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The False Promise of
Genetically Engineered Foods
Tomatoes that do not go bad after they are picked… wheat and soybeans and
maize that can resist large amounts of pesticides… seeds that kill pests in the
ground. None of these things are natural. And yet they exist.
These new kinds of plants are called genetically engineered (GE) foods or
genetically modified (GM) foods. Not everyone agrees that these new crops
are healthy. The corporations that make them say they will improve food
security, help feed the world, and, in the case of biofuels (see page 533), end
our dependence on oil. Other people say they are harmful for people and the
environment. No matter what you believe, the present and future of farming,
and food security for all of us, is being changed by these new crops.
Most GE crops do not provide greater crop yields, better nutrition, or any
of the health benefits that their inventors claim. And so far, GE crops do not
help the poor or solve the problem of hunger. Most GE crops have been invented
to sell more of the pesticides and fertilizers made by the same companies that
produce and sell GE seeds.
GE foods offer a technical solution — costly, man-made seeds — for a
social problem: hunger. But as farmers come to depend on buying these seeds
and the pesticides and fertilizers they need to produce these crops, hunger
increases, not decreases. There is less food security and less food sovereignty.