GE Crops

>>>Myths & Realities of GE Crops >>>Pharmaceutical Crops >>>Regulations: U.S. and the World

Biotech companies are experimenting with virtually every plant food on earth. Many of these tests are still in laboratories or greenhouses. But when a new GE variety gets nearer to commercialization, the plants are released into the environment first in field tests, where the companies can observe the crops as they grow and can analyze them when they are harvested. Unfortunately, these tests are rarely, if ever, established to collect data for determining the environmental effects of GE crops. Instead, companies use these trials to promote their GE crops to farmers and to propagate seed for future commercial sales. Most of the University-based field trials consist of a single plot or a few small plots (often half an acre or less) planted just one season, while industry conducts hundreds of larger field tests throughout the world every year.

Despite consumer pressure against GE food, the gene giants have not stopped their push to alter the planet’s food supply. Monitoring developments of new GE varieties is essential to keeping our food GE free.

The genetic engineering industry has been boasting that in just a few years, virtually all of our plant foods will be derived from GE crops. But recently pressure from environmentalists, consumers and farmers has forced a number of GE foods off the market, and has stalled the introduction of more GE crops.

What are the most common characteristics the biotech companies test for in field trials?

Biotech companies develop genetically engineered crops for certain characteristics or traits, usually for properties that farmers desire. Two types of GE plants make up nearly all of the GE crops currently on the market: one type is crops engineered for insect resistance (IR), and the other is crops that can tolerate direct spraying of toxic pesticides (called herbicide tolerant, or HT crops). These two traits are also the most common in field trials.

HT crops make up about 70% of all GE crop acreage in the U.S. These include Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” (RR) crops, including RR soy, corn, cotton and canola. Roundup is an herbicide that will kill natural crops, but farmers can spray Roundup directly on RR plants. The crop will survive but nearby weeds will be killed.

Most IR crops are also called “Bt” crops becaus they contain a gene from a bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis, that is known to be toxic to certain insects. These plants are pesticides: they contain a pesticide that you cannot wash off. Bt corn and cotton are widely grown in the U.S.

Other GE Traits that companies are pursuing include viral, fungal, and bacteria resistance so crops can survive plant diseases. There are also “product qualities” that companies are attempting to engineer into certain crops. For example, apples may be engineered for delayed ripening, or coffee for low-caffeine.

Field trials in the U.S.
http://www.nbiap.vt.edu/cfdocs/fieldtests1.cfm

Field trials in Europe
http://www.olis.oecd.org/biotrack.nsf/by+organism
http://biotech.jrc.it/dbplants.asp

Field trials internationally
http://www.nbiap.vt.edu/cfdocs/globalfieldtest.cfm
http://binas.unido.org/binas/trials.php3

Crops in the Pipeline
Right now,may of our fresh fruits and vegetables and whole foods are largely GE free. But, the biotech industry is quickly and quietly running field trials on many of these. Click on the links below to find out what is already on the market as a GE product and what is being genetically engineered in experimental trials.

To keep all of our food free from genetic engineering, we all need to know which GMO (genetically modified organism) foods the biotech industry is planning to bring to our dinner tables.

The foods listed are currently being tested by the biotech industry in field trials. Those in red have been commercialized in the US, those in orange have been approved but are not sold or grown commercially in the US:

Fruits: apples, cherries, cranberries, grapefruit, kiwi, melons, papaya, pears, persimmons, pineapple, plum, strawberries.

Vegetables: bell peppers, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chili peppers (New Mexico), corn, cucumber, lettuce, mustard, olives, onions, peas, potato (though no longer on the market), radiccio, radish, squash (yellow crookneck squash only), sweet potato, tomato (cherry), watercress, zuccini.

Dry Goods, Grains, Oilseeds and Beans: barley, canola (canola oils), cotton (cottonseed oils) soybeans, coffee, popcorn, lentils, oats, rice, sugar beets, sugar cane, wheat.

Nuts and Seeds: peanuts, walnuts, flax, sunflower.