GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CORN

No Real Benefits

Unaffected by weed killer, resistant to a major antibiotic and capable of killing insects - a new corn genetically engineered by Ciba Geigy takes each of these supposed attributes from foreign bacteria genes. Each of these alleged and unproven attributes brings problems of its own. "Super Weeds" and More Need for Toxic Herbicides Both Ciba Geigy (now Novartis, merged with Sandoz - makers of the genetically engineered corn/maize), and Monsanto (makers of the genetically engineered soya bean), are making crops resistant to herbicides. Ciba Geigy's corn is resistant to the herbicide, Basta, and Monsanto's soya is immune to their own product, glyphosate. But does anyone else benefit?

Herbicide tolerance could lead to a host of problems: increased use of chemical herbicides and wide spraying which could affect other plants growing in the area; an increased risk of creating super-weeds should the herbicide resistance jump from the corn to neighbouring weedy relatives; and the possibility that the corn itself, unaffected by herbicide may get out of control and become a weed, choking natural plants out of existence. In this case greater and stronger applications of chemicals might be needed to deal with the new problem.

According to Ciba Geigy, the modified corn behaves the same as normal corn and will pose no problems. But there is no guarantee.

WASTING OUR DEFENCE AGAINST DISEASE

Ciba Geigy's corn contains an antibiotic, although there is absolutely no need for it to do so. It doesn't improve the corn, but was used in the early development of the corn when the gene mixture was being tested in the laboratory. Now, scientists fear that the antibiotic gene could be passed to harmful bacteria, in the gut of animals eating soya based animal feed, for example. Ampicillin is one of our most widely used defences against such harmful bacteria - both in animal and human health. If the resistant gene is spread this vital protection could be rendered useless. Ciba Geigy say this is unlikely, but research has shown that animals may be able to acquire genes through the food they eat. Researchers in Germany recently announced that DNA fed to a mouse survived digestion to invade cells throughout the animals body. Textbooks say that DNA in food should be digested and destroyed. But Walter Dorfler of the University of Cologne found enough DNA to contain a gene was passed into the faeces, as well as cells in the spleen, white blood cells and liver. It's clear that the textbooks don't know everything.

NEW RISK OF ALLERGIES

Allergies are another potential health risk for humans. There is already proof that allergens can be transferred into plants through genetic engineering. When an american seed company Pioneer Hi-bred tried putting a gene from a brazil nut into a soybean, it was found to cause allergic reactions in humans sensitive to brazil nuts. No information exists about the allergenic properties of genes from bacteria, so no tests can be done. Ciba Geigy will be using humans as guinea pigs to test both the allergenicity and toxicity of their product.

KILLING OFF INSECT LIFE AND UNDERMINING ORGANICS

Taking a bacteria which is naturally produced in the soil, and adding its poison gene to the corn has provided a built-in pesticide. The bacteria, Bacillus thurigensis (Bt), kills insects and is widely used by organic farmers trying to avoid the use of chemicals. Now their natural pest controller has been hijacked by the gentic engineers and could be rendered useless because of it.

In the natural world the Bt toxin only becomes active when digested in an insects gut. In the new crop this toxin will be produced non-stop, making it more potent against both the pests being targeted and other insects too. Ciba Geigy engineered this aspect of the corn specifically to deal with one bug - the European corn borer - but in their own application they admit that the corn borer could become resistant to the Bt gene in their corn. It could only be a matter of time before the corn's special trait loses its effectiveness, but in the meantime it will have caused untold damage to the ecology of the environment into which it has been released.

The bacteria toxin will kill other insects - not just the corn borer. And once the gene is being grown in crops it could transfer to wild plants in the surrounding area, killing insects it is not meant to kill and disturbing the natural balance of insect life in the countryside. It may also make other bugs resistant to the toxin, creating "superbugs" which could ultimately lead to lower corn yields.

Whereas naturally produced Bt toxin degrades in the soil, the unatural one produced by the genetech crop can accumulate by binding to soil particles. Research suggests it could remain toxic for up to 9 months in the soil, killing more and more insects uneccesarily.

WHO GAVE IT THE GO-AHEAD?

On 18th December 1996 the European Commission approved the growing, use and marketing of Ciba Geigy's corn within Europe.

Any product designed to be released so widely into the environment has to satisfy conditions set in EU Directive 90/220. But when considering a product, the EU doesn't do its own tests, it relies on information provided by Ciba Geigy. Very little safety testing has actually been done on this genetically engineered corn.

For the effects of Bt plants on non-target insects, for example, only two field projects were studied and only one set of test results were provided to the EU. What's more, the test was carried out in the United States where conditions are very different from most European countries. No-one knows what the impact will be on non-target organisms in Europe or elsewhere.

One of Ciba Geigy's studies looked at the survival rate of lady beetle larvae given pollen from a genetically engineered plant. Greenpeace asked a geneticist, Dr. John Barrett from Cambridge University, to review the results and found that the very design of the experiment was unlikely to find statistical differences between the impacts of pollen from normal crops and genetically engineered crops.

Monitoring such effects once the corn is in the environment will be useless because once the effects are being seen the damage will already have been done. Nothing can recall genes once they have been released - the impacts on the wider environment will be irreversible. Safety should not be based on guesses.

WHO OPPOSED IT?

The majority of Member States in the EU have expressed concerns about allowing such a potentially dangerous threat into European countryside. Thirteen countries opposed European approval of the genetically engineered corn.

Nevertheless on December 18th 1996, the European Commission gave the go ahead for the corn to be imported, used and grown throughout the European Union.

Now Austria will challenge the decision under Article 16 of Directive 90/220. Austria will ban imports of the corn on the basis that health and environmental concerns have not been properly dealt with.

This is the first time Article 16 has ever been used in the EU and other Governments are considering similar action.

CONSUMERS DEMAND GE FREE FOOD

Supermarkets and consumer associations in Austria, Denmark, Germany, the UK, France and others, have stated they will not use genetically engineered products, or have called for any foods containing them to be labelled.

Ciba Geigy says the corn - 1-2 % of the expected US harvest - cannot be practically separated from non engineered corn, and US officials have dismissed as irrational European concern about safety. But if enough people and food processors demand it, separation and clear labelling is possible. Monsanto said their genetically engineered soya was impossible to separate, but when Greenpeace investigated they found that the seed was being kept apart anyway, so that farmers could return it to the company for next year's planting.

HOW DOES THE CORN AFFECT US?

The majority of the genetically engineered corn is currently processed into gluten for animal feed, with some providing corn starch for such foods as baby foods, bread, cakes, baking powder, chewing gum, soups and salad dressings. In the United States the corn is processed into sugar to be used in fizzy drinks (Coca Cola?).

If Ciba Geigy can gain acceptance for the crop in these products, the unatural corn will be used more and more in our daily food.

The only way to stop the corn contaminating our countryside is for: