farm.JPG

Jeremy M. Barker-Plotkin, an owner of the Simple Gifts Farm business in Amherst, walks along a dirt road at the farm. Barker-Plotkin is among 141 small farmers in Massachusetts to back House Bill 3996, which would require labeling for foods containing genetically modified ingredients.

(Cori Urban)

Genetically modified plants are not accidents of nature; they’re not simply hybrids, like limes or nectarines.

They’re engineered at the cellular level to be resistant to pests or herbicides, and they’re, to a great extent, an unknown quantity – both in terms of their effects on the environment and on the human beings who ingest them.

Confused about what the term means?

Here's one definition as proposed by state Rep. Todd Smola, R-Palmer, and state Rep. Ellen Story, D-Amherst:

“’Genetically engineered material’, any material derived in whole or in part from processes, as identified by the national organic program of the U.S. department of agriculture, used to modify genetically organisms or influence their growth and development by means that are not possible under natural conditions or processes. Such methods include cell fusion, microencapsulation and macroencapsulation, and recombinant DNA technology (including gene deletion, gene doubling, introducing a foreign gene, and changing the positions of genes when achieved by recombinant DNA technology). Such methods do not include the use of traditional breeding, conjugation, fermentation, hybridization, in vitro fertilization, or tissue culture. Material grown from genetically engineered seed and genetically engineered plant parts shall be considered genetically engineered material.”

Crystal clear, now, right?

This is not an act of agriculture: This is an act of biochemistry.

Determining effects on human beings could be done, but hasn’t because they haven’t been studied. However, some observers are noticing correlations between foods containing genetically modified plants and a wide range of digestive disorders, cancers, and birth defects.

There’s a movement afoot in Massachusetts – and New England -- to require that foods containing genetically modified ingredients be labeled as such.

That movement is being fought hard by the industry groups representing big agriculture and factory farms (who are some of the nation’s biggest polluters of waterways). It’s being backed by small organic farmers and the groups that represent them.

Smola and Story's House bill 3996 has backing from 142 legislators that would require the labeling provided that four other states in New England or the Mid-Atlantic also pass similar legislation.

Maine, Connecticut, and Vermont have already done so.

The legislative session closes July 31.

Massachusetts ought to be next.