GM is the acronym for "genetic modification." Genetic modification is now the term used by most of the English-speaking world to refer to genetic engineering. GMO, in turn, denotes a genetically modified organism.
For a complete definition of genetic engineering, see the Sierra Club policy on genetic engineering, which I helped write, and edited, in 2000.
http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/biotech.asp
Genetic engineering makes changes in the genome of an organism that cannot be achieved using conventional breeding methods. Genes from completely unrelated species can be engineered into a plant. A fish gene, for example, has been engineered into a strawberry plant.
It is the consensus of the Sierra Club national Genetic Engineering Committee (GEC), of which I am a voting member, that, in a phrase I wrote several years ago, "Genetic engineering is genetic damage, deliberately inflicted."
The genetic damage that is genetic engineering cannot be recalled, once a GMO has been released into the environment. GMOs can be considered a form of living pollution; their hacked genes will multiply and spread throughout the environment.
To produce a genetically-engineered organism is therefore a task that should be undertaken with the utmost care, even if the organism is to be confined to a laboratory. The release of GMOs into the environment, as is the case with farm crops that now cover millions of acres in Iowa, should be done with extreme caution, if it is done at all.
Extreme caution has not been used in the development and marketing of GMO farm crops. Our federal government, to the contrary, has been the enthusiastic promoter of GMOs in farming, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, dating back to at least the first Bush presidency.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), first of all, against the advice of staff scientists, adopted the false concept of substantial equivalence, which means that if only one or a few foreign genes are engineered into a plant, the plant remains so nearly the same as a normal plant that there is no need for safety testing. In fact, it is known that the GE process itself causes disturbances throughout the DNA of the plant. These mutations are ample cause for thorough safety testing, yet no such testing is being done.
Based on the false doctrine of substantial equivalence, the FDA does not require labeling of foods containing GMO ingredients. If illnesses are being caused by GMOs in our food supply, therefore, it will be next to impossible to trace them to their source. Lack of labeling, as well, deprives consumers of their right to choose non-GMO foods.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has seen its role not as the protector of consumers but as the protector of the genetic engineering industry.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken far too narrow a view of the environmental effects of planting GMO crops in the environment.
Tom
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In a message dated 8/26/2005 6:42:29 AM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
Subj:Re: GM farming uses more pesticides not less
Date:8/26/2005 6:42:29 AM Central Daylight Time
From: [log in to unmask] (Dennis & Linda Nicholson)
Sender: [log in to unmask] (Iowa Discussion, Alerts and Announcements)
Reply-to: [log in to unmask] (Iowa Discussion, Alerts and Announcements)
To: [log in to unmask]
At the risk of showing my ignorance, what is GM farming? I suggest initials be defined before being used.
Dennis Nicholson
----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas Mathews
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 5:41 AM
Subject: GM farming uses more pesticides not less
I think it's time for an Exxpose Pioneer Hi-Bred campaign. (Sierra Club is now conducting an "Exxpose Exxon" campaign. Pioneer is based right here in Iowa; Exxon is not.)
Tom Mathews
Subj: GM farming uses more pesticides not less
Date: 8/11/2005 3:16:09 AM Central Daylight Time
From: [log in to unmask] (Laurel Hopwood)
Sender: [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum)
Reply-to: [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum)
To: [log in to unmask]
GM farming uses more pesticides not less
A new report, "Genetically Engineered Crops and Pesticide Use in the United
States: The
First Nine Years" by Chuck Benbrook reveals that farmers now use more
pesticides on
the top three genetically engineered (GE) crops--corn, soybeans, and
cotton--than on
conventional varieties. It predicts that the intensity of herbicide use on
GE crops is not
likely to subside in the near future because of the popularity of herbicide
tolerant (HT)
varieties (tolerant to glyphosate), the limited supply of seeds for non-HT
varieties, and
increasingly aggressive pesticide industry campaigns targeting farmers
growing HT
crops.
Available as a free download at
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/biotechnology/page.cfm?pageID=1542