Amflora, GMO Potato Approved for Planting in Europe

In a surprise move, the EU health minister John Dalli has approved for planting the GMO potato produced by agro-giant BASF.  The potato variety named Amflora is genetically manipulated to produce starch for industrial uses.  This is the first GMO plant crop approved since 1998.  Concern has been expressed by Greenpeace and others about Amflora containing antibiotic resistance genes in its manipulated DNA.

What Are GMOs?
GMOs are genetically modified organisms.  They may be plant, animal or bacteria.  GMOs are also called GE (genetically engineered) and BioTech organisms.  The principle is the same in all cases.  A gene(hereditary information) is taken from one living thing and very carefully stitched into the hereditary material(DNA) of another.  So you can have a jellyfish gene put into a puppy or a fish gene into a tomato plant.  Some GMOs are clearly of benefit to humans.  For instance, the modern production of insulin is from GM bacteria which have a human gene inserted into their DNA.  Human growth hormone(HGH) is produced in a like manner.
Why the Controversy Over GMOs?
As technical expertise in manipulating genes has progressed, a number of food crops have been altered.  North American large scale food producers have embraced GMO seeds and seen their use of herbicides and crop losses drop.  Much of the North American canola, corn and soy crops are now GMOs. 

• Crops like corn spread their pollen on the wind.  There are fears that the manipulated pollen may cross-breed with other plants, producing super weeds.
• One of the genes that confers resistance to corn-borers  also kills butterflies.
• Research on the safety of the GMO is only allowed with the permission of the company holding the patent.  Yes, genes can be patented or owned by private companies.
• Some biotech companies are now 'stacking' several alien genes in one organism.  SmartStax corn is an example.  There may be a synergistic effect, but safety research is only with owners' permission.
• Fast growing, high yield crops need more chemical fertilizers and more water than non-GMO crops.  This is hard on the environment and may not be sustainable.
• Farmers do not own the GMO seeds outright.  They must purchase the seed each year and sell all their crop to an approved buyer.  If an organic farmer's field is contaminated with GMO seeds, he loses his organic status as well as having to pay the biotech company for the 'use' of their seeds.
• Some crops have been engineered so that the seeds produced will never germinate.  These have been referred to as Terminator Seeds.  Farmers in this case, can never save seeds from year to year, but of more concern is the possiblity that this trait can be passed on to non-GMO plants rendering valuable food plants sterile.
• Foods containing GMOs are not labelled as such in Canada and the U.S.  Long term safety studies on these products cannot be done if there is no record of consumption of GMOs.  

Leading Companies in the BioTech Agri-Business

• Monsanto
• Pioneer
• Syngenta
• BASF