What are GMOs?

“Genetically modified organisms,” or GMOs, are organisms that have been created through application of transgenic, gene-splicing techniques that are part of biotechnology. These transgenic methods for moving genes around are also called “genetic engineering,” or GE.

This relatively new science allows DNA (genetic material) from one species to be transferred into another species, creating transgenic organisms with combinations of genes from plants, animals, bacteria, and even viral gene pools. The mixing of genes from different species that have never shared genes in the past is what makes GMOs and GE crops so unique. It is impossible to create such transgenic organisms through traditional crossbreeding methods.

The Nine GE Food Crops on the Market:

• Corn
• Soybeans
• Canola (aka rapeseed)
• Cotton
• Sugar Beets
• Alfalfa
• Hawaiian Papaya
• Zucchini
• Yellow Crookneck Squash

Three GE crops account for the vast majority of acres planted to GMOs around the world – corn, soybeans, and cotton.

The vast majority of today’s GE crops contain one or both of two transgenic modifications. One renders GE crops resistant to the common herbicide glyphosate, and are called “herbicide-tolerant crops.” The second major category of GE crops are engineered to express a bacteria insect toxic in plant tissues, and are called “Bt-transgenic,” or “insect-protected” crops.

The herbicide-tolerant trait accounts for about three-quarters of all GE trait acres planted around the world, and Bt-crops account for the other one quarter.

How common are GMOs?

There are about 320 million acres of cropland harvested every year in the U.S., of which about 140 million are planted to GE seeds.

There are about 200 million GE trait acres planted annually. This includes about 135 million acres of herbicide-tolerant trait acres, and 45 million acres of Bt-transgenic crops.

There is a clear trend toward more multiple, or “stacked” trait varieties. SmartStax, a variety of corn developed by Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences, contains eight transgenic genes: two conferring resistance to two different herbicides, and six expressing Bt toxins for control of the European corn borer and the corn rootworm.

According to the USDA, 93% of soybean seeds planted in the U.S. in 2009, and 93% of cotton and 86% of corn seeds were genetically engineering, and hence produced GMO plants. It is estimated that over 90% of canola grown is GMO, and a comparable share of sugar beets are now herbicide tolerant.

Other commercially produced GM crops include certain squash varieties, Hawaiian Papaya, and alfalfa. As a result of the market dominance of GE seeds in crops that are common ingredients in most processed foods, GMO ingredients are now present in more than 80% of packaged products in the average U.S. or Canadian grocery store.

While a lot of acres are planted to GE crops, it is important to note that there are no GE varieties of any major fruit or vegetable, or small grain crop (wheat, oats, barley).

In addition, there are major problems with today’s GE crops. The spread of resistance weeds has driven herbicide use up sharply, increasing human health and environmental impacts and raising farmer costs. The dramatically higher price of GE seeds is cutting into farmer income. Many GE crops are more prone to plant diseases and some suffer micro-nutrient deficiencies because of subtle changes in soil microbial communities.

What is in the GE crop pipeline?

There are about two-dozen applications for new GE crop technologies in the USDA approval pipeline. Six entail modifications of corn and another six, soybeans. Two involve cotton, there are three non-food petitions, and five others address a range of other traits such as nutrient density.

Monsanto has submitted eight of the pending petitions, and Syngenta, Pioneer, Bayer, BASF, and Dow all have submitted two.

Eleven, or nearly one-half, involve herbicide tolerance, and four of these are crops engineered to be tolerant to two or more herbicides.

There are no significant new traits on the horizon and little chance that GE crop technology will spread soon to an additional major human food crop.

Are GMOs safe?

The U.S. government approved today’s GE crops nearly 20 years ago, before there was much knowledge or public concern over health risks. Very little science was conducted on food safety risks or nutritional quality, and the limited testing that was done was crude and insensitive by today’s standards. The companies developing the new GE technologies did virtually all the safety studies conducted. There was virtually no independent assessment of the science supporting GE crop approvals by U.S. government scientists or academia.

In short, the biotech industry asserted to government agencies that food from GE crops was “substantially equivalent” to food from non-GE crops, and the government accepted this assertion with no independent assessment. In truth, however, even the crude, early studies of today’s GE crops showed some significant differences in nutrient levels and potential allergens. The biotech industry dismissed the differences observed in a given, side-by-side trial involving a GE crop and its non-GE cousin by arguing that the differences fell within the natural variation observed in the level of a specific nutrient.

Consider a simple analogy. Mr. Jones drives a car at 35 miles an hour and Mr. Smith drives a GE-car at 40 miles an hour. Studying this situation, the biotech industry would argue that there was no significant difference in the speed of the two cars, since the variation in speed across all drivers on the same road exceeds 5 miles per hour.

This argument is clearly illogical. The two speeds are different, just as most GE and non-GE crops are different.

There are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production of GE crops in 30-plus countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union. Governments have prevented GE crops from being planted because of outstanding concerns about environmental and/or food safety impacts. The most serious human health concern is increased risk of novel human allergens. In the GE crop era since 1996, both corn and soybean food allergies have risen dramatically, and in step with GE crop market penetration.

For more information:

The Magnitude and Impacts of the Biotech and Organic Seed Price Premium
Author: Charles M. Benbrook, Chief Scientist, The Organic Center; Date: December 2009

Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The First Thirteen Years
Author: Charles M. Benbrook, Chief Scientist, The Organic Center; Date: November 2009

The Non-GMO Project

Get involved in the Right to 2 Know March, a mobilization for GMO labeling.