By Kavin Senapathy
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Dear Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ginnifer
Goodwin, Sarah Gilbert, Jillian Michaels, Jordana Brewster, and other celebrity
moms speaking against the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act:
We are scientists, science communicators, and farmers. We
come from varying educational backgrounds, work in different careers, live
across the country, and are of different ethnicities. Like you, we are moms.
As parents, we can all agree that our greatest fear is
harm to our children. President Obama said after the Sandy Hook school
shooting, “Someone once described the joy and anxiety of parenthood as the
equivalent of having your heart outside of your body all the time, walking
around. With their very first cry, this most precious, vital part of ourselves
— our child — is suddenly exposed to the world.”
We know your statements come from love and concern for
your children, because ours do, too. We feel that it is our responsibility to
clarify misconceptions about genetically engineered or genetically modified
organisms, often called GMOs. We want to provide insight into why we feed our
families food containing ingredients derived from GMOs and explain why we
oppose mandatory GMO labeling.
Plant breeding and genetic engineering
Scientists use many methods to create new plant
varieties. A plant’s taste and color, drought and pest resistance are encoded
in genes in the plant’s DNA. Traditionally, new plant varieties are created by
cross-pollinating plants with desired characteristics. But in the same way that
we cannot choose only our best traits to give to our children, a plant breeder
cannot choose which traits are in the resulting plants. It’s left to chance.
In radiation mutagenesis, plants are bombarded with
radiation in hopes that a desirable trait will result from random breaks in the
plant’s DNA. This method has been used for decades and has led to many new
plant varieties that we enjoy, including varieties of wheat, peppermint, and
grapefruit. These plants are eligible for the USDA’s organic label and are not
considered GMOs. Other plant breeding tools include chemical mutagenesis, cell
fusion, and chromosome doubling.
Genetic engineering is simply another plant breeding
tool. It results in a targeted genetic change or adds one or a few carefully
chosen genes to a plant. The technology may sound scary, but genes actually
transfer naturally between species. Genetic engineering has been used for
decades to make life-saving medicines including insulin. Hundreds of studies
show that the process used to create GMOs, and the GM products currently on the
market are safe, and scientific bodies around the world agree.
The genetically engineered plants used today allow
farmers to apply fewer insecticides and less toxic herbicides. Some are disease
resistant and drought tolerant. Apples and potatoes that are just now entering
the market will reduce food waste due to brown spots and bruises. Scientists
have developed additional beneficial traits that haven’t reached the market due
to unfounded fears and a burdensome regulatory system. Examples include citrus
greening resistant oranges that could save the US citrus industry, and blight
resistant chestnut trees that could repopulate the great chestnut forests of
the US and provide habitat and food for wildlife.
Genetic engineering has even greater potential to help
farmers and families in other countries. Nutritionally enhanced plants like
super cassava and golden rice can help get children the nutrients they need to
grow up healthy and strong. Insect resistant eggplant and other pest or disease
resistant plants can reduce the need for pesticides and help increase farmer
incomes so they can send their children to school. We worry that anti GMO
sentiments in the US could slow adoption of these plants in the places where
they are most needed.
Food labeling
As moms, we endorse informative, relevant food labeling
to protect consumers and help us nourish our bodies with varied, balanced, and
healthy diets. For example, labeling for nut, milk, or egg residue is relevant.
Severe allergic reactions are a real concern. Nutritional information of
protein, fats, fiber, sugar, vitamins, and minerals are also relevant. This
information empowers parents to prepare nutritionally balanced meals.
You say you have the “right to know what’s in our food”.
Labeling whether a product contains ingredients derived from a GMO crop tells
you nothing about what is “in” the food. Genetic engineering is a breeding
method, not a product. It isn’t an ingredient to scoop into a bowl. For
example, sugar from GMO sugar beets is just sucrose, there is nothing “in” it.
It is just like sugar from sugar cane.
All food comes from organisms that have been genetically
altered by humans, with the exception of a few wild plants and animals. The
ancestors of bananas, carrots, and many other foods are almost unrecognizable.
In the same way that information on whether a home was built using an old
fashioned hammer or a modern nail gun does not inform you about the home’s
safety or quality, knowing whether foods contain ingredients derived from GMOs
does not tell you about safety or quality.
There are thousands of different varieties of corn grown
across the US, yet we know all of them as “corn” regardless of the breeding
techniques used in their development, and regardless of the many differences in
DNA sequences between varieties. Each farmer chooses which variety to grow and
which practices to use based on the environmental and economic conditions on
their farm. The term “GMO” doesn’t reveal whether a plant variety is patented,
what pesticides were used in its production, the size of the farm, or other
details that many labeling advocates may find important. These production
process details and many others are currently indicated though voluntary
process-based labels such as certified-humane, kosher, halal or grass-fed.
Organic and voluntary non-GMO labels, both of which exclude GMO ingredients,
are very common and provide that choice and information to those who want it.
Mandatory labeling of foods with GMO ingredients will
increase fear, and make foods more expensive for Americans families. The “Safe
and Accurate Food Labeling Act” recently passed in the House and is being
discussed in the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee.
Anti-GMO activists, including Organic Consumers Association, Only Organic, GMO
Free USA and more, have portrayed it as an attempt to hide what’s in our food,
calling it the “Denying Americans the Right to Know” Act. However, the text of
the bill states that a GMO should be labeled if it is materially different from
its non-GMO counterpart, while specifying that the mere fact of being GMO is
not enough to be classified as materially different. The bill also registers
all GMOs that are used in food production, establishes a national GMO food
certification program to avoid a state-by-state patchwork of GMO definitions,
and creates national standards for labeling GMOs.
Call to Action
Please, don’t co-opt motherhood and wield your fame to
oppose beneficial technologies like genetic engineering. Certain celebrities
have misled thousands of parents into thinking that vaccines are harmful, and
we see the same pattern of misinformation repeating itself here. When GMOs are
stigmatized, farmers and consumers aren’t able to benefit from much-needed
advancements like plants with increased nutrients, or plants that can adapt to
changing environmental stresses.
We, like millions of other Americans, line up to see your
movies, and respect your occupation. Though our jobs differ, we share a common
goal: to raise healthy, happy, successful kids. As moms we feel it is our
responsibility to use the best available information to protect our children’s health,
and to let the best science inform the choices we make for our families. We ask
you to take the time to learn about how genetic engineering is being used by
farmers, and the potential it has to help other moms raise healthy, happy,
successful kids.
You have the opportunity to influence millions of people,
so please use that influence responsibly, and ensure that your advocacy is
supported by facts, not fear. Contact any or all of the undersigned, chat with
farmers who grow biotech plants, or visit a college campus and talk with
experts. We’re happy to discuss how this breeding method of genetic engineering
could be used in harmony with many other approaches to help feed the world’s
growing population, protect our environment, and preserve the Earth’s natural
resources for all of our children.
Sincerely,
• Kavin
Senapathy: Freelance writer, science popularizer, co-founder of March Against
Myths, mother of two (ages 4 and 2)
• Dr. Layla
Katiraee: Scientist, writer at FrankenFoodFacts and Biology Fortified, and
mother of a 3-year-old
• Dr. Anastasia
Bodnar: Scientist, co-founder of the non-profit Biology Fortified, Inc., and
mother of a 15-month-old
• Dr. Alison
Bernstein: Scientist, writer, mother of two (ages 7 and 2), AKA “Mommy PhD”
• Julie Borlaug:
Associate Director for external relations at the Norman Borlaug Institute for
International Agriculture, and Strategic Initiatives, Texas A&M AgriLife
Research, and mother of a 6-year-old
• Dr. Alison Van
Eenennaam: University researcher and animal biotechnology specialist, and
mother of two (ages 15 and 17)
• Sarah Schultz:
Nurse, wife of a farmer, writer at Nurse Loves Farmer, mother of two (ages 5
and 2)
• Sara, science
communicator and blogger at It’s Momsense, mother of two (ages 5 and 7)
• Jenny
Splitter: Writer at Grounded Parents, storyteller, mother of two (ages 11 and
4), Science Activist and food allergy parent
• Joni Kamiya:
Biotech papaya farmer’s daughter, blogger at Hawaii Farmer’s Daughter. Mother
of three (ages 7 months, 5, and 10)
• Jennie
Schmidt, MS, RD – Farmer & Registered Dietitian, AKA “The Foodie Farmer”,
mother of two (ages 15 and 17)
• Dr. Denneal
Jamison-McClung: University biotechnology educator, program administrator and
mother of an 11-year-old
• Krista
Stauffer: Dairy farmer, writer, blogger at The Farmer’s Wifee, Founder of Ask
the Farmers and mother of three (ages 8, 5, and 3).
***Please use hashtag #Moms4GMOs to add your own message
on social media!***
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