What are the health risks from eating genetically modified food? There aren't any. Twenty-five years of scientific studies have shown no evidence of harm from the use of GM crops. A recent report from the European Union found that 'the main conclusion to be drawn from the efforts of more than 130 research projects, covering a period of more than 25 years of research and involving more than 500 independent research groups, is that biotechnology, and in particular GMOs, are not more risky to consume than conventional plant breeding technologies.” These findings are backed by the American Medical Association, the US National Academy of Science, and the World Health Organization—along with other respected scientific research based organizations worldwide. (1)
In 2003, the International Council for Science, a nongovernmental body representing more than 100 national science academics and dozens of international scientific unions, reviewed 50 independent authoritative studies. The GMOs Chipotle banned were shown to be safe to eat. In the intervening 12 years, GMOs have been planted on nearly 4 billion acres of land in more than two dozen countries, bringing the total acreage devoted to GMOs to 5 billion. And still no credible evidence of human health risks has emerged. (2)
Are you eating GMOs? Probably. Scientifically created GMOs have been on the market worldwide for more than 15 years. According to the USDA, the majority of crops grown in the United States—like corn, soybean, and rapeseed (canola)--are genetically altered versions engineered to resist pests, withstand herbicides, and improve growth. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service estimates that 94 percent of corn and 93 percent of soybeans grown in the US today are from GMO strains. From there, GMO ingredients appear in staples like vegetable oil, corn starch, soy flour, and baking powder. Some academic estimates claim that GMOs are in up to 80 percent of conventional processed foods. They are essentially unavoidable. (1)
Chipotle 'banned' GMOs from its menu to create an image that its 900+ calorie burritos are somehow better for you. Yet Chipotle continued to use meat that was raised on GM grain, cheese made with a GM enzyme, and sodas containing high fructose corn syrup derived from GM corn. (3)
Chipotle is in a particular tricky position when it comes to corn. Not only are corn derivatives found in an enormous array of food products, but livestock—cows, pigs, goats, and chickens—now consume the vast majority of GMO corn and other crops. The US produces about nine billion food animals a year, 95 percent of which eat feed containing genetically modified ingredients. (4)
“Chipotle, rather than taking a scientifically reasoned approach, has plumped for a publicity splash. Understandably, Chipotle—like any business—seeks to court public opinion and promote sales. If banning GMOs sells burritos, certainly that's a plus for the company. Unfortunately, though, while such decisions may boost company profits, it's a disservice to all of us in the long run. What Chipotle is doing isn't science and isn't common sense,” says Rebecca Rupp. (4)
Minimum Wage
Then there's the issue of minimum wage. Mark Perry reports, “In our weekly survey of ten of Chipotle's markets, we found the company implemented price increases in half of the surveyed markets. In most markets, the price increases have been limited to beef and average about 4% on barbacoa and steak, toward the lower end of management's expectation for a 4% to 6% price increase in beef. San Francisco, however, saw across-the-board price increases averaging over 10%, along with a 14% increase on steak and barbacoa. We believe the outsized San Francisco price hike was likely because of increased wages (which rose by 14% from $10.74 per hour to $12.25 on May 1) as well as scheduled minimum wage increases in future years (to $13 next year, $14 in 2017, and $15 in 2018).” (5)
There is no such thing as a free minimum wage. Says David French, vice-president of the National Retail Federation, “There simply isn't any magic pot of money that lets employers pay higher wages just because the government says so, without making adjustments elsewhere like cutting workers' hours, reducing their non-cash fringe benefits, and/or passing the higher wages along to consumers in the form of higher prices.”
After all, the minimum wage is not really a political problem, it's a math problem. And the 10-14% increases at Chipotle in San Francisco are just the new math problem now facing the restaurant chain's customers, who'll now be paying about $1 extra for each burrito bowl. (5)
This prompts the question- what price increase will accompany the anti-GMO stance at Chipolte?
Concluding Notes
I like Julie Kelly's observation, “One of Chipolte's spin is that it was responding to the demands of its customers. That really made me laugh aloud. I've spent a lot of time at Chipolte and I'd say the average customer is a 17-year-old male who wears long gym shorts, stares at his iPhone and has a penchant for $10 burritos. I can't tell you how many times I've been stuck behind the high school baseball team when barely coherent sophomores take their sweet time deciding between beans or rice. It's nearly impossible for me to believe these same dudes are taking time away from Snapchat or ESPN's website to email Chipolte with their concerns about genetically modified tortilla chips.” (6)
As Americans continue to quibble about phantom fears related to genetically modified crops, 20,000 people –more than six World Trade Center disasters—die every day from malnutrition, at least some of whom would be saved if GM crops were legalized. (3)
And something no one seems to be talking about is Chipotle's CEO Steve Ells' dumping of his personal company stock holdings. He sold 41% of his Chipolte shares from 4/21/15 to 5/22/15. Before the dump-fest started in late April, he owned 159,543 shares and by the end of May he was down to 94,633 shares. (7)
This doesn't seem to be much of a commitment to the “No-GMO” company marketing plan.
References
Caroline Weinberg, “Chipolte's non-GMO push is based on bad science,” eater.com, May 5, 2015
Steven Sexton and David Zilberman, “Chipolte's junk science on GMOs,” latimes.com, April 29, 2015
Michael Dzakovich, “GMO 'right to know' movement takes food off plates of hungry in Africa, Asia,” geneticliteracyproject.org, June 25, 2015
Rebecca Rupp, “What Chipolte's ban on GMOs says about us,” theplate.nationalgeographic.com, April 29, 2015
Mark J. Perry, “Who-da-thunk it? SF minimum wage increased 14% and local Chipolte just raised prices by 10-14%”, aei.org, July 6, 2015
Julie Kelly, “Why Whole Foods and Chipolte's anti-GMO campaigning has lost my business,” geneticliteracyproject.org, July 6, 2015
“Chipolte Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) Insider Trading Activity,” [url=http://www.nasdaq.com/sumbol/cmg]http://www.nasdaq.com/sumbol/cmg[/url], July 10, 2015
Jack Dini is author of Challenging Environmental Mythology. He has also written for American Council on Science and Health, Environment & Climate News, and Hawaii Reporter.
What are the health risks from eating genetically modified food? There aren't any. Twenty-five years of scientific studies have shown no evidence of harm from the use of GM crops. A recent report from the European Union found that 'the main conclusion to be drawn from the efforts of more than 130 research projects, covering a period of more than 25 years of research and involving more than 500 independent research groups, is that biotechnology, and in particular GMOs, are not more risky to consume than conventional plant breeding technologies.” These findings are backed by the American Medical Association, the US National Academy of Science, and the World Health Organization—along with other respected scientific research based organizations worldwide. (1)
