permaculture

[Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>]

A few comments follow...
At 10:12 AM 4/24/02 -0400, you wrote:
> Hey folks,
>
> I'm trying to figure out something related to GMO foods.  I've been hearing
> that 60% of the US-based food supply contains GMOs in some sort or fashion,
> including a lot you get at health food stores.  Moreover, 80% of the soy
> crop is a GMO, because the seeds are controlled by goliath ag-chem
> interests, which I'm sure is true, but I don't have any direct experience
> with this.

GMO soybeans are wildly popular because the system is very slick, cheep and 
easy to use.  The beans get drilled in tight rows and are generally sprayed 
once.  Chemical use would be at or below former use levels.  This is also 
an excellent system for knocking back perennial weeds.  World market prices 
for soy are terrible and unlikely to come back up due to the success of 
this system of cultivation which is spreading to many other countries.  In 
this context there is very little incentive for farmers to change.  Also 
IMO this system is much more sustainable and less damaging than traditional 
tillage based cultivation of beans, and possibly better than many no till 
systems due to the relatively low toxicity of glphosphates and their quick 
degradation in soil.

> When purchasing soy products, how can one tell?  The labels don't say one
> way or the other.  I posed this question to an agent of Nature's Sunshine
> Products in Spanish Fork, Utah.  NSP has the most advanced  lab in the
> supplement industry, and they have the toughest specs in the industry for
> growers to meet: thngs like species consistency (only that herb), color
> variation, active ingredient levels, plant parts (tops vs. seeds and
> stems), organic, and no pesticides.  They say that even with these specs
> growers still ship in material that doesn't meet them so they end up
> rejecting 6%, which they say goes back to the supplier (and is usually
> shipped to another manufacturer.)

Organic products should be GMO free.  Soy is much easier to isolate than 
corn as it is a self pollinating crop, so GMO free is realistic here.  GMO 
free corn is a total joke, almost impossible given wind pollination and 
contamination by seed companies.

> When it comes to soy, their labs can't detect a GMO if it was grown
> organic, so they send reps out to the fields and .... that's where they
> lost me.

I doubt this is the case.  A simple PCR test should be able to detect the 
GMO strains.

>  I know they're concerned about GMOs, but I don't understand how
> they can tell?  Does anybody know what they can do?  And what we can do on
> a local level?  I know my local food coop doesn't have a lab or go to this
> trouble.  We trust our local growers but where do they get their seeds?
> This affects a ton of products, found in health food stores, like Tofu,
> TVP, all kinds of stuff.

Buy organic.

> The GMOs are designed to be pesticied-resistant so farmers can use even
> more chemicals (which they do) to knock out everything else but the GMO.

The former chemicals used were far more toxic and had longer carryover than 
glphosphates.  This is probably a net gain for the environment.

> The only way to stop this is to not buy the stuff.  But it's coming in
> under the radar (they're not stupid).  Europe has risen up against this (so
> I hear, is it really true?) but American agri-business political forces are
> too powerful to sway the USDA.   What's an organic consumer to do?
>
> Gene Monaco

The trade negotiation will be the major battle ground as the US tries to 
force GMOs and the more dangerous (IMO) hormone treated beef and BST milk 
into the European market.  At this time most organic products should avoid 
all but traces of these products and certainly will not send any money to 
Monsanto et. al.

One bit of editorial content - I personally don't worry about the GMO soy, 
if there were major problems I think we would have seen it in the US by 
now.  I'm far more concerned about the BT crops which pump unprecedented 
amounts of BT toxin into the soil, and will ultimately lead to BT resistant 
pests.
If anyone really wants to know I can explain how the glphosphates 
resistance works and why it does not really worry me.
Mark



Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM