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Although the above verse embraces a basic concept understood by many Muslims, engineers for genetically modified foods would certainly argue with this passage in the Qur'an. Genetically modified foods are based on the complete opposite assumption - that the creation of man is greater than the creations of the heavens and therefore men can gain knowledge and improve Creation. Before man took over the genetic engineering process, nature followed the laws that had been bestowed upon it by Allah (swt). However, now, many foods are genetically modified and their DNA follow the laws set by man and not those set by Allah.
DNA is an essential part of all plant and animal life. The microscopic packages of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) material in all life forms interplay with the environment, one gene type never acting alone, and all responding accordingly. This means that when man alters nature he cannot possibly know what the outcome will be. DNA is usually modified to create a stronger, tastier or more pest-resistant plant. However, sometimes, side effects are unpredictable.
For example, on the list of genetically modified (GM) foods are: cow's milk, which is given genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (BST) to boost milk yield; GM tomatoes with delayed softening; corn modified to repel pests; and Monsanto's soybeans, which are modified to resist pests. However, two years ago it was discovered that the modified soybeans and corn caused not only pests to die, but also the Monarch butterflies that roamed in the same areas.
However, most "mistakes" in genetic crop engineering are ignored under the umbrella of "World Hunger Eradication." Agricultural biotechnology is big business and claims that it can create a world where it is possible to feed the 800 million people who still go hungry. Monsanto's success in getting food retailers and governments to accept GM soybeans without labeling (Ho, p.1) has faced heavy criticism in the report, "Troubled Times Amid Commercial Success for Roundup Ready (RR) Soybeans." However, Monsanto simply replies that its services are so badly needed in the world that it cannot wait to release new foods onto the market. "Mistakes" are asked to be excused for the "sake of the greater good."
However, many claims of feeding the world's starving masses are unfounded. In fact, many GM plants are still in the experimental stages and actually use MORE herbicide and MORE resources than their non-GM counterparts. Theory is fine; but the reality is that Monsanto's herbicide, "Roundup," used to kill weeds in the fields of Monsanto's GM soybeans, is used more frequently on the GM soybeans that the non-GM ones.
Author of a Monsanto report, Charles Benbrook of NW Science and Environmental Policy Center in Idaho, stated, "More than a dozen soybean herbicides are applied once at an average of less than one pound of active ingredient per acre. Roundup, on the other hand, is usually applied on soybeans at about .75 pound per acre in a single spray and most acres are now treated more than once" (ENS, p.1).
Benbrook's report relies on previously unreleased data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicating that an average of 11.4% more herbicides are used on Monsanto's GM soybean crops than on conventional soybeans. Cases illustrative of numbers in the range of 30% more are cited (ENS, p.1). Despite this fact, American farmers have planted 60% of the year's soybean crop, roughly 40 million acres, with GM seeds (ENS, p.2).
Adding "insult to injury" is the fact that, Glyphosate, found in Roundup and many other herbicides, is lethal not only to weeds, but to most herbaceous plants registered at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, including 74 threatened species. Glyphosate also reduces the nitrogen-fixing activity of soils that is vital to nutrient recycling in the soil (Ho, p.4). This undermines any food security there existed before the land was attacked by mono-cultural practices in farming, which demand more water and more pesticides (Ho, p.3).
The saga of GM foods continues when Arpad Pusztai. Pusztai was recently dismissed from the Rowett Institute for airing his findings on a publicly funded project to study the effects of GM crops on animal nutrition and the environment. This was probably because he discovered some adverse effects. His preliminary findings revealed that rats fed on raw and cooked GM potatoes experienced a weakened immune system and severe impairment in the development of the heart, liver, kidney and brain after ten days.
Confirmed by further experiments, the Institute suppressed the information. Confirming the evidence, Stanley Ewen, pathologist at Aberdeen University Medical School, used the same rats Pusztai used in his original experiment. Ewen found that the rats had an enlarged stomach wall after ten days of GM potatoes with an elongated section of the stomach. Pusztai told the British daily, the Independent, "I was absolutely confident I wouldn't find anything. But the longer I spent on the experiments, the more uneasy I became." An international team of 20 scientists confirmed his findings after analyzing his results.
After Pusztai's study became public, questions arose as to whether the problem was the new gene, the method of transplanting, or the "virus promoter" which GM companies use to "turn on" the genes so that they could produce the required traits. This virus had already been used in GM tomato paste, soya oils and maize in the U.K. and European Union.
Professor Johnathan Rhodes, of Liverpool University, said to the Guardian, "One key problem that keeps coming back time and again is that regulation of food is nowhere near as strict as the regulation for drugs, however, when you start tinkering around with the genetic structure of food you have to move towards thinking of them as pharmaceuticals" (Heong, p.1, 2,3). This makes a lot of sense as pharmaceutical drugs are mostly made up of herbs (plants) that have been either genetically or chemically engineered to "improve" them.
Muzammal Hussain argues that it is clear that genetic engineering is a process that we do not understand in a world where everything is interconnected (Hussain, p.5). What affects one species also affects another for better or for worse. Once we stop realizing this, we begin the process of forgetfulness and separation occurs. The domino effect ripples throughout our lives as we are reminded in the story of Hawa and Adam.
"The sun and the moon follow a reckoning. And the herbs and the trees do adore [Him]. And the heaven, He raised it high, and He made the balance, that you may not be inordinate in respect of the measure. And keep up the balance with equity and do not make the measure deficient" (Surat ul Rahman, 55:5-9).
Sources:
- ENS. "Herbicide Resistant Weeds Spring up In Bioengineered Soy Fields." Environment. 05/07/01.
- Heong. Chee, Yoke. "Damning Findings by Scientist Raise Alarm about Saftey of GM Foods." Third World Resurgence. 07/26/01.
- Ho. Mae-Wan. "Perils & Promises of Genetically Modified Foods." Biology Department. Open University. UK. 1996.
- Muzammal,Hussain. "GM Foods, the Environment and Islam." Home.Clara.net. 07/26/01.
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