Food for thought: on November 27, Swiss voters will be asked to decide on two issues close to the heart--what they eat and when they shop. One initiative would rule out genetically modified food and another would change the law governing shop hours in train stations and airports.
| Auteur | Anderson, Robert |
| Fonction | REFERENDUM COUNTDOWN |
In March 2003, the Swiss Parliament passed the so-called gene technology law, allowing the genetic modification of foods. In September 2003, opponents of the federal law gathered the requisite signatures and submitted their popular initiative to the government, calling for a five-year moratorium on the commercial use of genetically modified plants and organisms in Swiss agriculture. The Federal Council and Parliament recommend rejecting the initiative.
Genetically modified products possess genes that were culled from different species of organisms and they comprise not only foods but also medicines and vaccines.
Although it has been difficult to locate genes for important traits--for insect resistance as an example--studies of hundreds of different organisms are generating detailed 'genome maps' and increasing the use of gene technology, worldwide.
On the horizon are bananas that produce human vaccines against infectious diseases such as hepatitis B; fish that mature faster; fruit and nut trees that yield years earlier; and plants that produce new plastics with unique properties.
Pros and cons
The prospect of food manipulation weighs heavily on many people and, as opposition has mounted, the gap between opinion and reality has widened. While Americans are relatively open to genetic modification of their food, their European counterparts coined the term 'Frankenfood,' and have portrayed agricultural biotechnology as a menace to people and animals and even a threat to moral order.
Arguably, much of we eat has been modified by cross-species cultivation or cross-pollination--either naturally or orchestrated by people in the hope that desirable traits might emerge.
But selecting specific genes for transfer goes beyond these familiar methods. Supporters say gene selection can quickly improve crop yield and pest resistance--to a degree that is not otherwise possible.
Genetic modification raises concerns over human health and environment, including unanticipated allergies to new foods, or herbicide tolerance among wild plants and inadvertent toxicity to benign wildlife. Some critics also fear that powerful biotechnology corporations could assume too much control over farming.
"Food is our culture," said one French-speaking Swiss, and that culture is a conservative one. The fact that GM food differs in any way from its predecessor is, for many Europeans, a strike against it, even if the difference has no effect on health or taste.
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