by Laurel Hopwood
Chair of Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee
Philip Morris is a household name, and the Marlboro man is more famous yet, but did you know that the cigarette company is also a major seller of genetically engineered (GE) food? Sierra Club's Genetic Engineering Committee has chosen to target what turns out to be the biggest packaged food company in the US, demanding that Kraft produce GE free food, or label it as genetically engineered if it dares. Surveys have found that a majority of us are leery of GE ingredients, and labels would allow us to vote with our dollars.
Sierra Club isn't opposed to genetic engineering, but the Club has asked for a moratorium on GE crops, which use gene splicing techniques to transfer genes from viruses, bacteria, unrelated plant species and animals into food crops. This is just the very beginning, but already 100 million acres have been planted.
Genetic engineering is a radical technology whereby genes from one or many species can be introduced into totally unrelated species, which are then called transgenic. The fundamental blueprints of the natural world are being manipulated in this way and, in the case of crops, are being released into the environment without any precautions. The results can't be predicted and there may be no remedies for the consequences.
GE crops create pollen which can blow in the wind. Many of the crops contain their own pesticide, and the pollen of GE corn has been shown to kill monarch butterflies. Cross pollination of neighboring organic farms results in a huge loss for organic farmers since the crop can no longer be regarded as organic. Other crops are Roundup Ready, designed to tolerate Monsanto's herbicide. The crops then get sprayed with more Roundup and both the active and the inert ingredients are a cause for concern.
Europe, and also Canada, bans rBGH (cow growth hormone) to treat dairy cows (it doesn't turn them into Olympic sprinters, it makes them produce more milk). This is also a genetically engineered product. The major human health concern is that rBGH causes the milk to contain increased levels of IGF-I, which is a growth factor for prostate and breast cancers.
WHAT YOU CAN DO. If you think it's time to stop this experiment for which the American people never volunteered, here's how you can help:
1) Contact Betsy Holden, CEO of Kraft Foods, Inc., 3 Lakes Drive, Northfield, IL 60093. See sample letter below.
2) Call 1(800)847-1997 to say NO to Kraft's genetically manipulated foods.
3) Send an e-mail via the Kraft web site: www.kraft.com/html/email/email.html.
4) Contact Laurel Hopwood, Chair, for a supply of postcards to distribute to your friends, family, and colleagues to send to Kraft.
Sample letter:
I'm writing to ask you to remove genetically engineered (GE) products from your foods, just as I'm trying to remove them from my table. Transgenic crops — crops which have been genetically manipulated with viral, bacterial, and animal genes — pose environmental risks and I believe shouldn't be in our food supply until adequately tested and clearly labeled. Dairy products made with milk from r-BGH treated cows are banned in many countries as possibly contributing to cancer. For our health and the environment, I ask that you move to GE free production.
You can find the Sierra Club's Policy (and much more) on agricultural biotech on our website: http://www.sierraclub.org/biotech. To subscribe to our Biotech Forum listserv, contact Jim Diamond: jim.diamond@sierraclub.org. For any questions, contact Laurel Hopwood, Chair, Genetic Engineering Committee: jhopwood@wviz.org or (216)371-9779