Take corn, for instance. Adroit biotechnologists can transform the crop into super-corn by adding a bug-killing bacteria of DNA to it. Even soybeans can change. With a dose of the DNA average soybeans are tailor-made for more efficient production.
Last week, Agriculture Minister Ivari Padar announced Estonia will not be hopping on any genetically modified food-train, at least not any time in the foreseeable future, the Baltic News Service reported.
Padar declared that he favors the traditional farming method, and he does not support production of genetically altered foods. But, he conceded, the possibility could not be ruled out that gene technology may at some point be used in Estonia to make agricultural production more efficient, said the report.
Estonia has so far enacted two pieces of legislation covering GM foods: the Food Act, in force since January of this year, and the Act on GM Organisms Release into the Environment, passed last July.
Applications to import genetically modified foods are handled by the Veterinary and Food Inspectorate and require final approval by the Ministry of Environment, said Kairi Ringo, head of the Agriculture Ministry's Food Safety Board. So far, she said, no applications have been received.
"I can't say what consumer's attitudes are toward GM foods, but all GM's and products from GMO's are allowed," she acknowledged, while stressing, "permission is needed for their release [into the country.]"
Hendrik Kuusk, head of the Veterinary and Food Inspectorate, characterized the regulations as rather strict, but said that certainly isn't the reason there have not been applications to bring GM foods into Estonia. The demand is simply not there yet.
"I don't see it as a big problem," he said. However, soybeans are a product in the GM debate of some consequence in the Estonian market and may pose a potential risk in the future, Kuusk explained.
"We must be very careful," he continued, "what may be a problem is that soybeans are common in small children's food." But, he emphasized, "at the moment, it is not a problem."
Staple or pariah?
Though the legislative acts and the fact that no countries have requested to ship GM foods into Estonia may give the impression the country is free of genetically altered foods, that is not necessarily the case, according to Ringo.
"GM soy and corn are in the EU market. I think they are in the market in Estonia already. . .in flowers and oils," she said.
The question whether GM foods will become a staple or a pariah in Estonia or in the rest of the world, in fact, is anything but lucid. The European Union has assailed the United States for the practice, triggering angry reactions from American leaders and farmers, who accuse the union of blocking trade.
In a March 6 speech to the Commodity Classic in Orlando, Florida, Under Secretary of State Alan Larson urged the EU to allow existing trade in corn and soybeans, and to assure that any regulatory actions taken are "science-based, non-discriminatory, and grounded in sound application of risk assessment and risk management," he said.
The Times of London reported last Wednesday that the use of GM crops in Europe is in decline. Sixteen leading food and drink companies including Pepsi Cola, Coca Cola and Mars - all of which also have a strong presence in the Estonian market - said in a survey that their products were from GM-free crops. Even McDonald's made clear that it had asked suppliers to concentrate on sourcing non-GM ingredients.
The survey was conducted by a European environmental group called Friends of the Earth. According to The Times report, the group said the survey results showed food manufacturers were "being forced to listen to European consumers."
Environmental activists at a recent three-day Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development conference in Scotland on GM foods said it was little more than an apology for the global biotechnology industry, a Reuters report indicated.
The meeting in Edinburgh was an international forum aiming to reach a consensus on safety standards for GM foods. Activists, displeased with the entire event, staged high-profile protests, trashing experimental GM crops and last week boarded a ship laden with GM soya, forcing it to abandon attempts to unload in Britain, said a Reuters report.
Scrutiny swirling around GM foods addresses the possible risks of transferring toxins or allergenic compounds from one life form to another, of creating new toxins altogether, and of unknown effects that biotechnology products could have on farm animals.
But some scientists insist the technology could save lives.
"Edible vaccines and GM foods will cause a healthcare revolution in countries not as well off as my own," predicted Professor Mark Weksler of Cornell University in New York, who attended the conference. He argued that GM vaccines and food could prevent measles, which kills one million children a year, as well as help to prevent malnutrition, certain cancers, and to overcome vitamin deficiencies and allergies, said the Reuters report.
In a BBC News online chat March 9, Estonian citizen Jaak Aru stood up for the opportunity to alter biology.
"I do support genetic engineering [for] producing enough food for mankind and making new medicines. . .I think to be creative is the essence of being human," he said.
Murray Rosenburg, an organic farmer from New Jersey and a participant in the chat, suggested that despite the GM food-safety debate, when it comes down to it, consumers only care about about the surface qualities - price and appearance, not on how the foods are produced:
"People have become very naive in what they're eating every day. . . As a past trader on the Chicago board of trade I see the world demand and the demand of the people in the supermarkets: they want cucumbers that look beautiful, they want apples that have no marks on them, and that takes a lot of chemicals and engineering," he said.
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