Genetically engineered foods, toxic additives, self-serving research and the monopolization of suppliers all spell disaster as consumers become test subjects in a vast (and incredibly profitable) mad-science project.

Report by Science Editor-at-Large Debbie Epstein
for HUSTLER Magazine – August 2009

Blinding Us With Science: When President Ronald Reagan allowed genes to be patented, and thus profitable, he opened a Pandora’s test tube. Our food is now part of a mad-science experiment, and we’re the guinea pigs. The biotech company Senomyx genetically engineers compounds that stimulate different areas of the brain to create the illusion of taste. This sci-fi additive, labeled simply “artificial flavor,” is already in Nestlé products and will soon be used by Campbell’s Soup and Coca-Cola. Other wonders of modern science include genetically modified corn that makes its own pesticide, and plant life that produces plastics, chemicals or pharmaceuticals. Corporations are also experimenting with genetically altered fish, poultry and fruit trees, creating Frankenfood that could easily contaminate or wipe out natural plants if they invade the environment.

According to a report by investigative writer Philip Mattera, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is turning consumers into a vast pool of unwitting test subjects for the biotech industry’s questionable agenda of transforming agriculture. Indeed, Japan has made the wise decision to watch American children for the next ten years before deciding whether to produce or eat the yields of our science projects.

Sci-fi food isn’t new, of course. Already 6,000 synthetic chemicals are currently condoned for use in processed foods. Many are carcinogenic or otherwise poisonous. According to a recent New York Times article, the way America’s food is produced clearly contributes to diabetes, stroke, heart disease and obesity.

“We are basically eating oil,” says food guru Michael Pollan. Corn oil and soy oil are the building blocks of cheap, unhealthy foods that contain lethal trans fats. Fertilizers and pesticides are produced from fossil fuels, and oil derivatives are used in processing, he says. This is not only bad for our bodies but for food production as well. “It takes ten calories of fossil fuel energy to make one calorie of food,” Pollan stated on Bill Moyers Journal in November 2008. When the fuel runs out, so will the food.

Eating a diet of oil isn’t our only problem. About 60% of all processed food is genetically modified, with no labeling required. Since these new life-forms are untested, no one knows the exact risks, but early evidence isn’t good. The genetically modified corn StarLink made its way into taco shells, and thousands who ate them experienced rashes, breathing difficulty and other allergic reactions. Caterpillars fed modified corn die off, and immune systems become depressed in rats fed genetically altered potatoes.

Poisons in Your Pantry: Virtually all American foods are suspect. South Korea recently returned shipments of U.S. beef because they contained bone fragments. Further tests showed the meat also had dangerous levels of dioxin. One of the most toxic chemicals in existence, dioxin can cause cancer, impaired development and damaged reproductive, neurologic and immune systems.

Almost as alarming as unintentional dioxon contamination is the purposeful dosing of food. Cows, chickens and pigs are pumped with antibiotics to increase their size and inflate corporate profits. Forty percent of all drugs in the U.S. are bought not to treat sick people but to fatten livestock. This use of antibiotics promotes superbugs that are more likely to be antibiotic-resistant. The government also allows processors to use poisonous carbon monoxide gas during packaging to prevent discoloration and conceal spoilage. Meat may also be irradiated to kill microorganisms and increase shelf life, but the long-term effects of this new process are unknown.

Got a sweet tooth? According to a recent Princeton study, sugar delivers rat brains a dopamine surge similar to that of heroin and cocaine. On the other hand, diet products may be sweetened with aspartame, a dangerous artificial additive (also called NutraSweet) found in cereals, jams, fruit juices, tea beverages, breath mints, children’s vitamins and medicines, candy, cake mixes and frostings. [For more on aspartame, see Part 1 of this series in our July '09 issue.] The most widely used sweetener is high-fructose corn syrup, which was developed in the 1970s and is generally regarded as safe (GRAS) by the Food and Drug Administration—meaning it doesn’t have to pass safety testing.

High-fructose corn syrup is used in jams, condiments, fruit juices and soft drinks and is a favorite ingredient in “health food” store products. Fructose has been shown to delay testicular development and produce anemia, high cholesterol and enlarged hearts in rats. Female rats given the substance are unable to produce live offspring. “Every cell in the body can metabolize glucose,” says Dr. Meira Field, who studied the high-tech ingredient for the USDA. “However, fructose must be metabolized in the liver. The livers of the [laboratory] rats on the high-fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics—fatty and cirrhotic.”

Milk, cheeses, ice cream and butter are no healthier: Many are produced with milk from cows injected with an artificial growth hormone, increasing the risk of cancer. The genetically engineered hormone, approved by the FDA in 1993, was one of the first to be used in food production. (Milk labeled “organic” is not allowed to contain artificial growth hormones, but cheese, ice cream and other dairy products do not require disclosure.)

Nonorganic milk also contains antibiotics. In one Consumer Reports study, 38% of the milk tested contained illegal antibiotics. Breads and cakes can be a risky proposition as well, since many contain potassium bromate, a cancer-causing agent that has been banned everywhere except Japan and the U.S.And those soy products that are considered so heart-healthy are 80% genetically engineered. Factory foods also often contain trans fats and saturated fats, which raise cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease.

Who’s Watching the Food Store? Found in virtually every processed food, artificial flavorings could be derived from almost anything. Most are granted GRAS status by the FDA and don’t require specific labeling. “Companies have a right to protected trade formulas,” says Robert Cohen, founder of the Dairy Education Board. “But if it’s factorymade [processed], I don’t eat it.”

The U.S. isn’t the only source of fatal food. Melamine-contaminated powdered milk from China led to the infamous pet food poisonings. Thanks to the FDA’s weak response to the crisis, the tainted powdered milk made its way into baby formula in America. The ensuing scare led to the discovery of 17 other illegal food additives, including boric acid, in Chinese imports. Because denoting the country of origin in labeling isn’t mandatory, consumers take their chances when choosing food products. And in a world drenched in poisons, we can be sure the worst is yet to come.

Consumers can’t possibly expect to know which foods are bad. To deceive us, manufacturers use what they call “clean labels.” For example, products are allowed to state they contain no MSG (monosodium glutamate) even though it is hidden in 40 or so other ingredients, and studies have linked the additive to brain lesions and obesity. “About 30% of the population is sensitive to MSG and reacts with headache, seizure, asthma, depression or tightness in the chest,” says Jack Samuels, president of Truth in Labeling.

MSG is always found in any hydrolyzed protein, such as soy, as well as in calcium caseinate, gelatin, glutamate, glutamic acid, monopotassium glutamate, sodium caseinate, yeast extract, yeast food and yeast nutrient. It may also be found in “natural” flavorings and soy protein. Campbell’s soups and Newman’s Own ranch dressing have disguised MSG ingredients.

Famine on the Horizon: In one frightening scenario, Frankenfood invades the environment, taking over organic plant life. In other words, natural, nonscientifically modified fruits and vegetables would disappear.

Another disaster already underway is the extreme consolidation of food supplies and suppliers, making them extremely vulnerable. Large corporations have driven off small producers, concentrating our food supplies into a handful of mega-corporations. The risks, warns Michael Pollan, are that millions of people could become ill from accidental contamination or from intentional poisoning of supplies by terrorists. These megacorps have also bought up all unpatented seeds, often destroying them to promote their own biotech varieties.

Loss of food diversity is just as threatening as the concentration of production. For example, according to the disturbing film The Future of Food, 97% of the vegetable species available at the beginning of the 20th century are now extinct. While there were 5,000 varieties of potatoes in 1900, now only four are grown. As with the Irish potato famine, one insect or blight can wipe out an entire nation’s crop. The same loss of diversity is seen with wheat, corn, apples and virtually all other crops. Today 80% of all our beef comes from only four companies. And food distribution in the U.S. is heavily controlled by one company—Wal-Mart.

 Science for Sale: Large corporations also bankroll much of the scientific community—namely the researchers, doctors, universities and hospitals that conduct studies to be submitted to the FDA. Pennsylvania State University was funded by Upjohn and a division of Eli Lilly to study genetically modified growth hormones. Monsanto and American Cyanamid paid thousands to the University of Minnesota to study its products. Almost half a million dollars was given to the University of Vermont and millions to the University of Florida to conduct corporate food studies.

The problem with these cozy relationships is the pressure on researchers to give the customer what it wants—pro-corporate results. The public’s best interests aren’t always served. A University of Toronto professor of medicine secured funding to conduct trials on a promising drug, then was sued by the sponsoring manufacturer after she revealed toxic side effects to her patients.

Finally, Big Pharma and food congloms give the FDA millions of dollars in fees, ostensibly to fast-track drug approvals. This gives them powerful influence over the agency that is supposed to regulate the companies.

Ban the FDA? Just before Election Day 2008 a group of FDA scientists wrote to Barack Obama, begging him to restructure the agency. They claimed that upper-level managers committed the most outrageous misconduct by ordering, coercing and intimidating FDA physicians and scientists to recommend approval, then retaliating if they refused to go along. “Currently there is an atmosphere at FDA in which the honest employee fears the dishonest employee, and not the other way around,” the letter went on to state.

In 2007 a commissioner of China’s State Food and Drug Administration was executed for taking bribes from pharmaceutical companies to greenlight substandard medications. In America he would have been promoted. For that reason, this is one battle we simply can’t win, says the Dairy Education Board’s Robert Cohen. “The Monsantos, DuPonts and Dows have stacked the deck against us.” 

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You may purchase the August 2009 Issue of HUSTLER Magazine (with free shipping) from HustlerMagazine.com.

Debbie Epstein is an award-winning healthcare and science author who lives in Ringwood, New Jersey, with husband David, Wilbur the cat and Joe the Yorkie.

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