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Mothers for Natural Law Genetically Engineered Crops For recent articles on GE crops posted by The Organic Consumers Association. click here The following is a list of genetically engineered crops that have already been approved for sale: canola corn, including popcorn and sweet corn but not blue corn cotton flax papaya potatoes (Atlantic, Russett Burbank, Russet Norkatah, and Shepody) red-hearted chicory (radicchio) soybeans squash (yellow crookneck) sugar beet tomatoes, including cherry tomatoes Notes GE canola, corn, cotton, and soy are the crops whose derivatives are commonly found in packaged foods. GE flax was approved for release but has not yet been planted. Genetically engineered seed was multiplied in Canada, but the Flax Council of Canada successfully petitioned against planting. The 600,000 bushels of multiplied seed were crushed and, as far as we can tell, did not directly enter our food supply. GE potato planting has gone way down. It appears that consumer concerns have caused the major buyers to favor genetically natural potatoes. Note that not all Atlantic, Russett Burbank, Russet Norkatah, and Shepody potatoes are genetically engineered. GE radicchio was never commercialized. Approval was voluntarily withdrawn on 2 Feb 2000. GE squash approval was originally for the yellow crook-neck variety. However, the approval may be taken to cover all varieties of squash. Thus, application of the same technology to other varieties either through genetic engineering, breeding, or natural cross pollination would not require separate approval by government agencies. There are now other varieties of genetically engineered squash, including straightneck yellow squash and two strains of zucchini, "declaration 2" and "independence 2", both of which are medium green in color. GE tomatoes are no longer on the market. Genetically engineered regular tomatoes and one cherry tomato have been approved for sale, but no genetically engineered roma or plum tomatoes. However, it appears that the FlavrSavr was the only tomato to be commercialized, and planting of that variety ceased years ago. The list could be extended to include recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), a hormone produced by genetically modified organisms. Dairy products from cows injected with rBGH may differ from other dairy products in having higher levels of antiobiotics, white blood cells, and growth hormone factor IGF-1. There may be other differences due to the stress and hormonal cascades created by rBGH in the cow. For more details, visit the Fox-BGH lawsuit website. Several agricultural inputs, such as soil bacteria that produce the Bt toxin, and a rabies vaccine have also been approved. For more details on the approved genetically engineered crop varieties, access the Union of Concerned Scientists’ March 2000 summary, or the International Center for Technology Assessment list of genetically engineered crops. The list of approvals for Canada may be found on the website of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Among genetically engineered animals, salmon is the closest to approval. For a May 2000 report, read Stalking the wild Frankensalmon at Salon.com. See also articles in ge-news on this site: 1999-09-03, 1999-10-16, and 1999-12-04. Much of the detailed information provided above was brought to our attention by Marc Olesky, an agricultural consultant who has spent the last year probing the realities of the market in genetically angineered crops.