The truth we are getting November 23, 2009

In order to establish the safety of GM foods and remove the concerns of environmentalists and the scientific community, it is imperative that the GM foods are independently tested. These tests would include the safety of the GM foods and how effective they are in living up to the claims. This will be the first step towards bringing more information to the people and removing a lot of misconceptions.

The problem however in this idea is that the big pharma companies have restrictions on the use of their GM products for independent research and analysis. Scientists and researchers therefore cannot analyze these products without facing legal action. This article describes this practice and calls for a removal of these restriction. The agritech companies claim that this is to protect their intellectual property rights and to ensure that they can secure profits, which they can use for research and development later on. This is also purportedly to make sure that he seeds are not replicated. Large biotech firms like Monsanto and Syngenta go further to ban independent analysis to test the claims of these companies and compare them with similar products created by other companies. Moreover, these seeds cannot be tested for adversely harming the environment and more importantly humans.

I personally agree with the demands of the article, that these restrictions should be removed immediately. This is not going to help the industry in anyway, but is likely to add to the growing concerns regarding the GM foods. If we think of it, all the information that we have about the safety of the GM foods, all the information about the benefits have been subjected to regulation by the very firms that produce these products. All the studies made public have undergone approval from the biotech companies. Thus in effect, there is no objective analysis of these goods because of the restrictions in place.

Removing these restrictions on the other hand will allow a free, fair and transparent analysis of the issue, helping to answer all the questions that loom in the minds of the common man. Such studies will help point out problems in the products and the firms will thus have an incentive to improve their GM products and address the safety and health concerns. As far as the intellectual property rights are concerned, it is really important that they are protected, but they should not be made an excuse to compromise the safety of the population. EPA and FDA need to therefore regulate this sector.

Do Seed Companies Control GM Crop Research, Scientific American Editorial, 21 July 2009, http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11311-scientific-american-condemns-restrictions-on-gm-research