Ships in the Night? Consumers and

genetically modified foods:

adrift in a sea of misinformation

Cami Ryan, B.Comm., Ph.D.

College of Agriculture and Bioresources

University of Saskatchewan

Nutrition File Seminar 2014

Food Integrity: Building Consumer Trust in Our Food System1

Awash in a sea of complexity…

Science

Production &

processing

Regulations

Intellectual

Property

Labeling

Public and

Private

sectors

Consumers

and

Perceptions

“GMOs?! Whoa!

That’s scary

stuff!”

2

3

Navigating murky waters…

Definitions:

What are GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms?

Political terms

Genetic engineering

scientific term

Biotechnology

industry term

4

So, what’s the science behind all this?

a gene or genes inserted into plant instead of the

acquiring them through pollination

plant breeders can bring useful genes – from wide

range of sources - together in one plant

desirable genes: higher yield or improved quality,

pest or disease resistance, or tolerance to heat, cold

and drought, increased nutritional value

5

Canola 96%

Soybean 91%

Corn 77%

Sugarbeet 91%

GE crops: Canada and the world

Map Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) 2011

The Biotechnology Landscape

To bring a GE crop to market in North America, it

costs…

~ $140 million dollars and 13+ years (Phillips

McDougall 2011)

Major international players:

BASF, Bayer Cropscience, Dow AgroSciences,

Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-bred International, Syngenta

Many other smaller players worldwide

In Canada: Okanagan Specialty Fruits,

Performance Plants and AgriSoma… others…

9

Regulation

of GE Crops

The Rudder? Regulation of GE Crops

Intellectual Property & Plants

Patents and Plant Breeders’

Rights or PVPs (plant varietal

protection)

What do these terms mean?

Why protect?

What is protected?

Why does it matter?

Suggested reading:

“A Defense of Plant and Crop Related Patents” S. Savage website Applied Mythology

Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation Krattiger et

al (2008)11

“Hey, aren’t farmers

held captive by

‘Big Ag’?”

12

…in a word, no.

Contracts/agreement between

company and producer

Producer’s end of the deal?

read and follow technology

use guide

properly steward the

product inc pest control

Use seed in single planting

/not re-sell

Brian Scott, Indiana farmer

Farm Facts

What options DO farmers have at their disposal?

Organic or conventional production (inc GE crops)

Range of inputs and resources

Private and public sources of seed

Protected and/or freely available

Having range of options enables farmers to better manage operations and production

Other on-farm strategies: integrated pest management, good stewardship practices, crop rotation

14

GMO Labeling

The politics and economics of labeling

Mandatory vs voluntary labeling: there is a

difference!

Initiatives in Canada and the US

Costs

Washington State Academy of Sciences (2013);

Alston & Sumner (2012)

15

Perceptions of GE crops and foods

Studies done in over 20 countries (Colson and Rousu

2013)

Public understanding of biotechnology and food = LOW

(Pew 2006)

Only 26% of consumers surveyed believe that they

had consumed a GM food

74% indicated that they had little to no knowledge

about the government regulation of food

16

“Wildly differing results” in

research studies and surveys… (Lusk 2012)

Perceptions of science…

‘privatized’ (Maeseele 2009)

‘science-industrial complex’; having evolved into a

‘private good’

driven by monopolistic interests to promote and

develop technology for profit

Science is “silent” (Ryan and Doerksen 2013)

Culture, institutional impediments, lack of rewards

or incentive mechanisms

17

Dog noses or space aliens?

HUMAN COGNITIVE HABITS

18

Perceptions of

who the experts

really are…

Unskilled and unaware of it:

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

less

knowledgeable

more

knowledgeable

Kruger, Justin; David Dunning (1999). "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing

One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments". Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology 77 (6): 1121–34.

Scientific Research

Good Poor

PEER REVIEW

NO YES YES NO

PR Campaign

More Science /

Replication

MAKES GREAT

HEADLINES!“Standing on the

Shoulder of Giants”

Media Headlines???

NOT SO MUCH…

Scientific Consensus on GE Crops

Biofortified (not for profit organization) GENERA

database:

750+ (and growing) peer reviewed studies spanning

20+ years

Categorized for factors on safety: consumption,

environment, equivalence and efficacy

Nicolia etal 2013 (in Critical Reviews in Biotechnology)

meta-study:

review of 1783 studies spanning 2002 to 2012

22

Organizations that attest to safety of

GMOs

American Association for the Advancement

of Science

American Medical Association

World Health Organization

National Academy of Science

Royal Society of Medicine

European Commission

American Council of Science and Health

American Dietetics Association

American Society for Cell Biology

American Society of Microbiology

American Society of Plant Sciences

International Seed Foundation

The Science

Source for Food, Agriculture and Environmental

Issues

Crop Science Society of America

Federation of Animal Science Societies

Society for Invitro Biology

Society of Toxicology

French Academy of Science

Royal Society of London

Royal Society of Canada

Seven of the World’s Society of Academies

Food Standards Australia New Zealand

The Union of German Academics and Societies

….more!23

Genetic Engineeringan important SCIENTIFIC TOOL

Genetically Engineered

CropsNOT a silver bullet, but definitely and important TOOL

in the tool box

Lots of ‘good news’ GMO stories out there…

25

Photo: J. Kamiya-Rose

Photo credit: Andy Kristian Agaba / © Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Challenges: growing population,

limited area of arable land, disease, pests,

drought, climate change

26

doccamiryan.wordpress.com

@DocCamiRyan

Cami Ryan

Questions?

Ships in the Night? Consumers and genetically modified foods