The frankenfood phenomenon

>> Are you eating untested, genetically altered foods? Probably.

by DOMINIQUE RITTER

Tomatoes with fish genes, potatoes with scorpion genes and hormone-laced milk. These are not Halloween pranks or try-to-gross-out-your-friend concoctions. They are genetically engineered products on the shelves of your local grocery store.

"In an average grocery store, as much as 70 per cent of all products contain some genetically engineered material," Bradford Duplisea of the Sierra Club of Canada told the Mirror.

So what's wrong with genetically manipulated food? No one really knows, and that's the problem. "We simply do not understand the full implication of genetically engineered foods," said Duplisea. And in many cases, he claims, corporate interests are outweighing public safety as new products infiltrate the market without adequate testing. "We're concerned that the government is putting multi-national profits ahead of public health," said Duplisea.

Last month, six Health Canada scientists filed a grievance with their labour union saying that they were being pushed to approve a controversial bovine growth hormone (BGH) that had not undergone proper testing. The synthetic hormone, manufactured by Monsanto Inc. of St. Louis, Missouri, boosts milk production in cows. Today (Thursday, Oct. 22) those scientists are scheduled to appear before the Senate Agriculture Committee, which is investigating BGH.

The company subjected the hormone to only one test, back in 1988, in which 30 rats were tested for a period of 90 days. An initial test on rodents is normal procedure for this type of product. But, according to Duplisea, such a study should span at least two years.

"They've had years and years and years to do this study. They haven't because they don't want to know."

When the findings of Monsanto's original study were finally made public last year, it was revealed that BGH had produced negative side effects in one third of the lab rats, including cysts and lesions. Nevertheless, BGH was approved for the U.S. market in 1993, and is still legal there.

More recent studies have revealed a link between BGH and cancer in humans. In January 1998, a Harvard study reported that white males with elevated, but normal, levels of a hormone (IGH-1) from the milk of BGH cows, are four times more likely to develop prostate cancer. The Harvard study also said there is "highly suggestive evidence" linking the consumption of BGH milk with breast and colon cancer.

Although the hormone has still not been approved in Canada, its use is nonetheless widespread.

"There's a thriving black market along the Ontario border," says Duplisea. "There are epidemic numbers of farmers using this product." And BGH is also included in many foods coming in from the U.S., all of which means that the hidden trail of BGH might be to difficult to trace, thus jeopardizing our understanding of its effects.

Meanwhile, other genetically altered foods continue to deluge the shelves of our grocery stores despite all the unanswered questions.

"We may not see a big catastrophe," said Dr. Richard Wolfson of the Consumer Right to Know Campaign. But what if someone with an allergy to fish chows down on a juicy red tomato laced with fish DNA?

"No one really knows."

The Second Annual Biotechnology Halloween Nightmare will feature a discussion panel on genetically altered foods on Friday Oct. 30, 7pm, at Building Danse, 4152 St-Laurent. At 9pm biotech blather will give way to a party featuring music, dance and performance art. Info: 288-0086