In addition, irradiated food may now be marketed without labelling to an unsuspecting public because of a successful lobbying campaign by corporations involved in irradiation. The insect Baculovirus used as a spray has been found to infect human liver cells. It is modified with scorpion toxin and is highly likely to cause allergy and autoimmune disease in humans. The chief of microbiology at the Pasteur Institute recently found crop antibiotic resistance genes were transferred to bacteria in the human gut. The British Royal Society has advised against marketing crops with antibiotic genes.
Genetic recombination can produce products with unforeseen consequences and unexpected toxicity.
The threat is far greater than just genetic engineering. Monsanto has funded a huge plant systematics institute in St Louis that has been diligently patenting economic plants from all over the world. It has been claimed that half the plants of economic value in Brazil are now patented by US interests. In that capacity, I raised serious questions about the safety of our food crops. I was completely ignored by the delegation, which was dominated by food agency bureaucrats, and was prevented from making my concerns known to the other delegates on the official record.