Foods / Tuesday, 09-Sep-2025

TikTok conspiracy claim debunked: No, food cannot be genetically engineered to cause infertility in Black people

TikTok conspiracy claim debunked: No, food cannot be genetically engineered to cause infertility in Black people

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Credit: iStock
Credit: iStock

According to an alarming claim in a video circulating on Facebook, scientists have found a way to engineer food to cause infertility in Black people.

“Food crops can be engineered right now based on existing technology to cause infertility in Black people alone. That technology is a reality,” says a narrator in a TikTok video that appears to have originated on Natural News. “If you’re Black and you’re watching this, the government is at war with you.”

Whoever reshared the video on TikTok added their own warning in a text overlay: “My Black folk beware This sh– is crazy.”

It’s also wrong.

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We spoke with scientists who have expertise in RNA interference technology in plants, and they all told us that this claim that existing technology can be used to modify food crops and cause infertility in Black people is not accurate.

The technology can be used to alter food crops, fight pests, make food more nutritious, or make it more resilient against climate change impacts, said Neelima Sinha, a distinguished professor in plant biology at the University of California, Davis.

But scientists don’t know what genes make up ethnicities, so targeting a specific race through this technology is not possible, Sinha said.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here.

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