The New Mexico chile, latest candidate for genetic engineering, stars in an award-winning documentary that has touched the heart and soul of New Mexico.

This one-hour film, “Genetic Chile,” examines how corporate ownership of genetically modified organisms has changed traditional foods.

 “The seeds are sacred,” said Isaura Andaluz and she is adamantly opposed to the New Mexico State University-Las Cruces' plant-engineering project. In 2008 the state legislature authorized $1 million to fund research at the campus for genetically engineered chile plants. The outcome is designed to permanently alter this traditional staple of New Mexican cuisine.

“It makes me angry as hell,” said Jenn Schramm after viewing “Genetic Chile.” Another area resident said, “Anyone who eats should be concerned about what is happening to our food supply and the control Monsanto and other corporations have on what we buy at the grocery store.”

District 6 State Representative Eliseo Alcon said, “As someone who eats a lot of chile I need to find out more about GMOs and this film.” State Senator Lynda Lovejoy, District 22, commented, “We need to be concerned about GMOs not being labeled because this raises health issues for consumers.”

Typically corporations that patent a GMO seed conduct food safety studies in secret and they are done only for three months. There has never been a long-term, multi-generational food safety study completed, according to the film's creator Chris Dudley. “If these industry scientists were so certain their products were safe, it would seem to me that they would be demanding more long-term, multi-generational food safety studies to defend their thesis,” said the filmmaker.

The expense of developing GMO seeds has lead to an unprecedented consolidation of plant breeders and a marked loss in crop diversity. These altered seeds are more expensive than conventional varieties. Increasingly GMO seeds are being created with multiple genetically-induced traits, making the seeds even more expensive.  Based on patent restrictions farmers are not allowed to save seeds to use for future plantings.

Often agricultural producers choose GMOs because they produce crops that allow for a substantial decrease in labor costs and are less expensive in the short term. Corn and soy crops are both heavily subsidized by the federal government, which essentially guarantees farmers' profits.

Breeding does not involve any artificial manipulation of the genes. Traditional agricultural breeding involves selecting certain parents for mating. The hereditary substance of the father and mother are combined in a natural process.

Conventional crossbreeding produces genetic control and balanced functioning within the seed. With genetic engineering these hereditary functions are disrupted through the artificial insertion of new genetic material into the plant's seeds. Biotech proponents have argued that humans have been manipulating genes for ages in breeding but opponents state that premise is intentionally misleading.

This GMO technology may result in an unpredictable creation of new molecules that may be toxic, allergenic or may disturb the metabolism of the cell, this disruption of cell functions may generate unexpected toxic or allergenic molecules. The potential for development of unknown characteristics is one of the reasons opponents question the value of GE products.

“Controlling the seed is not some abstraction. Whoever controls the seed controls the world's food supply,” according to a May 2010 article in Vanity Fair magazine.

In May the New Mexico Filmmaker's five-member judging panel named “Genetic Chile” this year's top documentary film. Each summer the winning films in the six categories are shown at seven locations across the state. Eligibility for entries includes filming in New Mexico by a resident filmmaker. Lovejoy stated the New Mexico Filmmakers' goal is to raise residents' economic status by promoting jobs in the state's film industry.

Concerns:

For thousands of years farmers and herders have selectively bred their plants and animals to produce useful hybrids.  It was a hit or miss process because the actual mechanisms that governed inheritance were unknown.  Knowledge of genetic mechanisms resulted from careful laboratory breeding experiments carried out over the last century and one- half.

By the 1890's the invention of better microscopes allowed biologists to discover the basic facts of cell division and sexual reproduction.  With better research equipment genetic research focused on the transmission of hereditary traits from parents to children.  A number of hypotheses were suggested to explain heredity but Gregor Mendel, a little- known Central European monk, was the first person whose theories of genetic trait transmission were acknowledged.  The 1866 publication of his hypothesis went unrecognized until 1900 when his ideas gained acceptance. 

In contrast to more than a century of scientific research on plant hybrids, the development of genetically modified organisms has altered the cultural understanding of agricultural production.

Reliance on this country's corporate agricultural system is a continued threat to small farmers and has unpredictable effects on the natural environment, according to filmmaker Chris Dudley, an Albuquerque resident. He included the following concerns about GMOs and food production in his film “Genetic Chile.”

1. GMOs do not increase yield. There is not one single marketed GMO that has demonstrated increased yield, enhanced nutrition, salt resistance or drought tolerance.

2. Until recently there have been no long-term food safety studies done on even one GMO seed.

3. The corporate owners of the seed patents have forbidden independent food safety studies. 

4. At least 80 percent of GMO crops are tolerant of, not resistant to, the proprietary herbicide. This means the plants are filled with the herbicide.

5. There seems to be something questionable about a crop that is defended by a consortium of corporate scientists and government agencies. Typically scientists that criticize GMOs are attacked, muffled or de-funded.

“Genetic Chile” legislative contact:

Legislative contacts for genetically modified organisms and the New Mexico chile are listed below.

• State Representative Ken Martinez, District 69, call: 287-0716 or 287-8801 or email: mlo1@7cities.net

• State Representative Eliseo Alcon, District 6, call 285-6387 or 1-505-986-4254 or email: eliseoalcon@msn.com

• State Senator Lynda Lovejoy, District 22, call: 1-505-786-7498 or 1-505-352-0967 or email: lynda.lovejoy@nmlegis.gov

• State Senator David Ulibarri, District 30, call: 287-8241 or 1-505-986-4265 or email: david.ulibarri@nmlegis.gov