GE fears and facts

by CARROLL DU CHATEAU

Fear: Genetic engineering contaminates organic food.

Fact: There is no scientific reason for banning GE ingredients from organic food. Some GE products (in which existing genes are merely turned up or down) are purer than traditional organic foods.

Fear:

GE adds animal genes to fruits and vegetables.

Fact:

95 per cent of present GE involves working with a particular plant's own DNA.

Fear:

GE crops will prove too expensive for the Third World.

Fact:

Some scientists say that GE crops with added vitamins and built-in resistance to drought have the potential to alleviate hunger, disease and suffering.

Fear:

Any GE cropping will stop New Zealand going organic.

Fact:

Turning New Zealand's five million hectares of hill country into organic pasture would be next to impossible.

Fear:

GE food may cause illness and cancer.

Fact:

Although it has been eaten by 300 million people over six years, no deaths or illness have been attributed to GE food.

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