The threat of new GMOs in the food supply is real. In 1989, a Japanese company created L-tryptophan using synbio, for an over-the-counter sleep-aid. The resulting product caused an eosinophilia myalgia syndrome (EMS) epidemic that sickened thousands and led to 60 deaths. The outbreak resulted from unintended side-effects caused through synbio, according to Dr. John Fagan, chief scientist of Health Research Institute–HRI Labs, who recently invented a test to detect new GMOs in food and supplements.
Ingredients such as vanillin and other flavorings, colorants, CBD, collagen, plant-based proteins, dairy proteins, vitamins, omegas, and probiotics are all being developed through synbio and slipping into the food supply without regulation.
The potential impacts include destroying the livelihoods of farmers and producers of natural products such as vanilla, which is the single most important export in at least five countries in the Global South.
The article suggests that it is urgent for the natural and organic food industry to take a stand against new GMOs. One way of doing that is to continue to support the Non-GMO Project, the only 3rd-party certifier in North America of non-GMO products. The Non-GMO Project Standard is regularly updated to address new GMOs produced through technologies like CRISPR and synbio. That means the Non-GMO Project Verification seal, which features the familiar monarch butterfly, will continue to be the most trusted way to avoid synbio for food manufacturers and consumers who don’t want this experimental new form of genetic engineering in the food supply.
Read the full article here: https://www.newhope.com/news/synthetic-biology-test-could-force-natural-products-industry-define-its-position
MEDIA CONTACT:
Hans Eisenbeis
Director of Communications
The Non-GMO Project
[email protected]
360.255.7704 x4
SOURCE Non-GMO Project
