Blog By: Stevi Howard
As the push for genetically modified and lab created foods increases, individuals have become increasingly aware of the health concerns and environmental risks that these “foods” pose.[i] Majority of Americans consume genetically modified vegetable oils, commonly known as seed oils, daily.[ii] “Seed oils” in this context refers to oils such as canola (rapeseed), safflower, sunflower, grapeseed, soybean, cottonseed, palm, and corn oil, which are made from various legumes, grains, and seeds through an abrasive extraction process.[iii] In the early twentieth century, seed oil consumption was virtually non-existent; the average American consumed 1.62 grams of seed oils a day in 1900.[iv] Fast forward to 2010, the average American consumed 80 grams of seed oils per day.[v] Westernized diets laden with genetically modified seed oils is driving chronic disease in America, as consumption increases the risk of toxins, allergens, and genetically predisposed health issues.[vi] Additionally, farming of these oils is a lead contributor of carbon dioxide emissions and deforestation, driving biodiversity loss.[vii] Seed oil crops are devoted more land than all pulses, fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, jutes, roots, and tubers combined.[viii] Land use change due to increased seed oil production has driven habitat and biodiversity loss throughout the world.[ix]
The evolution of seed oils can be apprehended by a single quote describing cottonseed oil in 1894: “What was garbage in 1860 was a fertilizer in 1870, cattle food in 1880, and table food and many things else, in 1890.”[x] Seed oils were never originally meant to touch our tables, so how did they virtually replace the use of animal fats in the Western Diet?[xi] It began in the late nineteenth century to reduce the cost of soaps and candles by Proctor and Gamble, which led to processing cottonseed oil.[xii] The waste product of cotton farming, unprocessed cottonseed oil contains a toxic, natural phytochemical that can cause organ damage and paralysis.[xiii] Processed, this oil appears identical to lard, the choice cooking oil of the time, and was sold as a cheap replacement in the early 1900s.[xiv] Today, this replacement is known as hydrogenated vegetable oil.[xv]
The health risks posed by seed and vegetable oil consumption were not understood until 1990.[xvi] Studies show that many individuals are genetically predisposed to have chronic illnesses from birth, and medical rarities have resurfaced in correlation with seed oil’s overtaking of the Western diet. [xvii] The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the need to regulate seed and vegetable oil spills due to their toxic effects on land, plants, and animals in the late 1990s. [xviii] Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires registration of these oils, the United States has taken a reactive approach and is yet to make regulatory changes pertaining to the safe consumption of seed and vegetable oils.[xix]
The FDA’s lenient regulation of manufacturers has led to litigation and class-action lawsuits over mislabeling, misinformation, and more.[xx] On the contrary, the European Union’s European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) has taken a proactive approach in regulating seed and vegetable oils by posing legislative requirements on labeling, usage, composition, and genetic modifications of these oils.[xxi] Further, Italy imposed regulations containing a punishable offense to market food found detrimental to public health, increasing transparency in seed oil marketing and usage.[xxii]
The United States must follow the European Union in adopting stricter regulations for vegetable and seed oils. Seed oil consumption has increased more than 150-fold in the United States since the early 1900s.[xxiii] Alongside, the country has seen more individuals suffering from predisposed chronic diseases and an extremely stressed environment.[xxiv] By imposing tight regulations, the European Union’s conservative and precautionary approach has decreased the likelihood of being affected by the many risks of seed oils.[xxv] The United States needs to be held accountable for these failures. It should impose protective and proactive regulations on seed and vegetable oils. [xxvi]
[i] Cary Funk, About half of U.S. adults are wary of health effects of genetically modified foods, but many also see advantages, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Mar. 18, 2020), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/03/18/about-half-of-u-s-adults-are-wary-of-health-effects-of-genetically-modified-foods-but-many-also-see-advantages/ [https://perma.cc/8HJS-T74W].
[ii] Chris A. Knobbe & Marija Stojanoska, The ‘Displacing Foods of Modern Commerce’ Are the Primary and Proximate Cause of Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Unifying Singular Hypothesis, 109 Med. Hypotheses 184-198 (2017), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987717305017 [https://perma.cc/LJ2N-K88L].
[iii] Dr. Guy Crosby, Ask the Expert: Concerns about canola oil, Harv. T.H. Chan Sch. of Pub. Health (Apr. 13, 2015), https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/04/13/ask-the-expert-concerns-about-canola-oil/ [https://perma.cc/M3YS-3FVP].
[iv] Knobbe & Stojanoska, supra note ii.
[v] Id.
[vi]A.S. Bawa & K.R. Anilakumar, Genetically modified foods: safety, risks and public concerns—a review, J. of Food and Sci. Tech. (Dec. 2013), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3791249/ [https://perma.cc/C36M-KFRF].
[vii] Tim G. Benton et. al., Food system impacts on biodiversity loss. Three levers for food system transformation in support of nature, Chatham House (Feb. 3, 2021), https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/2021-02-03-food-system-biodiversity-loss-benton-et-al_0.pdf [https://perma.cc/3UTF-QYJ7].
[viii] Our World in Data, Global agricultural land use by major crop type, (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2023), https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-agricultural-land-use-by-major-crop-type?facet=none [https://perma.cc/2ZJH-XA4Q].
[ix] Tim G. Benton et. al., supra note vii.
[x] Frederic G. Mather, Waste Products: Cotton-Seed Oil, 45 Popular Sci. Monthly, May 1894.
[xi] Drew Ramsey & Tyler Graham, How Vegetable Oils Replaced Animal Fats in the American Diet, The Atlantic (Apr. 6, 2012), https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/how-vegetable-oils-replaced-animal-fats-in-the-american-diet/256155/ [https://perma.cc/ZH7B-DM4B].
[xii] Id.
[xiii] Id.
[xiv] Id.
[xv] Id.
[xvi] Id.
[xvii] Knobbe & Stojanoska, supra note ii.
[xviii] Vegetable Oils and Animal Fats, U.S. Env’t Prot. Agency (2023).
[xix] FDA Registration – Vegetable Oils, Liberty Mgmt. Grp. Ltd. https://www.fdahelp.us/fda_food/registration/vegetable-oils.html#:~:text=Drug%20Listing-,FDA%20Registration%20%2D%20Vegetable%20Oils,require%20FDA%20food%20facility%20registration.&text=These%20are%20not%20complete%20list,require%20FDA%20food%20facility%20registration [https://perma.cc/XE6A-64R3].
[xx] Nicole E. Negowetti, Food Labeling Litigation: Exposing Gaps in the FDA’s Resources and Regulatory Authority, Brookings (June 2014), https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Negowetti_Food-Labeling-Litigation.pdf [https://perma.cc/7F6U-G4W4].
[xxi] What requirements must processed fruit and vegetables comply with to be allowed on the European market? CBI Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mar. 14, 2023), https://www.cbi.eu/market-information/processed-fruit-vegetables-edible-nuts/buyer-requirements [https://perma.cc/BRS2-7CDR].
[xxii] Italy has a debate on Vegetable Oil, New York Times (May 5, 1974), https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/05/archives/italy-has-debate-on-vegetable-oil-rapeseed-product-termed-a-menace.html#:~:text=An%20order%20to%20the%20police,but%20disappeared%20from%20the%20shelves [https://perma.cc/5XDS-AR84].
[xxiii] Tanya L. Blasbalg et al., Changes in consumption of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the United States during the 20th century, The Am. J. of Clinical Nutrition (May 2011), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3076650/ [https://perma.cc/L7YU-UQTM].
[xxiv] Bawa & Anilakumar, supra note vi.
[xxv] What requirements must processed fruit and vegetables comply with to be allowed on the European market?, supra note xxi.
[xxvi] Food Labeling: FDA Needs to Reassess Its Approach to Protecting Consumers from False or Misleading Claims, U.S. Gov’t Accountability Off. (Jan 14. 2011), https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-11-102 [https://perma.cc/95HE-T2P9].