Student Example
Tualatin High School Student
22300 SW Boones Ferry Rd.
Tualatin, OR 97062
December 13th, 2013
Julie Parrish
Representative Julie Parrish
900 Court St. NE, H-390,
Salem, Oregon 97301
Dear Representative Julie Parrish:
I am writing to you about the controversial Oregon State Bill 863. At the moment, I am a Biology student at Tualatin High School; and for the past three weeks I have been allowed to discover the reasoning behind creating Genetically Modified Organisms and what they can be used for.
There has been many organisms inserted with genetic material over the years, a few of which include: Corn, Soy Products, and Cotton Plants. Genetically Modified Organisms have become a controversial subject, being that there are many facets to understanding what Genetically Modified Organisms are as well as their benefits and hindrances.
Some of its foreseeable advantages are the ability for more crops to be produced in a shorter period of time. This could help to support countries not as fortunate as our own, where everyday, people are dying of starvation. One such example would be the creation of “Golden Rice.” In Golden Rice, beta carotene has been inserted in order to produce a more nutritious type of rice. Unfortunately, many of the people that the Golden Rice is supposed to be helping are against consuming the Genetically Modified Rice. There is also the fact that Genetically Modified Foods are cheaper. Many families wish to eat healthy foods but there is a general consensus that organic food can be more expensive than junk food. Not to mention the fact that there are still the people unable to form opinions because they do not have enough information about Genetically Modified Organisms, as Tamar Haspel wrote, ... I talked with James Hammitt, director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis and a professor of economics and decision sciences. “Risks that are uncertain and dreaded tend to be more feared,” he said. GMOs are relatively new, poorly understood by many consumers, and in violation of our sense that food should be natural. Not only are those risks uncertain and dreaded, they’re visited on people trying to feed their families healthfully and safely while the benefits accrue to farmers and biotech companies. All of that adds up to an atmosphere that makes a reasoned debate difficult. 1
As helpful as Genetically Modified Organisms could possibly be to the world, there are still some unknown factors. This is one of the many reasons that people continue to abstain from consuming Genetically Modified Organisms. Not to mention that some studies conducted by independent laboratories have shown that there may be some side effects to the consumption of Genetically Modified Foods for a prolonged amount of time.
Around the world, as well as locally, many parents are unsure as to whether or not they will be able to afford make a dinner for their families. U.S. Census Bureau information has shown that Tualatin has about an 8% unemployment rate.
This means that they must find work, dependable or not, in order to feed their families. Taking all of this information into account, my opinion about Genetically Modified Organisms is that they still may have the capacity to cause more harm than good.
There have been studies that have found that GMOs, or Genetically Modified Organisms, can cause lasting harm to a warm-blooded creatures. In fact, on January 27, 2007, a study overseen by Dr. Mae-Won Ho, Director of the London-based Institute for Science in Society, found that, “female rats given a supplement of GM Roundup Ready soya beginning two weeks before mating and continuing afterwards through pregnancy and lactation produced litters in which more than a third of the pups were severely stunted, and over half of the pups died within three weeks after birth. Stunting was five to six times, and mortality six to eight times, those of control litters produced by females on normal rat pellets only, or rat-pellets supplemented with non-GM soya. These results were confirmed in further experiments. In addition, the surviving pups from the GM soya-fed females were completely sterile when mated with one another, whether they continued to be fed GM soya or not.”2 Such findings suggest that if GMO’s are allowed to enter our food, and eventually our bodies, it will cause serious risks to human lives around the Nation.
Many highly respectable people have begun to stand up to companies like Monsanto, in defiance, and reason exists for their efforts of resistance. As explained by Jeffrey Smith, “the most commonly genetically altered foods so far are soy, corn, cotton and canola oil. Genetic engineers have produced spermicidal corn (good for population control) as well as attempted such stunts as mixing spider genes with goats in the hopes of milking goats for spider web protein to make bullet-proof vests. Mr. Smith assures us he is not making this up. “Tobacco science,” a term inspired by the methods of the tobacco companies, is being used by the biotech industry for their safety studies. They use the wrong control group, wrong detection methods, wrong statistics and short duration tests so cancer, birth defects and so on are not detected. The FDA has claimed it had no information that GMOs are any different from natural foods. A 1998 lawsuit proved they lied about this claim . . . again. Why would they do that? Perhaps because one of the people in charge on and off at the FDA is Michael Taylor, former attorney and vice-president for Monsanto. Monsanto is one of the biggest names in GMO production.”3
Such information gives serious cause for concern, not only could Genetically Modified Organisms potentially harm humans; but they also provide reason for environmental concern. The existence of corn and other plants whose pollen and seed can spread by air has contributed the decimation of heirloom seeds. Heirloom seeds are seeds that have been passed down through generations and have had no genetic modifications. Sadly, “as the 20th century progressed, the small regional seed companies began a process of merging and consolidating. This consolidation often included the dropping of less profitable or similar varieties from the line of the new company. These mergers accelerated at an alarming rate through the 1970s and 1980s. Thousands of old varieties were dropped and unless they were in the holdings of the USDA seed bank or a private collection, forever lost.”4
There have been countless examples of how GMOs could negatively affect the people of the world, and yet we have not bothered to question if the countries that we intend to help with GMOs may accept our help. In fact, “delegates from 18 African countries at a meeting of the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization responded to Monsanto’s advertisements with a clear statement: “We... strongly object that the image of the poor and hungry from our countries is being used by giant multinational corporations to push a technology that is neither safe, environmentally friendly, nor economically beneficial to us. We do not believe that such companies or gene technologies will help our farmers to produce the food that is needed... On the contrary... it will undermine our capacity to feed ourselves.”5 The certainty with which these words were spoken brings many new challenges to biotech companies, but it also brings a breath of fresh air to organic farmers. The only way for either GMO companies or organic farmers is for them to have a consumer who wants to buy their product, and at this point,I can say without a doubt that I believe that there are enough consumers who want their food to be GMO-free to be able to support the passing of a bill that will require the labeling of Genetically Modified Food.
Thank You For Your Support.
Sincerely,
Concerned Student
1 Haspel, Tamar. "Genetically Modified Foods: What Is and Isn’t True." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
2 Ho, Mae-Wan. "Making the World GM-Free and Sustainable." Making the World GM-Free and Sustainable - Weston A Price Foundation. Weston A. Price Foundation, 27 Jan. 2007. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
3 Smith, Jeffrey. "Genetic Roulette by Jeffrey Smith - Weston A Price Foundation." Genetic Roulette by Jeffrey Smith. The West A. Price Foundation, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 07 Dec. 2013.
4 Smith, Jeffrey. "Genetic Roulette by Jeffrey Smith - Weston A Price Foundation." Genetic Roulette by Jeffrey Smith. The West A. Price Foundation, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 07 Dec. 2013.
5 Robbins, John. "Are Genetically Altered Foods The Answer to World Hunger? | Earth Island Journal | Earth Island Institute." Are Genetically Altered Foods The Answer to World Hunger? Earth Island Journal, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.