NATURAL SOLUTIONS TO INFERTILITY: AVOIDING GM FOODS

Soya is probably the best-known genetically modified food. Up to 60 per cent of processed foods contain soya, including bread, biscuits, pizza and baby food. Lecithin, contained in many foods, is also made from soya. Just what proportion of that 60 per cent is now genetically modified we do not know, but we can probably assume that it is quite considerable. Other genetically modified foods on sale in the UK are maize, tomato paste and cheese containing chymosin (genetically modified rennet used to harden the cheese).

Since September 1998, manufacturers have been obliged to label products containing genetically modified DNA. However, this labeling only applies to genetically modified soya and maize (corn) products and only where protein or DNA can be detected in the final product by laboratory screening. Foods containing soya oil, refined starches, and additives (such as emulsifiers and lecithins) are excluded. Greenpeace estimate this means that 90 per cent of foods containing genetically modified products are unlabelled. Since the latter part of 1999, because of public opposition to GM foods, supermarkets have been claiming that they have less than 1 per cent GM foods on their shelves and they are trying to go lower than that.

Genetic engineering involves manipulating the basic DNA of a plant or animal. This happens naturally in evolution of course, but with nature in charge the process normally takes hundreds if not thousands of years. It is this process which ensures that the fittest of the species survive. But the gene manipulation that humans are now tinkering with bypasses evolution, and we don’t know as yet what the price will be. In order to smuggle these new genes across the species barrier, scientists use infectious agents (viruses and bacteria).Then the antibiotic-resistant genes are used as genetic markers to allow the scientists to track the movements of these new genes. In one instance a nut gene was inserted into a soya bean and people with allergies to nuts became allergic to the soya milk. This would have posed a very serious risk for anyone with a nut allergy who would have had no idea that the soya milk contained a nut gene.

Even the scientists disagree violently as to the value and dangers of genetically modified foods. So the only sensible thing to do is to try to avoid them when you shop for food.

The Vegetarian Society has announced that, from August 1999, all foods bearing the ‘V symbol will have to be free from genetically modified products. Provamel, the market leader for soya products in the UK, have stated that their foods are free from genetically modified material and have implemented a system to trace the soya from seed to final production. Also, at the moment, if a food is labeled organic it is not genetically modified. My advice is to avoid genetically modified foods where possible by buying organic and reading the labels. If we as consumers consciously do not buy these foods then eventually there may not be a market for them.

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