I would urge you to eliminate statements that suggest that the lack of information can be used as evidence for no regulatory concern. Gerald Guest
The process of genetic engineering and traditional breeding are different, and according to the technical experts in the Agency, they lead to different risks. Linda Kahl, FDA compliance officer
My name is Jimmy Doherty and this is my farm. A hundred and twenty acres of rural Suffolk where we raise our livestock the old fashioned way. Horizon: Jimmy’s GM Food Fight, BBC 2008
A dozen years ago Argentina grew virtually no soya. This year over half their arable land, an area the size of Britain, will be planted with genetically modified soya beans. ibid.
Whether we like it or not GM crops are part of what we eat. ibid.
Elsewhere in Europe the protest movement is alive and well. ibid.
None of the crops or vegetables we grow are truly natural. ibid.
In America genetically modified crops have been widely planted for more than ten years. ibid.
Critics have objected on several grounds, from safety issues to environmental concerns. The GM debate once again raises the question of public trust in Science. There is a gap between the fears of some sections of the public, and the opinion of scientists that what they are doing is both useful and safe. Professor Sir Paul Nurse, president Royal Society, Horizon: Science Under Attack, 2011
We scientists hadn’t gone out there and asked what bothered the public. We hadn’t talked to them about the issue. We’d not had dialogue with them. Scientists had forgotten that we don’t operate in a bubble. We cannot take the public for granted. We have to talk to them. We have to communicate the issues. We have to earn their trust if Science really is going to benefit society. ibid.
Trust no-one. Trust only what the experiments and the data tell you. We have to continue to use that approach if we are to solve problems like Climate Change. ibid.
Scientists have got to get out there. They have to be open about everything they do. They do have to talk to the media. Even if it does sometimes put their reputation at doubt. Because if we do that, it will be filled by others who don’t understand the science, and who may be driven by politics or ideology. This is far too important to be left to the polemicists and commentators in the media. Scientists have to be there too. ibid.
GM is a really uncertain imprecise risky technology ... They just don’t know what they’re doing. And we shouldn’t take that risk. Lord Peter Melchett, policy director Soil Association
The genetic modification of food is intrinsically dangerous. It involves making irreversible changes in a random manner to a complex level of life about which little is known. It is inevitable that this hit-and-miss approach will lead to disasters. It must disrupt the natural intelligence of the plant or animal to which it is applied, and lead to health-damaging side-effects. Dr Geoffrey Clements, leader Natural Law Party UK, re: Tryptophan toxicity incident – $2 billion in claims for deaths and disease
[Most scientists] warn that it is likely to be impossible to enforce [labelling] laws once many [GM] food products enter food processing systems ... I don’t think many scientists would oppose labelling of something clearly modified, but the problem arises in the use of overseas ingredients which may have been modified. Sir John Scott, President New Zealand Royal Society
I see worries in the fact that we have the power to manipulate genes in ways that would be improbable or impossible through conventional evolution. We shouldn’t be complacent in thinking that we can predict the results. Colin Blakemore
The fact is, it is virtually impossible to even conceive of a testing procedure to assess the health effects of genetically engineered foods when introduced into the food chain, nor is there any valid nutritional or public interest reason for their introduction. Professor Richard Lacey
Over the last fifteen years, I and other scientists have put the FDA on notice about the potential dangers of genetically engineered foods. Instead of responsible regulation we have seen bureaucratic bungling and obfuscation that have left public health and the environment at risk. Dr Philip Regal, Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior University of Minnesota 1998
The FDA has placed the interest of a handful of biotechnology companies ahead of their responsibility to protect public health. By failing to require testing and labelling of genetically engineered foods, the agency has made consumers unknowing guinea pigs for potentially harmful, unregulated food substances. Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA)
There are a lot of people in Europe in favour of biotechnology, who are prepared to take risks, but a considerable number are resistant and see no benefits. Many people see biotech taking us into the realm of unknown dangers ... This is a Pandora’s box and a lot of people wonder whether it’s worth opening it. George Gaskell, London School of Economics social psychology professor
The process of genetic engineering always involves the risk of altering the genetics and cellular functioning of a food organism in unanticipated ways. These unanticipated alterations can result in GE foods being allergenic, toxic, or reduced in nutritional value. Professor John Fagan, geneticist Maharishi University of Management Iowa
The huge arrogance of the companies developing GMO crops and their determination to destroy the line of accountability which links the developer to the product is breathtaking. When something goes wrong, as it inevitably will, there will be a great benefit to those who have taken a stance against genetically modified organisms. Jonathan Porritt
Probably the greatest threat from genetically altered crops is the insertion of modified virus and insect virus genes into crops. It has been shown in the laboratory that genetic recombination will create highly virulent new viruses from such constructions. Certainly the widely used cauliflower mosaic virus is a potentially dangerous gene. It is a para-retrovirus meaning that it multiplies by making DNA from RNA messages. It is very similar to the Hepatitis B virus and related to HIV. Dr Joseph Cummins, professor emeritus genetics University West-Ontario
Genetically modified (GM) foods may look and feel the same as conventional foods, but they are drastically (and possibly harmfully) different. These types of foods have been altered by taking the genetic material (DNA) from one species and transferring it into another in order to obtain a desired trait. The FDA does not require any safety testing or any labeling of GM foods, and introducing new genes into a fruit or vegetable may very well be creating unknown results such as new toxins, new bacteria, new allergens, and new diseases. Dr David Brownstein, The Guide to Healthy Eating
If manufacturers are so sure there is nothing wrong with genetically modified foods, pesticides and cloned meats, they should have no problems labeling them as such. After all, cancer will kill one in every two men and one in every three women now alive, reports Samuel Epstein, chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition. Like our ancestors, we act in ways that will bemuse future societies. The military-industrial complex lubricates the mass-agriculture system with fossil fuels. Tons of heavy metals and other hazardous, even radioactive, waste is sprayed on American agricultural soil. Adam Leith Gollne, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession
Most who fear genetically altered food are unaware that nearly all food has been genetically altered via artificial selection. Neil deGrasse Tyson
A new generation of genetically modified crops is emerging from the labs to reignite the arguments around GM food. GM Food – Cultivating Fear, BBC 2015
We used to be a nation of farmers but now it’s less than 2% of the population. The Future of Food, 2004
Nerve gas developed during World War II was slightly modified to make insecticides. DDT was the hero of its generation. ibid.
97% of the varieties of vegetables grown at the beginning of the 20th century are now extinct. ibid.
A pesticide treadmill: the more they sprayed, the more they had to spray. The increased use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides increased costs, polluted water and created health risks. Then in the 1970s Monsanto introduced Round Up, because of its ability to kill most weeds it became one of the most popular herbicides in history. ibid.
Monsanto genetically modified its seeds to be Round Up ready. ibid.
Estimates are that Monsanto has sent out 9,000 letters to farmers; most farmers choose to pay to avoid lawsuits. ibid.
‘They’re opposing labelling … A key way to get these corporations liable for the health affects.’ ibid.
It is all about sterilizing the population and giving them cancer. Alex Jones, New World Order: Blueprint of Madmen, 2012
Dr Arpad Pusztai: The GM-fed rats had depleted immune systems, damaged internal organs and stunted growth. The Corbett Report, 025 Shut Up and Eat Your GMOs, James Corbett online 2007
‘There’s no labelling required by the FDA.’ ibid. expert
There’s something fundamentally worrying about genetic engineering; there’s something almost instinctual about our revulsion at the idea of this technology. ibid.