In spite of the overwhelming pool of scientific evidence disproving the “common sense” misconceptions held by familiar anti-GMO proponents; the general public has grown fearful believing GMOs somehow damage the environment and pose a threat to human health. For a simple individualistic explanation to this phenomenon let’s look at intuition. Intuition is the ability to understand something, without the need of reason. Most of the articles I’ve come across through social media sites discussing anti-GMOs tap at the heart of intuition and emotions with arguments that capture readers’ attention, are easy to think and process, pose a greater chance to be remembered and thus spread like wildfire even if the ideas are false. If you don’t believe me just compare the reader-friendliness of an academic, scientific paper versus the one posted by your “all-natural, organic, non-GMO, from the earth to you, crunchy granola” friend. I’m sure you will see the difference.

But what is it about GMOs, or what your Whole Foods clerk might refer as “Frankenfood” that is so horrid and unacceptable? Apparently it has to do with “transgenic” modification i.e., the transfer of genetic material between two unrelated species. The most common picture that comes to mind is the famous tomato to fish fusion. It is false that transgenic modifications cause tomatoes to taste or look like a fish and vice versa. Treadmilling this type of misconceptions brings about a sense of disgust exacerbated even more when pictures of frogs and cockroaches are shown fusing to food. Needless to say that as of 2015 there hasn’t been any GMO crops brought to market that contain animal or insect genes (but this is not from a lack of trying). I believe it is important to understand genetic modification at least to a basic level of comprehension.

Genetic modification of organisms has been around long before the advent of modern biotechnology. The great scientist Gregor Mendel laid the foundation of modern genetics. Through his pea plant experiments, Mendel was able to demonstrate that when yellow and green peas (these peas also exhibited smooth and wrinkle surfaces) were crossed, certain combination ratios were observed, thus laying the fundamentals on how to manipulate for desirable traits. Later farming called this: artificial selection. In essence, to artificially select is to choose the crops you like the most and cross them with each other to obtain off-springs that exhibit the characteristics you want (e.g., seedless watermelons). Today we understand genetics to a much higher degree; this has allowed the genetic modification of organisms for the benefit of humanity. From food to medicine there’s no doubt that GM products sustain the stress of a growing global population.

Some GMO critics say that higher levels of herbicide residues are found in GMO vs non-GMO crops. This is partially true due to Roundup Ready Crops, which are engineered to be glyphosate resistant, but this is not without its bias. Glyphosate is the main herbicide used commercially in America, its patent expired in 2000 and the herbicide has been available for a low cost since then. Glyphosate inhibits the production of an enzyme that is needed for the synthesis of a common precursor (chorismate) of three aromatic amino acids: tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine, thus inhibiting active growth (not seed germination). Since Roundup Ready crops are genetically engineered to be resistant against glyphosate, farmers are able to freely spray herbicides without compromising the actual crop. But it is important to mention that toxicity is all about dosage. Just to give a simple overview, it is said that caffeine is about 10 times more toxic than glyphosate and as you know caffeine has a low toxicity value. According to the EPA, levels of glyphosate of 2mg/kg/day throughout a lifetime pose no adverse risk to health.
Other critics cite potential allergies. This anti-biotech/GMO group poses the argument that encourages GMO labeling, but the truth of the matter is that over the last two decades, there hasn’t been one legitimate finding where a GM product was found to play a causative role in the presumed allergic reactions. Interestingly, the only reports you find on the Internet come from sketchy naturalists websites.

Now take the example of a successful GMO, papaya. Most of the papaya available in the United States comes from Hawaii. In the middle of the 1990’s the ringspot virus almost completely wiped out the crop. It wasn’t until 1998 that a scientist found a way to insert a single gene to immunize papayas against the virulent threat. But genetic modification is not limited to food, in medicine, zinc finger nucleases are currently being tested to treat diseases such as HIV, these works by binding to the delta 32 sequence and inhibiting its transcription, this sequence code for a receptor known as CCR5 that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus uses to enter the cell, though still early the preliminary results are promising. As a side note regarding HIV, sometime ago the FDA approved a drug named Truvada to treat HIV infected patients, but in 2012 they gave the ok to use it as a “pre-exposure prophylaxis” criticism has been brought to spotlight due to doctors not recommending it (that’s because many primary care physicians are not aware of this drug) to people who might engage in risky behaviors.

We can go on and on about risks and benefits of GMOs, but as with anything science one must always acknowledge if the benefit outweighs the risk. In my personal opinion there’s nothing wrong with GMOs. I believe adding fruits and vegetables to your diet is of great benefit regardless whether they’re GMO, conventional, or organic. As always, if you’ve enjoyed reading this blog make it known, by leaving your kudos and subscribing. Remember, you can send me comments, suggestions, jokes, etc by pressing the button “say hello” at the bottom of this page, but most importantly don’t forget to always spread knowledge!

Until next time,

MC