To GMO or to Non-GMO; Is That Even a Question?

In my short tenure as a father I've seen my kids put pretty much everything in their mouths. More often than not the objects in question are decidedly less than edible. Because of this, I tend not to overly concern myself when they are eating actual food. That's not to say that I don't worry about my kids nutrition, I do. But when someone tries to tell me that I need to be concerned about my child eating GMOs because of some unexplained health effect, nondescript toxin, or wild industrial conspiracy I tend to brush their concerns off. This is especially the case because I have a degree in biochemistry; so when all these concerned parents spew myths about the safety of GMOs I know on a very fundamental level what factual mistakes they've made. That's not to say their whole process has been founded in wrong turns. Far from it, most parents start from a very appropriate place: wanting to give their child the best chance in life. I'd like to discuss today why GMOs do just that for children by discussing and dispelling some of the myths surrounding GMOs in general and children's exposure to them.

I'm going to assume that everyone has heard of GMO's. The popular understanding is that GMO refers to genetically engineered crops. While this is a fairly accurate statement, for anti-GMO proponents this is pretty much where the truth stops. For example, lets look at some of the claims made by popular anti-GMO sites. The Non-GMO Project is one or the more well known propaganda machines of the anti-GMO movement (and the bane of my trips to the grocery store). Within the first paragraph of their "about GMOs" section they already start misleading readers:

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are living organisms whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated in a laboratory through genetic engineering. This creates combinations of plant, animal, bacteria, and virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods.

Stating that these changes do not occur in nature is ignoring the understanding of horizontal gene transfer, a genetic mechanism that allow for transmission of genes between different genomes. It also implies that this combination of genes is a distinction that matters. Putting a fish gene in a tomato (my favorite non-existent example) does not make eating the tomato any more dangerous than eating the fish that contained it in the first place; that is to say there are no "fish genes" or "tomato genes." Genetic material is not defined from it's source nor does that source have an impact on what a single isolated gene does.

Despite biotech industry promises, there is no evidence that any of the GMOs currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit.

This is another misleading statement. Despite the organic industry trying to sew distrust, there are plenty of examples of GMO success on the consumer end. Golden Rice is making its way to poor countries stricken with Vitamin A deficiency (and it's being offered 100% free to boot). It's also been shown that organic farming has a higher carbon footprint and requires more land per unit crop than conventional. They also claim that GMO seed patenting, despite being done for traditionally bred crops as well, threatens farmers sovereignty.

So where does that leave safety; i.e. are GMOs safe for us and our children. Well lets discuss some of the claims and realities surrounding this topic. Once again, the Non-GMO project is at the forefront of misinformation where safety is concerned.

In the absence of credible independent long-term feeding studies, the safety of GMOs is unknown. Increasingly, citizens are taking matters into their own hands and choosing to opt out of the GMO experiment.

Hyperbolic statement of "experiment" aside, this is horrendously misleading. GMOs undergo rigorous safety tests through several regulatory bodies while they journey from laboratory to market. My understanding is that this regularly takes up to 10 years. So believe it or not, the government seems to have our back on this one (shocking I know). But this doesn't stop fear mongering where it hurts the most: our children.

For example, the deceptively named Institute for Responsible Technology makes several claims about GMO health effects on children including:

Young, fast-developing bodies are influenced most

To "support" these claims IRT references unlinked studies such as, "independent scientists used young adolescent rats in their GM feeding studies," to show a link between health effects in kids and GMO consumption. Conveniently enough, there is no detail that could guide someone to the study in question; a most specious tactic.

Children are more susceptible to allergies

The allergy claim makes the same mistake as the above Non-GMO Project safety claim in that it fails to take into account the rigorous allergy testing that GMOs undergo as a routine part of approval.

Children are more susceptible to problems with milk

This has actually nothing do do with GMOs. Their concern here is about hormone use on milk cows. Though a topic for another day, the use of hormones on a cow does not constitute a GMO. This alone calls their other claims into question as they are not operating under an operational definition of GMO. The only genetic engineering that comes into play is during drug production. Often these drugs are fermented out of microorganism that have been genetically altered. However, the purification of the compound of interest completely removes all traces of the producing organism. This "institute" goes on to make a couple more claims that continue the trend of making sweeping implications without actually putting in the work to cite sources. Regardless of what site you go to you'll find the same song and dance.

Hopefully this makes clear some of the misinformation surrounding GMOs. But lets also talk briefly about what GMO is. Despite what the anti-GMO crowd would like you to believe, no one currently thinks that GMOs are going to revolutionize food. Genetic engineering is a tool, nothing more. And it is one that we are going to need if we want to feed our growing population, get much needed nutrients to impoverished areas, and continue agriculture in a rapidly changing climate. So don't worry about seeking out the ridiculous orange butterfly on your groceries. If you want your kid to have a bright future, GMOs are the way to go.