Some insane percentage of our country's soybeans are already genetically modified, so my first thought when I saw the headline about "GE Soybean Deregulation" was: You mean it isn't deregulated already? What regulation could POSSIBLY be left on this stuff - it constitutes something like 80% of soy in the US (warning: that stat's from off the top of my head, don't quote me).
Well, apparently the Bush administration applied its specialty at making bad situations worse to the US soybean crop. Here's the scoop: USDA SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON DEREGULATION OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SOYBEAN.
Well, if it's comments they want, it's comments they'll get. More info on the flip... (instructions to comment at the bottom)
What's This About?
First of all, some definitions. When they say "genetically engineered soybean" they mean:
Soybean line 356043 is engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, marketed under brand names such as Roundup, Touchdown and Kleenup; and to acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides, marketed under brand names such as Pursuit, Glean and Oust.
When they say "deregulation," that means:
If APHIS grants the petition for deregulation, the soybean and its progeny would no longer be regulated articles. The product could then be freely moved and planted without the requirement of permits or other regulatory oversight by APHIS.
A few more useful tidbits as you read the text above...APHIS stands for Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (it's part of the USDA) and the particular line of soybean in question is made by the company Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.
Why Aren't GMO's a Good Idea?
There are a few points here, and I'd like to start out by going back to a previous diary where I quoted John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton's book Mad Cow USA:
"Take the case of bovine growth hormone... Am I wrong if I assert that its use is unsafe? The answer depends, I submit, entirely on how we define safe, which has less to do with facts than with our standard of evaluation. Do we know whether it is fully safe for humans to drink milk for 40 years from a cow given such hormones? The answer, plainly, is that we do not, no one knows, because no one has ever done it" - Farmer and Illinois law professor Eric Freyfogle
When we say that GMOs should be safe, how safe must they be? Safe enough to eat once without keeling over dead? Or safe enough to eat three meals a day for 90 years without suffering one harmful affect? Or somewhere in between? And how the heck would you measure it? The effects of various foods are notoriously difficult to nail down because humans each such varied, complex diets and it's not easy to isolate the effects of any one particular food.
With respect to the question of safety, it's not just the safety of humans who consume GMOs that we care about. It's also the safety of the environment as a whole. If the human body and the effects of any one food are complex and tricky to study in a lab setting - try predicting under a controlled setting what will happen when you let a new organism out into the environment. There's no telling what could happen.
The chances that this new strain of soy (or any other GE) could bring down civilization as we know it are slim, but the truth is - we've got no idea what'll happen. On the whole, we know that any GMO designed to resist herbicide will lead to monoculture and in turn hurt the flora and fauna around it.
By dousing a field of GE soy in herbicide, you kill all weeds, bugs and other animals who depend on those weeds, and any other animals that depend on the bugs, etc. That alone is a chilling possibility - but of course - it's also the entire goal of monoculture and the only difference is that it's being done a bit more successfully with this method.
Overall, I've heard it framed as a question of weighing the risk and the benefit of deregulating stuff like GMOs. The risks should be taken into consideration with the fact that you can't put the GMO genie back in the bottle. Once this soy is out there, it's out there. It could even spread it's new DNA to other species in the environment, creating new breeds of superweeds. Or it could get mixed up with a non-GMO crop of soy and contaminate it. That is NOT a far-fetched scenario - it already happens with GMOs.
The benefits here? Profit for a few companies. Is that worth it? Probably not. Back in the age of DDT, the same question (risks vs. benefits) was examined and the U.S. decided (as usual) to put profit before caution. Assume safe so long as someone's making money, until proven beyond a doubt to be catastrophic. Oops. GE soy probably isn't DDT but if we follow that destructive decision-making pattern, we'll make the mistake of DDT again and again and again.
How To Comment!
Got something to say about this? Here's how to yell it right into Uncle Sam's ear:
Deadline for Comments: Dec. 4
Mail: Send an original and three copies of postal mail or commercial delivery comments to:
Docket No. APHIS-2007-0019
Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD
APHIS
Station 3A-03.8
4700 River Road, Unit 118
Riverdale, Md. 20737-1238.
The Internets: http://www.regulations.gov
- Select "Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service" from the agency drop-down menu
- Click on "Submit."
- In the Docket ID column, select APHIS-2007-0019
- From there you can view documents, view comments, and comment yourself.
Here's the comment I left (so they can file it in their "Treehugging Hippie Comments to Ignore" pile):
I am incredibly opposed to the deregulation of this variety of GE soybean or any other GE foods. Once you let this stuff out there, you can't put the GMO genie back in its bottle. Considering the risks vs. the benefits, it's absolutely NOT worth it. The risks are the potential to affect the environment and/or human health in an unforeseen way and the only benefit is profit to a few companies. Our environment is shared by all of us and should be preserved and cherished - not risked in order to make a relatively small group of people a few bucks.
Last, these numbers were in the news release. I assume they list them so we can call them :)
Rachel Iadicicco (301) 734-3255
Jerry Redding (202) 720-4623
After submitting your comment, please forward this info around so more people speak up!!! We've got less than 2 mos to pitch a fit over this - let's use them!