GE food: A Trojan horse – what is it sneaking into us?

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Obviously the admonition to ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’ was around in the time of the Greek–Trojan war. The Trojans were not aware of the dangers of accepting things at face value or they would not have been conquered. Today, consumers are being presented with food products that are not as portrayed by their proponents and also with potentially dire consequences.

I refer to genetically engineered (GE) crops, in particular to Roundup Ready (glyphosate-resistant) and Bt crops (engineered with the bacteriumBacillus thuringiensis). These crops are designated ‘safe’ for human and animal consumption by New Zealand’s regulatory authorities: Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and the Ministry of Primary Industry (MPI), despite the transgenic crops not having undergone even adequate safety tests independent of the companies developing and marketing them, e.g. Monsanto, Dow and Syngenta.