Presentation at Nutrition File (Calgary and Edmonton), an annual seminar put on by Alberta Milk for registered dieticians. Had the opportunity to present alongside Dr. Steve Savage, Terry Fleck of the Center for Food Integrity and others!

1. Ships in the Night?
Consumers and
genetically modified foods:
adrift in a sea of misinformation
Cami Ryan, B.Comm., Ph.D.
College of Agriculture and Bioresources
University of Saskatchewan
Nutrition File Seminar 2014
Food Integrity: Building Consumer Trust in Our Food System
1

2. Awash in a sea of complexity…
Science
Production &
processing
Regulations
Intellectual
Property
Labeling
Public and
Private
sectors
Consumers
and
Perceptions
“GMOs?! Whoa!
That’s scary
stuff!”
2

3. 3

4. Navigating murky waters…
 Definitions:
 What are GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms?
Political terms
 Genetic engineering
scientific term
 Biotechnology
industry term
4

5. So, what’s the science behind all this?
 a gene or genes inserted into plant instead of the
acquiring them through pollination
 plant breeders can bring useful genes – from wide
range of sources - together in one plant
 desirable genes: higher yield or improved quality,
pest or disease resistance, or tolerance to heat, cold
and drought, increased nutritional value
5

8. Canola 96%
Soybean 91%
Corn 77%
Sugarbeet 91%
GE crops: Canada and the world
Map Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) 2011

9. The Biotechnology Landscape
 To bring a GE crop to market in North America, it
costs…
 ~ $140 million dollars and 13+ years (Phillips
McDougall 2011)
 Major international players:
 BASF, Bayer Cropscience, Dow AgroSciences,
Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-bred International, Syngenta
 Many other smaller players worldwide
In Canada: Okanagan Specialty Fruits,
Performance Plants and AgriSoma… others…
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10. Regulation
of GE Crops
The Rudder? Regulation of GE Crops

11. Intellectual Property & Plants
 Patents and Plant Breeders’
Rights or PVPs (plant varietal
protection)
 What do these terms mean?
 Why protect?
 What is protected?
 Why does it matter?
Suggested reading:
“A Defense of Plant and Crop Related Patents” S. Savage website Applied Mythology
Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation Krattiger et
al (2008)
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12. “Hey, aren’t farmers
held captive by
‘Big Ag’?”
12

13. …in a word, no.
 Contracts/agreement between
company and producer
 Producer’s end of the deal?
 read and follow technology
use guide
 properly steward the
product inc pest control
 Use seed in single planting
/not re-sell
Brian Scott, Indiana farmer

14. Farm Facts
 What options DO farmers have at their
disposal?
 Organic or conventional production (inc GE
crops)
 Range of inputs and resources
 Private and public sources of seed
Protected and/or freely available
 Having range of options enables farmers to
better manage operations and production
 Other on-farm strategies: integrated pest
management, good stewardship practices, crop
rotation
14

15. GMO Labeling
 The politics and economics of labeling
 Mandatory vs voluntary labeling: there is a
difference!
 Initiatives in Canada and the US
 Costs
Washington State Academy of Sciences (2013);
Alston & Sumner (2012)
15

16. Perceptions of GE crops and foods
 Studies done in over 20 countries (Colson and Rousu
2013)
 Public understanding of biotechnology and food = LOW
(Pew 2006)
 Only 26% of consumers surveyed believe that they
had consumed a GM food
 74% indicated that they had little to no knowledge
about the government regulation of food
16
“Wildly differing results” in
research studies and surveys… (Lusk 2012)

17. Perceptions of science…
 ‘privatized’ (Maeseele 2009)
 ‘science-industrial complex’; having evolved into a
‘private good’
 driven by monopolistic interests to promote and
develop technology for profit
 Science is “silent” (Ryan and Doerksen 2013)
 Culture, institutional impediments, lack of rewards
or incentive mechanisms
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18. Dog noses or space aliens?
HUMAN COGNITIVE HABITS
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19. Perceptions of
who the experts
really are…

20. Unskilled and unaware of it:
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
less
knowledgeable
more
knowledgeable
Kruger, Justin; David Dunning (1999). "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing
One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments". Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 77 (6): 1121–34.

21. Scientific Research
Good Poor
PEER REVIEW
NO YES YES NO
PR Campaign
More Science /
Replication
MAKES GREAT
HEADLINES!“Standing on the
Shoulder of Giants”
Media Headlines???
NOT SO MUCH…

22. Scientific Consensus on GE Crops
 Biofortified (not for profit organization) GENERA
database:
 750+ (and growing) peer reviewed studies spanning
20+ years
 Categorized for factors on safety: consumption,
environment, equivalence and efficacy
 Nicolia etal 2013 (in Critical Reviews in Biotechnology)
meta-study:
 review of 1783 studies spanning 2002 to 2012
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23. Organizations that attest to safety of
GMOs
American Association for the Advancement
of Science
American Medical Association
World Health Organization
National Academy of Science
Royal Society of Medicine
European Commission
American Council of Science and Health
American Dietetics Association
American Society for Cell Biology
American Society of Microbiology
American Society of Plant Sciences
International Seed Foundation
The Science
Source for Food, Agriculture and Environmental
Issues
Crop Science Society of America
Federation of Animal Science Societies
Society for Invitro Biology
Society of Toxicology
French Academy of Science
Royal Society of London
Royal Society of Canada
Seven of the World’s Society of Academies
Food Standards Australia New Zealand
The Union of German Academics and Societies
….more!
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24. Genetic Engineering
an important SCIENTIFIC TOOL
Genetically Engineered
Crops
NOT a silver bullet, but definitely and important TOOL
in the tool box

25. Lots of ‘good news’
GMO stories out there…
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Photo: J. Kamiya-Rose

26. Photo credit: Andy Kristian Agaba / © Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Challenges: growing population,
limited area of arable land, disease, pests,
drought, climate change
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27. doccamiryan.wordpress.com
@DocCamiRyan
Cami Ryan
Questions?
Ships in the Night?
Consumers and genetically modified foods