240 The False Promise of Gene tically Engineered Foods
How are GE plants different from traditional plants?
Genetic engineering is different from plant breeding. Scientists use laboratory
methods to change the genes of plants or animals in more extreme ways than
traditional plant breeding does. To get the plant qualities they want, they can
bring together genes from 2 completely different kinds of plants (such as rice
and maize). They can also mix plant genes with animal genes. For this reason,
it is called “genetic engineering.” Like an engineer, a plant scientist “builds”
new kinds of plants and animals that would never develop naturally.
GE plants are not simply new varieties with better qualities. They are
a new kind of plant that never existed before. Corporations spend billions
of dollars every year to invent new combinations, such as trees that grow
quickly and have soft wood for making paper, tomatoes that stay fresh when
they are stored for a long time, soybeans, wheat, and cotton that can survive
large doses of pesticides, and animals such as fish and pigs that grow much
larger than normal.
The high cost of GE crops
Growing GE crops is more expensive than growing traditional crops in a
sustainable way. Instead of saving the seeds from the previous crop, farmers
must usually buy GE seeds each year along with costly fertilizers and
pesticides. GE crops also have many other hidden costs. They can be poor in
nutrition and can damage the environment (see page 243). Before planting
GE crops, consider these other, often “hidden,” costs.
These crops
need chemicals
to grow well.
The seed
company doesn’t
allow us to
replant the seeds
we harvest.
They don’t produce more
than our old varieties…and
often they produce less.
If people
like the old
varieties,
maybe they
won’t buy what
we grow.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012