Nearly 100 civil society representatives, farmer organizations, scientists and academics of Nigeria recently issued a statement calling upon their government to discontinue plans to introduce GM potatoes and to reject all GM crops. These critics drew attention to similar plans to introduce GM potatoes elsewhere in Africa too and said that potato farmers would be devastated if these plans went ahead. This statement was made after some reports stated that GM potatoes may be introduced in Nigeria next year in 2025.
In view of this escalation of this controversy on GM potatoes, this may be a good time to recall an interview published by 'Sustainable Pulse’ news website (under the title ‘The Creator of GMO Potatoes Reveals the Dangerous Truth’) with the Ex-Director of J.R. Simplot and team leader at Monsanto, Caius Rommens, who himself revealed the hidden dangers of the GMO potatoes he created (he has taken up these issues in greater detail in his book ‘Pandora’s Potatoes: The Worst GMOs’).
This interview also has a larger relevance beyond potatoes for what it tells regarding the way such research is often conducted.
Rommens has stated in this interview:
“During my 26 years as a genetic engineer, I created hundreds of thousands of different GM potatoes at a direct cost of about $50 million. I started my work at universities in Amsterdam and Berkeley, continued at Monsanto, and then worked for many years at J. R. Simplot Company, which is one of the largest potato processors in the world. I had my potatoes tested in greenhouses or the field, but I rarely left the laboratory to visit the farms or experimental stations. Indeed, I believed that my theoretical knowledge about potatoes was sufficient to improve potatoes. This was one of my biggest mistakes.”
Further this senior scientist has stated:
“It is amazing that the USDA and FDA approved the GM potatoes by only evaluating our own data. How can the regulatory agencies assume there is no bias? When I was at J.R. Simplot, I truly believed that my GM potatoes were perfect, just like a parent believes his or her children are perfect. I was biased and all genetic engineers are biased. It is not just an emotional bias.
"We need the GM crops to be approved. There is a tremendous amount of pressure to succeed, to justify our existence by developing modifications that create hundreds of millions of dollars in value. We test our GM crops to confirm their safety, not to question their safety.”
In this interview Rommens revealed that he led a small team of 15 scientists at Monsanto, and directed the entire biotech R&D effort at Simplot (up to 50 scientists). He stated his initial focus was on disease control but “I eventually considered all traits with commercial value.” He stated that he left J.R. Simplot when “my ‘pro-biotech’ filter was wearing thin and began to shatter; when I discovered the first mistakes. These first mistakes were minor but made me feel uncomfortable. I realized there had to be bigger mistakes still hidden from my view.”
He added:
“Looking back at myself and my colleagues, I believe now that we were all brainwashed; that we all brainwashed ourselves. We believed that the essence of life was a dead molecule, DNA, and that we could improve life by changing this molecule in the lab. We also assumed that theoretical knowledge was all we needed to succeed, and that a single genetic change would always have one intentional effect only. We were supposed to understand DNA and to make valuable modifications, but the fact of the matter was that we knew as little about DNA as the average American knows about the Sanskrit version of the Bhagavad Gita.
We just knew enough to be dangerous, especially when combined with our bias and narrow mindedness. We focused on short-term benefits (in the laboratory) without considering the long-term deficits (in the field). It was the same kind of thinking that produced DDT, PCBs, Agent Orange, recombinant bovine growth hormone, and so on. I believe that it is important for people to understand how little genetic engineers know, how biased they are, and how wrong they can be. My story is just an example.”
Further Rommens stated:
“I somehow managed to ignore the almost daily experience that GM potatoes were not as healthy as normal potatoes. They were often misshapen, stunted, chlorotic, necrotic, and sterile, and many GM plants often died quickly. One of the reasons for this genetic inferiority is that GM potatoes are derived from ‘somatic’ cells, which are meant to live for only one season (to support a stem or leaf structure).
"These cells don’t have the genetic integrity to create new plants (like pollen cells and egg cells). So, by transforming somatic cells, we created GM potatoes that contained hundreds of genetic mutations, and these mutations compromised yield. Additionally, the genetic modifications often have ‘unintended’ effects that negatively affect both the agronomic performance and nutritional quality of a crop.”
“I believed that the GM potatoes were bruise resistant but now I understand I was wrong. The GM potatoes bruise just as easily as normal potatoes, but the bruises are concealed. They don’t develop the dark color that helps processors identify and trim them. I didn’t understand that my potatoes were incapable of depositing melanin, a protective compound, when damaged or infected. More importantly, I didn’t understand that the concealed bruises accumulate certain toxins that may compromise the nutritional quality of potato foods.”
Rommens stated in this interview:
“My concern is that any attempt to promote the production of GM potatoes in humid regions (as vulnerable as Bangladesh and Indonesia) would actually increase rather than reduce disease issues.”
Coming to wider issues he said:
“The main problem about the current process for deregulation of GMO crops is that it is based on an evaluation of data provided by the developers of GMO crops. There is a conflict of interest. I propose that the safety of GMO crops is assessed by an independent group of scientists trained at identifying unintended effects.”
These observations of a scientist most closely involved in the development of GM potatoes need to be widely known, particularly in those countries where farmers and consumers are deeply disturbed by the high-level efforts of GM lobbyists to introduce GM potatoes.
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*Honorary convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. Recent books: "Protecting Earth for Children", "India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food"
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