This year saw the first commercial planting of genetically modified (GM) sugar
beets in the United States, with that sugar to hit the food supply soon after.
Farmers across the country will soon be planting Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beet,
genetically engineered for resistance to Monsanto's herbicide glyphosate (marketed as
Roundup). John Schorr, agriculture manager for Amalgamated Sugar, estimates that 95
percent of the sugar beet crop in Idaho will be of the new GM variety in 2008, or a total
of 150,000 out of 167,000 acres.
Approximately 1.4 million acres of sugar
beets are planted in the United
States each year, primarily in Minnesota and North Dakota's Red River Valley, as well
as the Pacific Northwest, Great Plains and Great Lakes areas.
In response to the anticipated flood of GM sugar onto the food market, the consumer group Citizens
for Health has launched an email campaign to pressure three major sugar and candy
companies to refuse the new product. In 2001, American Crystal Sugar, Hershey's and
M&M Mars all promised that they would not use GM sugar; Citizens for Health is asking
consumers to email those companies from the group's Web site and urge them to keep that
promise.
"Since half of the granulated sugar in the U.S. comes from sugar beets, the
infiltration of GE sugar beets represents a significant alteration of our food supply," Citizens for
Health says on its Web site. "Unlike traditional breeding, genetic engineering
creates new life forms that would never occur in nature, creating new and unpredictable health and environmental risks."
In 1999, candy companies' refusal to purchase GM sugar scuttled Monsanto's first attempt
to introduce Roundup Ready sugar
beets.
On another front, a coalition of farmer and environmental groups is seeking to block the
planting of the GM beets through a federal lawsuit. The plaintiffs in the case - the
Center for Food Safety, High Mowing Organic Seeds, the Organic Seed Alliance and the
Sierra Club - are represented by lawyers from the Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice.
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) changed the classification of Roundup
Ready sugar beets from regulated to deregulated, meaning that the GM beets could be
planted without a special permit. But the lawsuit alleges that the USDA failed to properly
conduct an environmental review into the impacts of this deregulation.
"The law requires the government to take a hard look at the impact that deregulating
Roundup Ready sugar beets will have on human health, agriculture and the environment," said
Greg Loarie of Earthjustice. "The government cannot simply ignore the fact that
deregulation will harm organic farmers
and consumers, and exacerbate the growing epidemic of herbicide resistant weeds."
Critics point out that Roundup Ready crops
encourage increased chemical use, with dangerous effects on both human health and the
environment. In addition to contaminating soil and water, pesticides leave potentially
dangerous residue on food plants themselves.
Citizens for Health says that this is a particular concern in light of the Environmental
Protection Agency's recent compliance with a Monsanto request to increase the
allowable levels of glyphosate residue on sugar beet roots by 5000 percent.
"Sugar is extracted from the beet's root, and the result is more glyphosate pesticide
in our sugar," the group said.
Another concern is that such plants encourage the development of "superweeds"
that are resistant to Roundup.
"Just as overuse of antibiotics eventually breeds drug resistant bacteria, overuse of
Roundup eventually breeds Roundup-resistant weeds," said Kevin Golden of the Center
for Food Safety. "When that happens, farmers are forced to rely on even more toxic
herbicides to control those weeds."
USDA data reveals that in the 10 years after the 1994 introduction of Roundup Ready crops,
herbicide use increased by 15 times. This has led to a concurrent increase in superweeds.
While no cases of Roundup-resistant weeds were known in the U.S. corn belt in 2000, this year the roster of
such weeds includes marestail, common and giant ragweed, waterhemp, Palmer pigweed,
Cocklebur, lambsquarters, morning glory and velvetleaf.
Ninety-nine percent of U.S. superweeds are resistant to Roundup.
GM crops may also cross-breed with non-GM plants of the same or closely related species.
The primary seed-growing region for sugar beets - the Willamette Valley of Oregon - is
also a major seed-growing area for the closely related organic chard and table beets.
Since all these species are wind pollinated, the chances of contamination are very high.
"Contamination from genetically modified pollen is a major risk to both the
conventional and organic seed farmers, who have a long history in the Willamette
Valley," said Matthew Dillon, director of advocacy for the Organic Seed Alliance.
"The economic impact of contamination affects not only these seed farmers, but the
beet and chard farmers who rely on the genetic integrity of their varieties."
Crops contaminated by cross-pollination with GM varieties can no longer be certified
organic.
Since corn syrup is an even more widely used sweetener than sugar and the majority of corn
grown in the United States is also Roundup Ready, food safety advocates note that
nearly all sweetened food in the United States will soon be GM. Because U.S. law does not
require labeling of GM ingredients, consumers of products from candy to breakfast cereal
will soon be unknowingly exposed to engineered sugar, with unknown health consequences.
"As a consumer, I'm very concerned about genetically engineered sugar making its way
into the products I eat," Neil Carman of the Sierra Club said.
Sources for this story include: www.citizens.org,
www.organicconsumers.org.
(naturalnews, 10.07.2008,
Mike Adams (see all articles by
this author)
Key concepts: Sugar, Roundup
and Food
http://www.naturalnews.com/024417.html
About the author: Mike Adams is a holistic nutritionist with a passion for
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