Learning about GMOs: A reflection on year one

It's been over a year now since I started learning about GMOs and writing this blog. I've learned so much and am humbled every day by how much I have yet to learn. But as I look back and reflect on the knowledge gained, I also see that it's quite a bit, particularly considering all the life-events that have taken place in parallel. I thought that I'd share with you my learnings about GMOs that have surprised me the most.

Some of these were on the level of an M. Night Shyamalan movie-twist for me. Some are not even about GMOs, but just about agriculture and our food in general. Yeah... I kinda feel embarrassed about not knowing a few on the list... Don't judge me!

Corn. But without the syringe in it to depict that it's a GMO,
it's not really scary.
From Wikimedia Commons

1) The vast majority of fruits and vegetables are not transgenics. Before starting this blog, I thought that most of what we ate were transgenic crops, meaning that they had a gene/protein from a different species. I had heard so much about tomatoes with fish genes and strawberries that would never freeze that I just assumed that all that stuff was out on the market. Every time I picked up a fruit in the supermarket that was particularly large, I thought to myself "huh... that's got to be a GMO". You know those grapes that are the size of a tennis ball, and squirt juice everywhere when you bite into them? Every time I ate one, I'd close my eyes and thank the mysterious GMO gods for that sweet delicious nectar. Little did I know that none of these fruits were GMOs. They were genetically modified in the sense that they had been bred and selected to have optimal sweetness and size through cross-breeding. But they weren't transgenic organisms. There are only a handful of transgenic crops such as corn, soy, or cotton. The short list can be found in this database (note that you have to select the type of approval to determine if the GMO has been commercialized or not).

2) Organic food production uses pesticides (EDIT: Not all organic food production and only pesticides that are permitted under the USDA's organic label and approved by the EPA. Which is also true about conventional farming). This one blew my mind. I couldn't believe it! I thought that by definition, organic food production did not use pesticides. Not only that, but some of the pesticides used are more toxic than those applied in conventional farming. The difference is that the pesticides used in organic farming are not synthetic. No idea why that is better... Here's a list of pesticides approved for use in organic farming.

3) Many plant traits are developed using mutagenesis. And can be labeled "Organic". This one melted my brain and the spouse still doesn't get it altogether. Mutagenesis is the use of radioactivity or mutating chemicals to create random mutations in plants, and selecting those with the desired trait (here's my blog post with an overview of various papers, and here's the Wikipedia article on the technique). This article from the New York Times lists wheat, barley and even ruby red grapefruits as crops generated through mutagenesis. Imagine that!! The delicious, organic, grapefruit from my farmers' market was developed using radiation to randomly create mutations, and somehow that's less scary than a GMO. Why the organic food movement isn't fighting for their labeling seems hypocritical, and the fact that they can exist under the umbrella of the organic label is astounding. Again: Mind. Blown.

4) There's lot of peer reviewed research on GMOs, both publically and privately funded. I mean a LOT. I remember the first time I typed in MON810 into PubMed (a database hosted by the NIH), I got over 100 hits. That's 100+ studies that have looked into some aspect, such as identification or safety, on a single seed/trait (MON810 is Monsanto's Bt corn) Since it's a database search, let's assume that some of them are only loosely related to MON810. But even if 50% are discarded, that still leaves us with 50+ studies on a single trait/seed. In a Q&A with the founders of Biofortified.org, they mentioned that the most common misconception about GMOs is that there aren't any studies. Although I didn't think that there were no studies whatsoever, I was blown away by the sheer number/volume of studies, many of which are publicly funded.

Don't get me wrong: just because I haven't read any credible studies suggesting that GMOs pose a health risk does not mean that we should stop studying them, both in terms of technical methods in their generation, as well as safety. Go ahead. Go to pubmed and type in MON810 :)

5) Types of traits used to generate GMOs generally benefit farmers, not shoppers. What I mean is that there aren't many GM crops where the trait introduced was selected because it would make me want to buy it in the grocery store. There are several crops in the pipeline designed for me, such as non-browning apples or soy that has healthy oils (my post about the non-browning apple is here). But at the moment, most crops are designed to benefit farmers, such as Bt crops which help farmers reduce the amount of pesticides sprayed to fight worms, or Glyphosate resistant crops, which help farmers fight weeds using glyphosate (my post about glyphosate is here). I have yet to write on the topic of whether GM crops lead to decreased pesticide use, so I have a lot to learn on this topic. 

It's important not to misinterpret this point: when costs decrease for farmers, the end consumer pays less. But this is an indirect benefit for the shopper. It'll be interesting to see if crops that directly benefit shoppers will impact their perspectives on GMOs.

6) The amount of misinformation surrounding this topic is staggering. And depressing. It ranges from the subtle, where statements are simply taken out of context or the complete findings of a paper are not provided, to outright lies. I expected that there would be misinformation, but I guess I was pretty naïve and didn't think it would be THAT bad. But it's downright awful. For example, the Institute for Responsible Technology's website states "The only published human feeding experiment revealed that the genetic material inserted into GM soy transfers into bacteria living inside our intestines and continues to function." The paper which this statement is based off of actually says "it is highly unlikely that the gene transfer events seen in this study would alter gastrointestinal function or pose a risk to human health" (this topic was reviewed in this post). This is a subtle little white lie, when you contrast it with the downright deceptive (and dangerous) statement that GM insulin poses a health risk (Dr Kevin Folta reviewed this topic here).

I still have a tough time understanding why certain organizations would use such deceptive means to attack a technology. I think Dr Neil DeGrasse Tyson said it best in his recent Facebook post on the topic of GMOs:  "If your objection to GMOs is the morality of selling non-prerennial seed stocks, then focus on that. If your objection to GMOs is the monopolistic conduct of agribusiness, then focus on that. But to paint the entire concept of GMO with these particular issues is to blind yourself to the underlying truth of what humans have been doing -- and will continue to do -- to nature so that it best serves our survival. That's what all organisms do when they can, or would do, if they could. Those that didn't, have gone extinct extinct. In life, be cautious of how broad is the brush with which you paint the views of those you don't agree with."

I was surprised at how many people distrust GMOs because of Monsanto. That's not a good reason for distrusting a technology with broad applications. It's like saying that you don't trust computers because of Microsoft. But conventional food growers buy Monsanto seeds too, and Monsanto doesn't have a monopoly on GM technology. So what do life saving technologies, such as insulin, have to do with Monsanto? What about Golden Rice? What about bananas designed to combat nutritional deficiency in Uganda? I was taken aback at how vehemently these are opposed, just because of the Monsanto-boogie-man.

7) Transgenic seeds are not sterile. I was certain that transgenic seeds could not be replanted, even if a farmer wanted to. I was dead wrong. When farmers buy seeds from a biotech company such as Syngenta, they sign an agreement, and they are not allowed to replant seeds. However, the seed is not sterile or unviable. (The topic of replanting seeds and terminator seeds was covered in my blog post here).

8) Peer review doesn't mean anything these days. Even if you don't factor in the issue of predatory or pay-for-play journals, peer review needs a new paradigm (check out this article for a great expose of predatory journals). In an article that sounds an awful lot like a story about drug trafficking, a "peer-review ring" got recently busted for abusing the academic review process. Although there's a growing number of ways to share concerns or criticisms about a paper, it hasn't led to a change in the review process. There's a whole website dedicated to covering stories about peer reviewed articles getting retracted.

Setting aside the reason behind errors in scientific journals, be they deliberate or not, there needs to be a positive feedback loop.

Personally, I think that scientists in the private sector should be able to provide feedback to the reviewers and editors about one of their products. They provide press-statements anyway once the paper's been published, so wouldn't it make sense to have their feedback and criticism in hand as a non-voting voice in the review process. Do you know who would read every single sentence several times, including the Supporting Materials section, in a paper that suggests that a GM trait is harmful? The scientist who made it and the company who commercialized it. If anyone is going to identify a flaw in a paper, it will be them. I don't think that their statement should carry weight in the decision of whether or not a paper should be published. But I think it will make the reviewer's job easier to have their observations in hand.


For the final point, I interviewed the spouse to find out what had surprised him most from all our discussions:

"9) That the greatest tool in combating misinformation on scientific topics is for scientists to be better communicators and to better educate the public. I was surprised to see that the link between the public's superstition regarding GMOs is directly related to their education or lack thereof. If we had better scientific literacy or better science education, it would cause less freak-outs. As a non-science person, my AHA!-moment came when I finally understood how eating a strawberry-fish smoothie would be same thing as eating a strawberry with a fish gene in it, because we can process and digest proteins from both species. That's such a small-little thing, but it created such a mental barrier."

Well, there you have it. Feel free to comment on the things that have surprised you most on this topic.

IRT - GM food supplement caused deadly epidemic

Before I get started, I have a confession to make: I love pomegranates. Love probably isn't a strong enough word. I ate 2-3 a day while I was pregnant, to the point that the hubby planted two trees for me (one of which had it's first fruit this year). But it's a "work food". Like crab legs. Or pumpkin seeds. You have to put in a good amount of effort before you can eat the stuff. Anyway, since it's pomegranate season, I've been eating them all the time and I woke up thinking "someone should make a pomegranate that's easier to clean". And I'm guessing I'm not the only one who wishes for this: Wikipedia has a good section dedicated to suggestions on cleaning out pomegranates (including my preferred method of cracking them open under water). Well, according to this review, a genetically modified pomegranate tree is possible because one has already been made to express GFP (green fluorescent protein). It's probably what Sheldon used to make his goldfish glow in the dark. The authors recommend making pomegranate crops that are stress tolerant or have other horticulturally-beneficial genes, but none have been made (although that hasn't stopped people from marketing GMO-free pomegranate juice). None of the suggestions in the review included recommendations on making the fruit easier to eat...

Now, getting onto juicier topics (no pun intended!)

If you've been following this blog, you'll know that I started reviewing the "Health Risks" section on the Institute for Responsible Technology's webpage several months ago. This was due to the fact that numerous anti-GMO webpages were using it as a resource, so I thought I should look into it. Today, I finish its review by covering a section entitled "GM food supplement caused deadly epidemic". I'll be honest here: I started out upbeat and open minded when I started reviewing the IRT's site, but I haven't come across a single valid statement. Consequently, every time I sit down to read from this webpage, I feel the same way as when I think about Jar Jar Binks. Or just Episode 1 in general. A sense of dread and gloom. Consequently, it's only this bowl of pomegranate that I'm currently eating that will get me through this last section.

The segment would have been more aptly entitled "Dietary supplement produced using recombinant DNA technology was associated with a deadly epidemic". Here's the first section directly from the IRT: "In the 1980s, a contaminated brand of a food supplement called L-tryptophan killed about 100 Americans and caused sickness and disability in another 5,000-10,000 people. The source of contaminants was almost certainly the genetic engineering process used in its production." It goes on to state that it took years to "find" the disease and that an investigation only took place because the symptoms were so dire. The IRT argues that there is no monitoring of GMO-related illnesses - particularly long-term effects - and it may take decades, if ever, to identify the source of a problem. I've already reviewed the topic of long term effects of GMOs, so I'll focus on the first part of their argument.

Unfortunately, there are only two citations. The first is to an article on the IRT's webpage and the second is to a book written by one of the founders of the IRT. So neither one are peer reviewed sources. However, Wikipedia has a pretty good entry about this event, with several citations. The disorder is known as eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (or EMS) and the outbreak took place in 1989, leading to an eventual ban of tryptophan dietary supplements by the FDA. I started by reading a few abstracts for papers that investigated the cause of the EMS outbreak:

• The abstract for the first paper simply states that they traced the bad lot of L-tryptophan to a single manufacturer from Japan.
• The second abstract says the same thing (a different population was tested) and hypothesizes that a contaminant was introduced in the manufacturing process.
• The third abstract says the same thing, adding the point that the incidence of EMS decreased drastically once the product was recalled.

So far, there's nothing about a mysterious genetic engineering contaminant. There's reference to a contaminant, but no mention of when/where/how it could have been introduced.

If I were to magically design the perfect pomegranate, I think it would peel like a tangerine.

The next item I read was a 2001 report by the FDA (I thought it was odd that the IRT article did not mention the FDA's involvement). The FDA report was written up to clarify their position on tryptophan supplements. The report stated that 37 people died as a result of the bad batch of tryptophan. They state that there were numerous impurities in the batch, several of which were associated with EMS, but no one really knows how. They pointed out that not everyone who took the contaminated supplements got EMS, so there may be a genetic predisposition/factor involved as well. Again, nothing about a contaminant from the genetic engineering process.

I'd also magically make that white fluffy stuff disappear so that the seeds would just drop out. I looked it up and the white fluffy membrane doesn't have a specific name. You'd think it would have an uber-geeky scientific name.

Next, I found a New England Journal of Medicine article that looked into the whole tragedy. The article points out the fact that the manufacturer in Japan had switched to a new bacterial strain for the synthesis of tryptophan in 1988. In 1989, they made another change in their manufacturing process: instead of starting with 20kg of one of the starting materials, they cut it down to 10kg. During that same time period, some of the batches of tryptophan that they were making skipped one of their filtration steps. The authors find statistical significance between the amount of starting material used with EMS. They also find correlation between the bacterial strain used and EMS. However, they highlight numerous times that they cannot disassociate the bacterial strain used from the amount of starting material used, so they cannot tell the impact of the bacterial strain alone. Then they state: "For this reason, it is possible that strain differences were unrelated to the production of the etiologic [disease causing] agent." They also mention that the manufacturer's tests had shown no difference in the biological and physiological properties of the old and new bacterial strains. So the New England Journal of Medicine does not point to a weird by-product of the genetic engineering process. Also, article sheds a lot of light on the timeline: the first cases of EMS were identified in October 1989 and by early November 1989 the link between tryptophan and EMS had been found. It didn't take months or even years for this to be identified.

I only have two pomegranates left in the fruit basket... I'd better add 'pomegranates' to the shopping list. I wish I could write 'peel-able pomegranates'. I'd pay extra for those suckers.

So here's why I think that this is, by far, the most ridiculous "health impact" on the IRT's webpage and the molecular geneticist in me cringes at the thought that this is even considered a GMO, as defined in the GMO debate. In 1922, the first human patient received an injection of insulin isolated from a calf pancreas, and patients had to rely on insulin isolated from animals until the 1980's. To make human insulin, the DNA sequence of insulin is inserted either into bacteria or yeast, which then start making the protein. It is isolated, purified, and sold to millions of patients worldwide who rely on this lifesaving technology. Patients are not exposed to the bacteria or the yeast. These organisms are just used in the manufacturing process of insulin to make it scalable and, often, easier.

Statistically, insulin is a drug that me or someone I love and care for will probably end up taking in our lifetimes. And insulin isn't the only drug produced this way. Countless other drugs and dietary supplements,  including tryptophan, are produced using recombinant DNA technology (this article highlights that malarial drugs are being made this way). So why is the IRT focusing on this story about tryptophan and EMS? I really can't explain it.

In my perspective, the EMS outbreak highlights another issue altogether: the need to have more stringent regulations in the world of dietary supplements. The quick sequence of changes introduced in the manufacturing process of tryptophan and their immediate rollout to the market would have never even been contemplated if it were regulated as strictly as pharmaceuticals. Or if they wanted to make the changes, they would have had to perform rigorous testing to demonstrate that there's no change in the function of the product. Cutting back on starting material by 50%?? Changing the strain of bacteria used once the product is in the market? Utter craziness!! Please do not misconstrue this and think that I'm implying that the pharma/clinical world is perfect. Far from it. I worked on my first project in regulated markets this year and learned first-hand of the craziness that exists. But at least the regulations and trials that they have to go through put a few checks and balances in place.

Whew! With that rant I finish the review of the IRT's health risks. My conclusion: they focus on fear-mongering. Most statements were misleading or misrepresented the studies, and several statements were outright lies.

Till my next post, I'll continue enjoying pomegranate season and keep my fingers crossed that someone out there is working on a peel-able version of the fruit.

PS: After reviewing this, the spouse thought that the pomegranate seeds should be the size of grapes. Pure genius!