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On December 16, 2000, The Columbus Dispatch printed the following article by John E. Hohmann, MD:

Doctors' blind acceptance of modified foods

The Dec. 10 Insight section of The Dispatch had an article with the headline: "Modified foods safe, AMA report says."

That the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs finds "no scientific justification for special labeling of genetically altered foods" reveals a blunder on the AMA's part that is even more far-reaching than the group's recent Sunbeam endorsement fiasco.

As an AMA member, I read its journal every week.  Its pages are filled with expensive, glossy, often mulltipage pharmaceutical ads from the very same international chemical megacorporations that are maneuvering to control the world's food supply.

Last spring, the journal ran a multipage article blatantly promoting genetically modified crop technology and ridiculing those who express skepticism and concern about this issue.

I'm sure their advertisers who also market agrichemicals, seed and, now, genetic modifications, were pleased.  I replied to their article, sharing my questions as a farmer and physician over their promotion of wider use of genetically modified technology in agriculture.

"Space limitations" prevented them from ever publishing my letter, which conformed meticulously to their rules for length.

All physicians, as well as most high-school agriculture and biology students, should have a respect for the diversity and interrelatedness of all life on Earth.  Indeed, modern print and broadcast media have spread the message to all citizens who would listen about how little we really know.  I agree emphatically that there is a need for "ongoing studies to ensure safety."

That safety is much broader in scope than the fact that people are not stricken ill upon consuming genetically altered food. There is great potential benefit to humanity from genetic modification in both the plant and animal kingdoms.

There is also great potential harm.  Already the gene for resistance to Roundup herbicide has spread from soybeans to some weed species.

What will be the time scale for emergence of BT-resistant caterpillars in the context of year-long presence of BT toxins in corn crops and residues, to say nothing of the effects on desirable species such as the monarch butterfly?

Haven't we doctors learned anything about selection for resistant organisms from our overuse of antibiotics?  To paraphrase a comment in the Insight article, the whole concept of wholesale release of genetically modified organisms into the agricultural environment is not just "spooky," it's terrifying!

We don't just need more "education," which sounds equivalent to marketing and spin.  We need study and understanding, caution and reservation, lest we disturb a balance in nature that has taken eons to evolve.

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