Genetically Modified and Irradiated Food: Controversial Issues: Facts versus Perceptions

295 Pages·2020·6.798 MB·English

by  Dr. Veslemøy Andersen (editor)

Genetically Modified
and Irradiated Food
Controversial Issues: Facts
versus Perceptions
Edited by
Veslemøy Andersen, PhD
Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI)
Vienna, Austria
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Contributors
Amos Oladimeji Adubi, MSc
Laboratory ofEcotoxicology,Genetics and Nanobiotechnology,Environmental
BiologyUnit, Department of Pureand Applied Biology,Ladoke Akintola
UniversityofTechnology,Ogbomoso,OyoState,Nigeria;DepartmentofBiology,
School ofScience,College ofEducation,Lanlate, Oyo State, Nigeria
Veslemøy Andersen
GHI Association, GlobalHarmonization Initiative, c/oUniversity ofNatural
Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU),Vienna, Austria
David Adedayo Animasaun,PhD
DepartmentofPlantBiology,Faculty ofLifeSciences,UniversityofIlorin,Ilorin,
Kwara State,Nigeria
Maria-Mihaela Antofie
AssociateProfessor attheUniversity “Lucian Blaga” ofSibiu,Facultyof
Agricultural Studies, Food Industry and Environmental Protection, Sibiu,
Romania
Musibau Adewuyi Azeez, PhD
Laboratory ofEcotoxicology,Genetics and Nanobiotechnology,Environmental
BiologyUnit, Department of Pureand Applied Biology,Ladoke Akintola
University ofTechnology, Ogbomoso,Oyo State, Nigeria
Joseph JohnBevelacqua, PhD
Bevelacqua Resources, Richland,WA,UnitedStates
R. Blair, BSc,PhD,DSc
FacultyofLand &Food Systems, University ofBritish Columbia,Vancouver,
Canada
Luc Bodiguel
DirectorofResearch,NationalCenterofScientificResearch(CNRS),UMR6297
“DroitetChangement Social” (Law and Social Change)AssociatedProfessor,
FacultyofLaw ofNantes and IHEDREA (Paris),France
Moise´s Burachik, PhD
Director,Regulatory Affairs, INDEAR, Rosario, SantaFe Province,Argentina
Josias Correade Faria, PhD,Plant Pathology
Embrapa Rice and Beans, SantoAntonio de Goia´s, GO, Brazil
FeliciaAdejoke Durodola,MSc
Laboratory ofEcotoxicology,Genetics and Nanobiotechnology,Environmental
BiologyUnit, Department of Pureand Applied Biology,Ladoke Akintola
University ofTechnology, Ogbomoso,Oyo State, Nigeria
xiii
xiv Contributors
AndreNepomuceno Dusi, PhD,Virology
Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply,Esplanada dos Ministe´rios,
Brası´lia, DF,Brazil
Ronald F.Eustice
Tucson, AZ, United States
Deise Maria Fontana Capalbo,Bs, MSc, PhD,Food Engineering
Embrapa Environment, Jaguariu´na,SP, Brazil
Jan-HendrikGroenewald, BSc,BSc(Hons), MSc, PhD
ExecutiveManager-BiosafetySouthAfrica,SomersetWest,WesternCape,South
Africa
S.M. Javad Mortazavi,PhD
Diagnostic Imaging Department,Fox Chase Cancer Center,Philadelphia, PA,
United States
Kubiriba Jerome, PhD
NationalAgricultural Research Laboratories-Kawanda,National Agricultural
Research Organisation, Kampala,Uganda
Tindamanyire Jimmy, PhD
NationalAgricultural Research Laboratories-Kawanda,National Agricultural
Research Organisation, Kampala,Uganda
NamagandaJosephine, PhD
NationalAgricultural Research Laboratories-Kawanda,National Agricultural
Research Organisation, Kampala,Uganda
Marie-Laurence Lemay,PhD
De´partementdebiochimie,demicrobiologie,etdebio-informatique,Faculte´ des
sciences etde ge´nie, Universite´ Laval, Que´bec City, QC, Canada; Groupe de
rechercheene´cologiebuccale,Faculte´ deme´decinedentaire,Universite´ Laval,
Que´becCity,QC, Canada
Marı´aSalome´ Mariotti-Celis, PhD
Programa Institucional de Fomento a laInvestigacio´n,Desarrollo e Innovacio´n,
Universidad Tecnolo´gica Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile
Endre Ma´the´, PhD
Associate Professor at theUniversity of Debrecen, Faculty ofAgricultural and
Food Sciences and Environmental Management,Nutritional Geneticsand
GenomicsResearchGroup,Debrecen,Hungary;Professoratthe“VasileGoldi¸s”
WesternUniversity ofArad, Faculty ofMedicine, Department ofLife Sciences,
Arad, Romania
Contributors xv
SylvainMoineau
De´partementdebiochimie,demicrobiologie,etdebio-informatique,Faculte´ des
scienceset de ge´nie, Universite´ Laval,Que´bec City,QC, Canada;Groupe de
rechercheene´cologiebuccale,Faculte´ deme´decinedentaire,Universite´ Laval,
Que´becCity,QC,Canada;Fe´lixd’He´relleReferenceCenterforBacterialViruses,
Faculte´ de me´decine dentaire, Universite´ Laval, Que´bec City, QC, Canada;
Professor,Biochemistry,Microbiology,&Bioinformatics, Universite´ Laval,
Quebec City,QC, Canada
Joseph Akintade Morakinyo, PhD
DepartmentofPlantBiology,Faculty ofLifeSciences,UniversityofIlorin,Ilorin,
Kwara State,Nigeria
Jun Nishihira, MD, PhD
Department ofMedical Management and Informatics, Hokkaido Information
University,EbetsuCity,Hokkaido,Japan;Professor,HealthInformation Science
Center,Hokkaido Information University,Ebetsu,Hokkaido, Japan
WayneA.Parrott,BS, MS, PhD
Professor,Dept.ofCrop and Soil Sciences, & Instituteof Plant Breeding,
Genetics, and Genomics, University ofGeorgia, Athens, GA, USA
Franco Pedreschi, PhD
Departamentode Ingenierı´a Qu´ımica yBioprocesos, Pontificia Universidad
Cato´lica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Anuradha Prakash,PhD
Food Science Program, Schmid Collegeof Science and Technology, Chapman
University,One University Drive, Orange, CA, United States
Namanya Priver, PhD
NationalAgricultural Research Laboratories-Kawanda,NationalAgricultural
Research Organisation, Kampala, Uganda
J.M. Regenstein
Professor,EmeritusofFoodScience,HeadoftheCornellKosherandHalalFood
Initiative, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,UnitedStates; Department ofFood
Science,CollegeofAgricultureandLifeSciences,CornellUniversity,Ithaca,NY,
United States
Alan H.Schulman
Professor,Production Research,Natural ResourcesInstitute (Luke),Helsinki,
Finland;InstituteofBiotechnologyandViikkiPlantScienceCentre,Universityof
Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
xvi Contributors
Buah Stephen,PhD
NationalAgricultural Research Laboratories-Kawanda,National Agricultural
Research Organisation, Kampala,Uganda
Tushemereirwe Wilberforce, PhD
NationalAgricultural Research Laboratories-Kawanda,National Agricultural
Research Organisation, Kampala,Uganda
Introduction
In the past 200 years, science has evolved with important discoveries that have an
enormousinfluenceonlifetimeexpectations,suchasthediscoverythatmicroorgan-
ismsarethecauseofdiseasesandfoodspoilage.Asaresult,methodshavebeenand
arecontinuallydevelopedtocontrolthegrowthofthesemicroorganismsordestroy
them. Thanks to pasteurization, food could be preserved for a long time, avoiding
famines in wintertime. Due to the discovery of antibiotics, people need not die of
pneumonia anymore and vaccines took care of many, often deadly, viral diseases
andeliminatedpox(variola)completely(IRIS/PAHO,1980).Sciencealsoresulted
inthedevelopmentoftechnologiesthatmadepossibletosee,literally,whatmaybe
wronginthebodyandsavelivesbyincreasinglyprecisesurgeryandevenbyreplac-
ingdamagedpartsbyartificialones.Theresultisthat,onaverage,peoplelivenow
twiceas long as200 yearsago (Roser, 2018).
Regrettably,however,manypeopleforget,neverknew,ordonotrealizethatthey
livehappilybeyondtheageof30,thankstotheapplicationofscientificdiscoveries
anddevelopments.Itisequallyunfortunatethatsomepeoplediscoveredthatbeing
negativeabout science can be a source of good income. Books that claim, without
any evidence, that science is not the cure but the cause of many diseases sell
well. There is tremendous media coverage every time that somebody claims that
vaccinesdonotpreventdiseasesbutmakepeopleill,sothatthepharmaceuticalin-
dustrycansellmoremedicines.Withoutprocessing,muchfoodwouldspoilbefore
consumption. Nevertheless, when authors of popular books about food claim that
processing of food is solely for the benefit of large food industries at the expense
of the common people, these books receive much media attention and sell well.
The same applies to improvement of crops. Governments are accused to allow all
thisbecausetheyhaveprofitablerelationswiththesecompanies.BarbaraPeterson,
theownerofthewebsite“FarmWars”whoisleadinga“revolution”againstindustry
andgovernment(Peterson,2009),writesonherwebpage:“Wearealreadyhavingto
dealwithfoodthatisinjectedwithforeigngenes(GMOs),blastedwithpesticides,
irradiated beyond recognition, pasteurized, homogenized, scraped off a slaughter-
house floor, and making us sicker by the minute, ..”(Peterson, 2010).
Thisconstitutesachallengefordecentscientistswhomustfindwaystoprevent
toomanypeoplejustbelievingwhatisclaimedbysomebodywholooksgood,hasa
highposition,suchaspopulistpresidentsorprimeministersinanincreasingnumber
ofcountries,orisafamoussingerormoviestar.Thesepeopleoftenknowthatthey
are lying, but they are unscrupulous and have found out that the lying gives them
morepower,moremoney,orboth.Theystatethattherearechemicalsin“normal”
foodandthattherefore“organic”foodissafer,thususingorganicfoodpreventscon-
sumers from eating carcinogenic substances, ignoring that there are many natural
carcinogens inanyfood, “organic” ornot.
Consumers need to knowthat everything,includingfood, is chemistryand that
chemicals are not, by definition, unhealthy. There is no lifewithout chemicals and
xvii
xviii Introduction
onlyifcertainchemicalsareconsumedintoohighamounts,theymaycauseharm.
Notenoughingestionofvitaminsandmanymineralsisalsoharmfulandovertime
canbedeadly.Toomuch,however,isharmfulandcanbefatal.Mankind(likeevery-
thing that lives) has been exposed to an unbelievablevariety of chemicals for mil-
lions of years. Thanks to evolution, the survivorsdincluding mankinddlearned
to cope with those chemicals and often benefit from them. That is why we still
live today. If we do not overload our body’s protective system, which basically
means thatif we eat enough and varied, on average, we stay healthy.
Persistent misinformation, lacking any reference to truthful and verifiable pub-
lishedresearch,isalsousedtomakeconsumersbelievethatirradiatedfoodisradio-
active and that food produced with genetically modified (GM) seeds changes the
human genes. You will glow during the night and your progeny will be inhuman,
beyondrecognition.
Whyisitthatsomanypeoplebelievemisinformation?AccordingtoJohnBargh,
aprofessorinpsychologyattheYaleUniversityinNewHaven,Connecticut,USA,
who studied the unconsciousmind fordecades,thisis largelyduetothe brainthat
has learned over the ages that it is best tofollowa leader and tofollow the largest
group, because it gives better protection against the enemy (Bargh, 2017). People
who want to make their decisions consciously need more time but may come to
different conclusions. Many people do not take that time nor have the interest to
study available information; they follow the leader with the biggest mouth. While
populations in poor countries will increasingly depend on GM food, organizations
like Green Peace encourage people to destroy GM crops in test fields, sometimes
evenstimulated by thegovernment (VariousSources,2019).
The purpose of this book is to provide scientifically correct information on ge-
netic modification and food irradiation, based on peer-reviewed articles published
in high-quality scientific journals. That is why this book has many pages of refer-
ences helping interested readers to verify statements and conclusions provided in
thevariouschapters.Thesechaptersarewrittenbydedicatedhighlyqualifiedexpert
scientists, from all continents. It is hoped that the book provides tools to help the
readers to debunk misinformation, e.g., when teaching, presenting at conferences,
andin debates withpoliticians.
Huub Lelieveld,Dr
GlobalHarmonizationInitiative(GHI),Vienna,Austria
References
Bargh,J.,2017.BeforeYouKnowIt:TheUnconsciousReasonsWeDoWhatWeDo.William
Heinemann,London.
IRIS/PAHO,1980.SmallpoxEradication.EpidemiologicalBulletin1(1),5e7.
Peterson,B.H.,2009.Farmwars.info.https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/F9UNud.
Peterson,B.H.,2010.Farmwars.info.https://pdf.printfriendly.com/pdfs/1563219421_395f8b/
download.
Introduction xix
Roser,M.,2018.TwiceasLongeLifeExpectancyAroundtheWorld.OurWorldinData
blog.https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy-globally.
Various Sources. 2019. https://slate.com/technology/2013/08/golden-rice-attack-in-philippines-
anti-gmo-activists-lie-about-protest-and-safety.html; https://www.independent.co.uk/hei-fi/
news/scientists-plead-with-anti-gm-protesters-not-to-destroy-crop-7788322.htmlandhttps://
www.abcplus.biz/GMO_6-26-13_Hungary_Torches_GM_Corn(allaccessed16July2019).