What is a GMO?

1. What is a GMO? What crops have a GMO trait? What do the traits do and what is the benefit of these traits? Why are all the GMO traits aimed at increasing production rather than adding value to nutrition of foods or other health benefits.

2. What is a GMO? GE Crop Traits • Herbicide tolerance - crop can withstand herbicide applications • Insect tolerance - plant produces toxin to kill pest • Improved nutrition – plant produces a substance of nutritive value or is changed to not produce an antinutrient • Disease resistant – crop is resistant to certain disease • Stress Tolerance – crop is tolerant of stress, low nutrient levels or excess nutrients • Increased Storage – crop can be stored longer to avoid spoilage losses • Medicinal uses – crops that produce medicines or vaccines • Industrial uses – crops to make more efficient industries

3. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Decreased tillage • Less soil erosion • CO2 sequestration • Increase soil organic matter • Reduced trips through the field X Farmers Consumers X Environment Needy

4. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity

5. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity

6. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity http://pubs.aic.ca/doi/pdf/10.4141/cjps2013-129

7. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity http://www.gmo-safety.eu/basic-info/359.seed-sterility.html

8. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity 1.  Skyrocketing herbicide use Despite assurances to Congress and regulators over the last two decades that crops modified to be herbicide resistant would lead to less chemical usage, a peer-reviewed paper published last summer showed that the three major GMO crops in the U.S. – corn, soybeans, and cotton – have increased overall herbicide use by more than 527 million pounds between 1996 – 2011, compared to what it likely would have been in the absence of GMO crops. http://www.justlabelit.org/right-to-know-center/why-labeling-makes-sense/

9. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity Herbicide use on corn, soybeans and cotton — break it down per acre and it's not so dramatic. NPR using USDA data - http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/01/24/265687251/soil-weedkillers-and-gmos-when-numbers-don-t-tell-the-whole-story

10. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity Herbicide use on corn, soybeans and cotton — break it down per acre and it's not so dramatic. NPR using USDA data - http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/01/24/265687251/soil-weedkillers-and-gmos-when-numbers-don-t-tell-the-whole-story

11. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity

12. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer announced findings that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s RoundUp line of pesticides, is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” Known carcinogens - Sunshine, ethanol in alcoholic beverages, acrylamide etc. Probable carcinogens - night shifts , wood smoke, glyphosate http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/03/23/glyphosate-carcinogenic-independent-global-scientists-weigh-in/

13. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety “Animal studies show that glyphosate is not carcinogenic, mutagenic or teratogenic.” Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority “The APVMA currently has no data before it suggesting that glyphosate products registered in Australia and used according to label instructions present any unacceptable risks to human health, the environment and trade …” “The weight and strength of evidence shows that glyphosate is not genotoxic, carcinogenic or neurotoxic. “ German Risk Agency “In conclusion of this re-evaluation process of the active substance glyphosate by BfR the available data do not show carcinogenic or mutagenic properties of glyphosate nor that glyphosate is toxic to fertility, reproduction or embryonal/fetal development in laboratory animals. The U.S. EPA classified glyphosate as Group E, evidence of non-carcinogenicity in humans. The U.S. EPA does not consider glyphosate to be a human carcinogen based on studies of laboratory animals that did not produce compelling evidence of carcinogenicity.

14. GE Crop Traits Herbicide Resistance Concerns • Weed resistance • Gene flow to closely related species • Increased herbicide usage • Roundup/2,4-D toxicity Agent orange was a mixture of herbicides containing 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. The 2,4,5-T, not the 2,4-D was contaminated with dioxin.

15. GE Crop Traits Insect Resistance Decreased Insecticide Applications U.S. Insecticide use in Corn (M lbs) of active ingredient) X Farmers Consumers X Environment Needy USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

16. GE Crop Traits Insect Resistance Decreased Insecticide Applications X Farmers Consumers X Environment X Needy

17. GE Crop Traits Insect Resistance Decreased Insecticide Applications

18. GE Crop Traits Improved Nutrition One acre of omega-3 producing soybeans yields as much oil as 10,000 fish! Farmers X Consumers X Environment X Needy

19. GE Crop Traits Improved Nutrition Allergy-Free Peanuts Peanut – RNAi suppression Ara h2 Farmers X Consumers Environment Needy

20. GE Crop Traits Disease Resistance Decreased Fungicide and Insecticide Applications X Farmers Consumers X Environment X Needy

21. GE Crop Traits Disease Resistance Decreased Insecticide Applications Spinach defensin, NPR1, Lytic peptides Many show promise Earliest deregulation is 2019 Stopping Citrus Greening X Farmers Consumers X Environment X Needy

22. GE Crop Traits Disease Resistance Species Restoration X Farmers Consumers X Environment X Needy

23. GE Crop Traits Stress Tolerance X Farmers Consumers Environment X Needy

24. GE Crop Traits Stress Tolerance X Farmers Consumers Environment X Needy http://earthsky.org/human-world/pamela-ronald-has-developed-a-more-flood-tolerant-rice

25. GE Crop Traits Increased Storage Non Browning Apples and Potatoes Silencing a gene that leads to discoloration X Farmers X Consumers Environment Needy

26. GE Crop Traits Medicinal Uses A Potato a Day Keeps the Cholera Away Farmers Consumers Environment Biologist are using genetic engineering to insert a new gene into potatoes. These gene causes the plants to produce a chemical, called a B-protein, that is a harmless part of cholera toxin, or poison. When children eat a certain amount of these genetically altered potatoes, they become vaccinated against cholera. X Needy

27. GE Crop Traits Industrial Uses Enogen corn, developed by Syngenta, contains a microbial gene that causes it to produce an enzyme (alpha amylase) that breaks down corn starch into sugar, the first step toward making ethanol. X • 100 million gallon/year plant can save: • 450,000 gallons of water • 1.3 million KWh of electricity  •  244 billion BTUs of natural gas • reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 106 million pounds Farmers Consumers X Environment Needy

28. Who benefits most from crop biotech (GMO)? http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v28/n4/pdf/nbt0410-319.pdf

29. Who benefits most from crop biotech (GMO)?

30. Why are all the GMO traits aimed at increasing production rather than adding value to nutrition of foods or other health benefits.

31. Why are all the GMO traits aimed at increasing production rather than adding value to nutrition of foods or other health benefits.

32. Why are all the GMO traits aimed at increasing production rather than adding value to nutrition of foods or other health benefits. Are non-GMO foods necessarily more healthy?