Genetically Modified Crops: A Call for Regulations Page 3

Written by Michael Black

Another area of concern is religion. In the religious field, there are two main concerns. First, there is the ethical dilemma. As put by Pope John Paul II, "Certain scientists, lacking any ethical point of reference, are in danger of putting at the center of their concerns something other than the human person and the entirety of the person's life" (Winners 1998). Many people have strong moral objections to the science of genetic engineering. One common stance on the mixing of different species in foods is that it is "destroying the natural boundaries of nature" (Greenberger 1999). Along with ethical objections, there is another main concern. Under current FDA standards (or lack-there-of), it is impossible for religious people to observe dietary laws and customs. In the FDA's eyes, genetically modified foods are viewed as substantially equivalent to organically grown ones and thus are labeled no differently. Under the current system, there is no way to know.

One of the final and most frightening areas of concern is the potential effect on our ecosystem. The concerns are numerous. The obvious first problem is build-up of herbicide resistance in weeds. By adding a herbicide-resistant gene in every cell of a plant over a large area, the chances for the emergence of resistant strains of weed are much greater. It would be nearly impossible to grow a genetically modified plant variety in practical agriculture without some form of interpollenation taking place (Franks 1999). Furthermore, Danish studies of a herbicide-resistant gene show that during pollination it will jump easily over long distances (Rifkin 1999). If just a small fraction of introductions turn out to be long-term pests, there could be irreversible damage to the ecosystem that would be devastating.
Other possible effects on the environment include secondary impacts on bio-diversity (Barling 1999). For example, what would happen when foraging birds, insects, microorganisms, and animals come in contact with the plant? The possibilities are unpredictable and frightening. It is the scale that is important to notice. With thousands of new introductions propagating in land, water, and air, the likelihood of "genetic pollution" is almost certain (Rifkin 1999). Essentially, long-term consequences of genetic engineering are in large unpredictable; "genetic engineering may have unpredictable effects on the ecological balance and may result in the creation of new toxins" (Byrne 1999).

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