Comment on Stefan Flothmann and Jan van Aken's article ‘Of maize and men’ in EMBO reports, August 2001

Transgenic plants contain genes and traits that are completely new to the species and its environmental context. In the case of GA21 corn—a GM crop resistant to Roundup herbicide—the modified EPSPS protein, which confers resistance to the herbicide, is only 3 amino acids different from EPSPS in normal corn. In fact, GA21‐EPSPS is closer to wild‐type EPSPS than to EPSPS from other plants. On another note, is Bt protein really completely new to the human diet, considering that it has been used in farming for the last 40 years? The process of genetic engineering is neither targeted nor precise, but rather a crude intervention. Current ‘traditional’ plant breeding actually uses adventitiously and randomly generated mutants to produce disease and insect resistance. According to the Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, 2252 types of crop plants have been artificially bombarded with radiation to induce mutations. Unlike genetic modification, the effects of radiation are completely random and totally unpredictable. This form of genetic engineering (GE) alters both chromosome structure and genome sequence alike, in ways no other technology can, but has been used by breeders for 50 years mainly to obtain pest‐resistant crops. Ironically, organic farming specifically chooses to use pest‐resistant varieties in order to reduce pesticide use without due regard to variety yield. Of all the forms of farming, the organic approach is the most dependent on varieties generated by radiation. Greenpeace espouse organic farming, and organic farmers reject standard GM crops. In so doing, they accept a form of GE that has never been assessed for safety, and is less predictable and more random than GM, which they claim to be hazardous. But Greenpeace clearly support these plants as ‘traditionally’ bred. A conventional maize insect resistance—be it a toxin, a feed deterrent or a structural component—evolved together with maize and its …