Big Ag Blocks Scientific Research of GMOs, Puts All of Us at Risk

With the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) green-lighting genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa and now sugar beets, it looks like America's crop fields will soon see an explosion of new GMOs. But amidst this abundance of Frankenfoods lacks one crucial cog — independent scientific research proving that these crops are actually safe. A pretty monstrous oversight, don't you think?

Environmentalists and sustainable foodies created a media firestorm over the USDA's deregulation of Monsanto's Roundup Ready, GE sugar beets and alfalfa. Thousands of Change.org members have written to both the USDA and President Obama, telling them that the unrestrained planting of these Frankenfoods could destroy the organic meat and dairy industries and lead to a greater reliance on chemical herbicides. Doug Gurian-Sherman, a plant pathologist and senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, recently published an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times that paints an even scarier picture: While we're already seeing some of the havoc that GE crops can wreak (like the rise of superweeds), there's still so much we don't yet know about these plants due to the dearth of independent research on them.

One of the main reasons for this lack of research is that major agrochemical corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta simply refuse to allow independent scientists to study their products. Monsanto, for example, ultimately decides who examines its Roundup Ready seeds and how these folks can research them. It's extremely rare for the company to fork over its wares to university scientists that want to study GMOs. Monsanto claims that it's simply protecting its trade secrets from competitors, but Gurian-Sherman suggests a far more sinister motive: "An experiment could reveal that a GE product is hazardous or doesn't perform as well as promised," he wrote.

What's worse is that Monsanto's shady behavior is completely legal. Under U.S. patent law, companies aren't required to reveal anything that could be classified as a "trade secret." The problem here is that we can't really compare Roundup Ready alfalfa, sugar beets, corn, and soy to an iPod or a ShamWow. GE crops get planted in the soil, impact surrounding wildlife and waterways, and ultimately make their way onto Americans' plates. Limiting independent scientific research of these foods in the name of upholding patent laws makes consumers guinea pigs in a very dangerous, ongoing experiment. Who knows what kind of horrendous effects we'll be seeing down the road?

Monsanto does give USDA scientists access to its seeds for research purposes. But let's be real: Monsanto and its Big Ag brethren have had USDA officials in their pockets for years. There's little GMO research (and a lot of GMO lovin') going on at the USDA. Even when a federal judge decreed that the USDA must conduct an environmental impact statement before deregulating GE sugar beets, the agency went ahead and approved the Frankenbeets anyway. What scientific evidence the USDA does rely on is typically funded by the very same agrochemical companies that manufacture GE crops. Not exactly unbiased research.

"This is not how science should operate," Gurian-Sherman wrote. "Agriculture companies are still the gatekeepers, choosing who gets to do research and what topics are studied." In other words, it's a situation where foxes are guarding the henhouse while the USDA turns a blind eye.

It's simply inexcusable that government agencies fail to require any kind of independent, scientific research on GMOs before these crops are approved for planting. The Obama Administration needs to stop letting agrochemical companies hide behind patent laws and other feeble excuses and start examining Frankenfoods with a critical, scientific eye. You can help pressure government agencies to do just that by signing Food & Water Watch's petition telling the Obama Administration to stop pushing Monsanto's agenda and protect consumers and farmers from the dangers of GE crops.

Photo credit: SierraTierra via Flickr