On Saturday, US Ambassador Francis Rooney urged the Vatican to promote genetically modified (GMO) crops as a partial solution to world hunger. A US policy that promotes GMO agriculture as a “moral imperative” is, to the say the least, alarming. This incident begs the question: Is Ambassador Rooney a mouthpiece of the Monsanto Corporation, or is he merely misinformed regarding the realities of global agriculture?

The rise of GMO agriculture is troubling for a number of reasons.  Just last month, at the conference of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM), a Russian rat study revealed that 55.6% of the offspring of female rats nourished with genetically engineered soy flour died within three weeks, and another 36% were significantly stunted in their development. Though the results and methodology have yet to be verified by peer review, the Academy urged immediate replication of the study due to the “magnitude of the findings and the implications for human health.”

GMO foods are industrial agriculture’s newest front in a decades long war against agricultural biodiversity. According to the UK Food Group, in the past century more than 90% of crop varieties have disappeared from farmer’s fields. Already genetic contamination of maize has been documented in the Sierra Norte of Mexico, the geographic origin of commercial maize and the heart of its genetic biodiversity. In the UK, The Guardian reports that “Round-Up Ready” rapeseed has genetically drifted to a local weed named charlock, creating a genetic “super-weed” that, like the rapeseed genetic source, is extremely resistant to herbicide applications.

At the very least, agribusiness companies and governments around the world should adopt strict labelling measures of seed and food products so that consumers can make their own decisions. If the health and environmental risks of GMO foods are even a fraction of what is being reported, the public must demand full transparency and disclosure when GMO crops are tested in our communities, fed to our children, and sold in our stores.