Torn up about GMO

The last weekend of April the Illinois Corn Growers Association sent me and about 20 other moms to Monsanto in St. Louis. It was a crazy day packed with a lot of information. 

Here our guide explains one of the many grow rooms - rooms with recreated environments from all over the world.

And the totally not weird or scary inside

 I wrote about it before the trip and had several questions I wanted answers for by the time I left. I was not disappointed.

1. What are we doing about cross-pollination with other crops?

The best answer I got about this one was actually from one of the farm moms I toured with.  Katie Pratt told me that on her farm, when planting happens, the farmers who neighbor each other get together to talk about planting plans and schedules. This ensures that if a field of GMO corn is pollinating, the field next door is a different variety which pollinates at a different time. They also talk about wind direction, weather predictions, and then plan for a buffer of soy between the different varieties of corn.

I said to her, so you aren’t like me and may have lived next to your neighbor for seven years and not even really know their names? She sort of gave me the eyebrow and remarked that farming communities always work together.

On this issue I am no longer torn. I don’t think that Monsanto, or other seed companies, are punishing farmers for cross pollination and I believe the farmers are doing their best to make sure that it does not happen.

2. What are we doing about allergies?

This was a top concern of mine. People I love have allergies and I worry that all of the fidgeting around with DNA will create a problem for them. The scientist at the panel discussion informed me of a database of known allergen DNA. They compare this to the modified DNA and if there is a match – they go back to the drawing board. It seems to me that they are being very responsible about known allergens.

Here is where I am torn. What if they are creating new allergens that we won’t know about until someone or a lot of someone’s have a reaction to it? To be fair, I didn’t ask this question of the panel. It is still concerning to me.

3.  Why aren’t we labeling – and not just that the food is GMO but with information available by the food’s code on what has been modified and why.

I did not get an answer from the panel about this, but at the airport I talked to another farm mom, Deb, and she said that this was something that would have to be addressed on a Federal level and couldn’t really be assigned to a seed company. Ok. I will buy that.

4. Why aren’t we letting farmers keep seed?

Now Katie told me that they don’t want to keep the seed and reuse it – the genetics of any seed may deteriorate over generations. Farmers in her community are not crying out to keep seed.

Here is another place I am torn. If they cannot keep the seed – won’t the seed companies ultimately have control of the distribution of food? Now they say that it is because of the patent on the biotechnology. That because the seed company owns the technology then the only way for them to be profitable is for them to also own the product of that technology. It is the most American of ideas.

5.  How long do patents last? Can they expire like copyrights and the food is returned to the public domain? 

So here is where I really run into trouble.  I don’t believe that anyone should own a patent on a living organism. A seed is the beginning of life. It is a fundamental difference in my personal philosophy. It is at the crux of the GMO-hating among most of my community.

           

In the end, I am for the science. I am for increasing the food supply and making things grow better.

 But in the end I am against owning a patent on life. 

That is where I stand. 

That is where I am torn. 

Travel expenses within St. Louis and lunch provided by Monsanto