In response to last week’s column, which advocated for mandatory labeling of all food containing genetically modified products, the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association registered a sharp rebuttal:
"We agree that consumers should have the right to ask for information about the products they buy, and to select those that most closely meet their lifestyle choices. But labeling mandates are reserved for information that has a material impact on consumer health and safety," said HCIA President Mark Phillipson. "Every genetically modified food product has gone through rigorous testing by the FDA, USDA and EPA — and not a single illness has ever been reported after consumption of GM food."
Unfortunately, my own professional experience with iconic organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration and the American Medical Association, of which I am a member, is that they can and do make mistakes. There is a long list of pharmaceuticals that have been approved by the FDA after billions of dollars was invested in scientific research, animal testing and clinical trials only to be pulled from the market because of health concerns. Do you remember Vioxx and Bextra, two nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications designed to compete with Celebrex? Both drugs were later discontinued because of a substantial increase in the risk of heart attack and stroke. Estrogen replacement therapy was routinely used for post-menopausal women for decades until a Hawaii study in 2002 showed that the increased risk of breast cancer outweighed the benefits of preventing osteoporosis.
The HCIA also pulled together criticisms of the study cited in last week’s column which concluded that rats that ate Roundup-resistant GMO corn were more likely to die and more often died from mammary tumors and liver and kidney failure. HCIA submitted statements from respected members of the global scientific community who "denounced the Seralini rat study as fraudulent and executed in a substandard manner." Cited was the fact that rats chosen for the study were prone to developing mammary tumors, especially when given unlimited quantities of food. In addition, food intake and other important data relevant to the study were not provided. Finally, the control group was too small when compared with the experimental group. Acknowledged. There may be flaws in scientific studies. This cuts both ways.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie has come out in strong support of the seed industry and claims that those who insist on growing organic, non-GMO foods are only gardening, not farming. Farming, he proclaimed adamantly, "is a business!"
Ken Kamiya, owner of Kamiya Gold farm on Oahu’s North Shore, said "biotech agriculture is well accepted in our country, but activists crusade against it. They demand labels for GM food, but their real agenda is to sow confusion, raise anxieties and, in some cases, to give the organic industry a competitive advantage."
During evolution, humans gathered and ate the plants around them and later learned to cultivate. The food people always have eaten until the advent of GMO is the result of millions of years of natural selection based on the survival of the fittest, and inherently carries the wisdom of nature. Organic farming is not an offbeat crusade, but an effort to respect and work along with the natural wisdom of the ages.
As a physician and researcher with extensive training in the sciences, I have deep respect for the power and potential of genetic engineering not only to treat illness, but also to one day ensure an abundant, safe, healthy and accessible food supply. GMO also can minimize the need for many toxic pesticides. Still, I have a great deal more confidence in what nature has learned over millions of years than in what scientists fueled by business interests tell us after a few decades of investigation. The potential far-reaching ramifications and inherent risks of manipulating the genetic code must not be taken lightly.
My own family discussed the matter long ago and determined to make every effort to eat locally grown, organic food and to minimize our exposure to GMO food products. The challenge is that without mandated labeling for all foods containing GMO ingredients, we don’t always know what we are buying.
Those against mandatory labeling of GMO foods argue that it would raise the cost of a given product by 10 percent. I can’t imagine how. In any case, the HCIA argued that 75 percent of nonorganic food is already genetically modified and therefore believes it would be more effective to label food that is non-GMO.
In an interview with Sunny Massad, director of the Hawaii Wellness Institute, who also recommends that people avoid eating GMO foods, her comment to proponents of GMO was, "If you are so proud of it, put it on the label."
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Ira Zunin, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., is medical director of Manakai o Malama Integrative Healthcare Group and Rehabilitation Center and CEO of Global Advisory Services Inc. Please submit your questions to info@manakaiomalama.com.
