The Creator of GMO Potatoes Reveals The Dangerous Truth – Exclusive Interview

Posted on Oct 9 2018 - 11:24am by Sustainable Pulse

The Ex-Director of J.R. Simplot and team leader at Monsanto, Caius Rommens, has revealed the hidden dangers of the GMO potatoes he created, in a wide ranging interview for Sustainable Pulse, on the same day that his book ‘Pandora’s Potatoes: The Worst GMOs’ was released on Amazon.

How many years did you spend working on creating GM potatoes? Was this all lab-based work or did you get out to see the farms that were growing the potatoes?

During my 26 years as a genetic engineer, I created hundreds of thousands of different GM potatoes at a direct cost of about $50 million. I started my work at universities in Amsterdam and Berkeley, continued at Monsanto, and then worked for many years at J. R. Simplot Company, which is one of the largest potato processors in the world. I had my potatoes tested in greenhouses or the field, but I rarely left the laboratory to visit the farms or experimental stations. Indeed, I believed that my theoretical knowledge about potatoes was sufficient to improve potatoes. This was one of my biggest mistakes.

Have the GM potatoes you helped create been approved by the FDA and EPA in the U.S. or indeed elsewhere in the world?

It is amazing that the USDA and FDA approved the GM potatoes by only evaluating our own data. How can the regulatory agencies assume there is no bias? When I was at J.R. Simplot, I truly believed that my GM potatoes were perfect, just like a parent believes his or her children are perfect. I was biased and all genetic engineers are biased. It is not just an emotional bias. We need the GM crops to be approved. There is a tremendous amount of pressure to succeed, to justify our existence by developing modifications that create hundreds of millions of dollars in value. We test our GM crops to confirm their safety, not to question their safety.

The regulatory petitions for deregulation are full with meaningless data but hardly include any attempts to reveal the unintended effects. For instance, the petitions describe the insertion site of the transgene, but they don’t mention the numerous random mutations that occurred during the tissue culture manipulations. And the petitions provide data on compounds that are safe and don’t matter, such as the regular amino acids and sugars, but hardly give any measurements on the levels of potential toxins or allergens.

The Canadian and Japanese agencies approved our GMO potatoes as well, and approvals are currently considered in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Mexico, and the Philippines.

What was your role at Monsanto and J.R. Simplot?

I led a small team of 15 scientists at Monsanto, and I directed the entire biotech R&D effort at Simplot (up to 50 scientists). My initial focus was on disease control but I eventually considered all traits with commercial value. I published hundreds of patents and scientific studies on the various aspects of my work.

Why did you leave firstly Monsanto and then later J.R. Simplot?

I left Monsanto to start an independent biotech program at J.R. Simplot, and I left J.R. Simplot when my ‘pro-biotech’ filter was wearing thin and began to shatter; when I discovered the first mistakes. These first mistakes were minor but made me feel uncomfortable. I realized there had to be bigger mistakes still hidden from my view.

Why have you decided to reveal information about the failings of GM potatoes after spending many years creating them?

I dedicated many years of my life to the creation of GMO potatoes, and I initially believed that my potatoes were perfect but then I began to doubt. It again took me many years to take a step back from my work, reconsider it, and discover the mistakes. Looking back at myself and my colleagues, I believe now that we were all brainwashed; that we all brainwashed ourselves. We believed that the essence of life was a dead molecule, DNA, and that we could improve life by changing this molecule in the lab. We also assumed that theoretical knowledge was all we needed to succeed, and that a single genetic change would always have one intentional effect only.

We were supposed to understand DNA and to make valuable modifications, but the fact of the matter was that we knew as little about DNA as the average American knows about the Sanskrit version of the Bhagavad Gita. We just knew enough to be dangerous, especially when combined with our bias and narrowmindedness. We focused on short-term benefits (in the laboratory) without considering the long-term deficits (in the field). It was the same kind of thinking that produced DDT, PCBs, Agent Orange, recombinant bovine growth hormone, and so on. I believe that it is important for people to understand how little genetic engineers know, how biased they are, and how wrong they can be. My story is just an example.

Will GM potatoes not lead to larger yields and bigger tubers?

I somehow managed to ignore the almost daily experience that GM potatoes were not as healthy as normal potatoes. They were often misshapen, stunted, chlorotic, necrotic, and sterile, and many GM plants often died quickly. One of the reasons for this genetic inferiority is that GM potatoes are derived from ‘somatic’ cells, which are meant to live for only one season (to support a stem or leaf structure). These cells don’t have the genetic integrity to create new plants (like pollen cells and egg cells). So, by transforming somatic cells, we created GM potatoes that contained hundreds of genetic mutations, and these mutations compromised yield. Additionally, the genetic modifications often have ‘unintended’ effects that negatively affect both the agronomic performance and nutritional quality of a crop.

GM potatoes are meant to be bruise resistant, isn’t this a big benefit to farmers and food producers?

Normal potatoes easily develop damaged tissues that are entry points for pathogens and exit points for water. I believed that the GM potatoes were bruise resistant but now understand I was wrong. The GM potatoes bruise just as easily as normal potatoes, but the bruises are concealed. They don’t develop the dark color that helps processors identify and trim them. I didn’t understand that my potatoes were incapable of depositing melanin, a protective compound, when damaged or infected. More importantly, I didn’t understand that the concealed bruises accumulate certain toxins that may compromise the nutritional quality of potato foods.

Are the biotech traits in GM potatoes genetically stable?

A trait is stable only if it fits in the natural environment of the plant genome. If it doesn’t fit, which is often the case with GM crops, the trait may get silenced or recombined. My ex-colleagues at Syngenta and Monsanto often told me about their (under-reported) problems with GM corn and soybean, but none of their crops were as unstable as the GM potatoes. Two of the potato traits have already been lost and several others appear to be weakening.

Late blight resistance in GM potatoes has been sold as a major breakthrough, surely this is the case?

Late blight is one of the very few plant diseases that speak to the imagination, mostly because it caused major famines in Europe that forced millions of Europeans to migrate to the United States. But that was in the 1840s. Late blight is not a big issue where most potatoes are grown in the United States, which is in the arid Northwest, and late blight represents a manageable issue in the minor, more humid potato growing regions. Farmers there would like to have access to late blight resistant potatoes, but they would still have to worry about dozens of other diseases and pests that can be equally harmful.

My concern is that any attempt to promote the production of GM potatoes in humid regions (as vulnerable as Bangladesh and Indonesia) would actually increase rather than reduce disease issues. Furthermore, late blight is one of the most dynamic pathogens affecting agriculture. It is known to quickly evolve around any barrier to resistance. Therefore, the efficacy of a late blight resistance gene can never be guaranteed, and the resistance gene can be broken at any moment. In fact, some European and Middle American strains have already broken the resistance.

Are GM potatoes less carcinogenic, as suggested by the GMO industry?

I guess that many people will ask themselves: are potatoes carcinogenic? I don’t think there is any evidence for that. So, an even more interesting question is: why would GM potatoes be promoted as less carcinogenic?

Do GM potatoes include a legally acquired gene?

I mostly modified potatoes by using their own DNA. In other words, I used the DNA of a public variety to create a proprietary variety. This strategy may be ethically problematic but is legally acceptable. However, one of the genes that were used to create the GM potatoes is derived from a unique wild potato plant that grows in Argentina. I believe that the attainment and patenting of this gene without permission from Argentina was an act of biopiracy.

Is it possible for GM potatoes to cause gene-silencing in other potatoes or pollinating insects such as bees?

The problem with certain insects, including bees, is that they cannot degrade the small double-stranded RNAs that cause gene silencing. These double-stranded RNAs were intended to silence several potato genes in tubers, but they are likely to be expressed in pollen as well. So, when the pollen is consumed by bees, the double stranded RNAs in this pollen may silence bee genes that share inadvertent homology.

Your new book Pandora’s Potatoes, which is available to the public for the first time this week, includes many points as to why the GM potatoes you helped create should not be grown by farmers or eaten by the public. What would you like to say to the FDA and EPA?

The main problem about the current process for deregulation of GMO crops is that it is based on an evaluation of data provided by the developers of GMO crops. There is a conflict of interest. I propose that the safety of GMO crops is assessed by an independent group of scientists trained at identifying unintended effects.

Where can people find your new book ‘Pandora’s Potatoes’?

The book is now available on Amazon.

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About the Author

Sustainable Pulse is a global news outlet covering sustainable agriculture, GMOs and pesticides.

20 Comments so far. Feel free to join this conversation.

  1. Michael Antoniou October 10, 2018 at 16:44 - Reply

    As a fellow scientist who has publicly expressed concerns about the safety of GM crops and foods for many years, I wish to congratulate Dr Caius Rommens for having the courage to speak out on his misgivings about these products. It is exceptionally courageous given the inevitable attacks that will come his way from the GM biotech industry and its supporters. With his background in the GM crop industry the experience and insight he provides is hugely informative and impactful and I hope all those involved will take note.

  2. Alohajim October 10, 2018 at 23:56 - Reply

    Bravo Mr. Rommens. A very brave man. I fear for his life. Spreading truth in our world will get you killed.

    Completely boycott ALL GMO products and even those you might suspect are GMO’s but not disclosed.

    Just think – if everyone boycotted every moneychanger enterprise that would be a great step forward in taking back our planet from the plunderers.

  3. Swarup Chakrabarti October 11, 2018 at 08:05 - Reply

    I suppose the so called expert is talking about his transgenic potato, i. e. Innate Potato not GM in general. We have a natural tendency to generalize from a minuscule sample particularly for sensational issues. Some of his comments are controversial. Please critically check his comment “One of the reasons for this genetic inferiority is that GM potatoes are derived from ‘somatic’ cells, which are meant to live for only one season (to support a stem or leaf structure). These cells don’t have the genetic integrity to create new plants (like pollen cells and egg cells)”. Here he has conveniently hidden the fact that some potato varieties are being propagated for centuries through somatic cells not through pollen and egg cells.

    • Sustainable Pulse October 11, 2018 at 11:50 - Reply

      The so called expert created every GMO potato that is currently on the market, I think he knows what he is talking about.

  4. Joe Schein October 11, 2018 at 10:31 - Reply

    Thank you for your reporting and depth of questions and answers.

  5. Paul Vincelli October 11, 2018 at 15:48 - Reply

    This article is very puzzling. For example, potato “seed” is usually made up of tuber pieces, which are comprised of somatic cells. Ditto for all vegetatively propagated crops. I’ve never seen expressions of concern over the use of plant somatic tissues as planting material.

    • Sustainable Pulse October 11, 2018 at 15:59 - Reply

      The book linked to in the article goes in to more detail on this subject.

  6. Pu Gi October 11, 2018 at 20:49 - Reply

    I am curious how are you going to sell an “often misshapen, stunted, chlorotic, necrotic, and sterile” product to farmers?

  7. Rudy October 11, 2018 at 22:52 - Reply

    How are we supposed to be able to identfy which potatoes ar genetically mutated so we can not buy them?

  8. Truth October 12, 2018 at 18:45 - Reply

    You don’t need to sell to the farmers necessarily. Monsanto has a history of going after farmers whose crops have been somehow tainted with their “patented” pollen. The farmer ends up in court and cannot afford the fight and loses the farm. Its happened again and again in the US.

  9. Rob October 13, 2018 at 16:09 - Reply

    If the GMO potatoes are not as good as the normal potatoes then they should not be sold in the market. The scientist who created the GMO potatoes should be censored for creating foods which are not safe for human consumption.

    Instead, he writes a book to make more money.

  10. floOo October 15, 2018 at 19:45 - Reply

    Buy organic only! Fruit/veggie label code on the small sticker must have 5 digits, starting with a 9.

  11. Rex Kittle October 16, 2018 at 04:13 - Reply

    Humans have no business replacing Nature.

  12. Lord Grem October 18, 2018 at 11:03 - Reply

    By forbiding the customer to buy anything but this one… as it is done atm.

  13. Jay H December 21, 2018 at 00:33 - Reply

    It will no longer safe to eat home fries or hash browns or potato salad or mashed potatoes at restaurants. Even at parties and cookouts, it won’t be safe to eat the potato salad. Very sad. Very scary.

  14. Fabrice January 19, 2019 at 02:57 - Reply

    Man is mad !!!
    20 years ago with the first GMO , it was already like that (look at the situation in various countries now with coton, soybean, corn,… ) …man plays a game (change/modify the DNA) and one day the return will be dramatic.
    Unfortunately his book is no more available..it has been released by Amazon… we can ask ourself why?
    Whatever, if the author wants really to share his point of view and inform the public, he can leave a pdf version in Internet.
    If some one can scan it and do that, she/he will be helpful for the humanity….unfortunately, I cannot do because I don’t find the book (I am living in Europe) …

  15. Fabrice January 19, 2019 at 03:36 - Reply

    These situation – not only GMOs – is the consequence of our Society where liberalism and capitalism reigns as master.
    (I am not telling that communism or dictatorship are better..).

    Humanity must change quickly otherwise the future will be cruelly different .

  16. Jamie Hill February 20, 2019 at 04:15 - Reply

    I really want a copy of this and can not find it anywhere!!! How do I get one?!

  17. Catherine Walker August 18, 2019 at 02:41 - Reply

    This I can tell you since I saw it with my own two eyes.
    On my father’s farm in Michigan, we first planted GMO corn in the 1970’s.
    The deer would not eat the field of GMO corn, and would jump the fence to eat the open pollinated corn. Animals can tell us Alot about things, and obviously the deer knew the nutritional value was nil in the Mutated plant. Animals know what they need to eat to survive, humans should too. Mutant corn, potatoes, whatever, I don’t want on my plate.

  18. Janet April 10, 2023 at 05:59 - Reply

    Hi there, thanks so much for your loyalty to the Health of Humanity. I’ve been an Independent Researcher for 30+ years and doing further research on the GMOs in addition to what I have from time to time in recent years.

    Needless to say, I’m very much against everything that Monsanto and it’s Allies stand for in the name of “service to humanity”…..what a subterfuge. And the same goes for your FDA over there. Their strong affiliation with Monsanto behind closed doors.

    For many years I’ve practiced discernment, and had the ability to “sniff a rat in the basement” when it comes to certain professionals and companies Claims and Blurbs, and have not been found to be wrong because something surfaces later when others have been trusting.

    I would like to make this statement: While some people duck for refuge in these times of hardship and uncertainties because they know something is wrong and can’t quite make it out……some people are Impervious to Truth when they hear it, because they fail to recognise it. Especially some highly educated men and women with definite unyielding mindsets. May I suggest that as educated as they may be, that they should employ their skills in speech, in a more sensitive and respectful manner when it comes to making Comments on someone else’s Platform who are doing their best to Serve people like you are here.

    As a Researcher, I don’t always read Comments, keeping my focus on necessary INFO only. Sometimes I choose to read some Comments and find that some members of the public studiously devote themselves to conducting research on a certain matter or topic – their Info and insights can be quite helpful. And I’ve also found some of these same people to be discerning. While those I mentioned earlier sometimes have a way of being easily led when a certain argument appeals to them – they can find surprising ways to twist words to win an argument. Their attitude is very poor. However, not all educated people engage in those kind of pursuits but have a gracious manner to match their education. Those people lead the way appropriately when welcomed to do so. Their words are really worth hearing.

    I wholeheartedly agree with Michael Antoniou’s comment and am very thankful for Catherine Walker’s comment – I shall pass it on in my Blogs, to help people who are undecided what to do. Be especially cautious of GMO Wheat – it’s a double whammy, known to damage the Liver.
    Monsanto has absolutely NO Conscience “it’s seared with a hot iron”……please don’t be so trusting, they are highly Skilled at Lies.

    I wish you well with your endeavors and your Readers with theirs. Goodwill to Humanity!

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