Fooling mother nature

Farmers today can raise corn with a built-in pesticide, soybeans that thrive when sprayed with weed killer and squash that resist viruses.

Some say they're biotechnological wonders. Critics call them "Frankenfoods."

Should you worry if your food is swimming in the gene pool?

Opinions were mixed among a group of experts who spoke at a daylong biotechnology conference for the Association of Food Journalists last October in Puerto Rico. But most agreed that the products should be labeled so the public can decide if they want to use them or not.

Current genetically modified crops in America appear safe to eat, and their environmental risks are manageable, said Gregory Jaffe, who directs the Center for Science in the Public Interest's biotechnology project. But the products need better regulating, and future products need more safety testing before going on the market.

The CSPI is a food/nutrition watchdog group that assailed movie theater popcorn and the fake fat Olestra. So, it's a little surprising to hear the group isn't necessarily against genetically engineered foods. But it's obviously wary, considering that the group devotes part of its Web site to the topic and monitors new developments.

What's genetic engineering?

Farmers and scientists have crossbred animals and developed plant hybrids for hundreds of years. But agro-chemical companies, such as Monsanto and Dow, made the genetic mix-and-match game more specific. A copy of a gene from one organism is spliced into a different organism. The new gene becomes integrated into every cell of the organism and is inherited by the crop's offspring.

These foods can be referred to as "genetically modified" ("GM" or "GMO") or genetically engineered ("GE") foods.

GE crops include corn and cotton that contain genes from a soil bacterium (Bacillus thuringiensis — or Bt) engineered to kill insects like the corn borer. That eliminates the need for chemical pesticides. Some soybeans, corn, canola and cotton contain a bacterial gene that protects the crop from weed killers, such as Monsanto's Roundup.

Have you eaten any GE foods?

That's hard to say because food manufacturers aren't required to label whether their products contain genetically engineered ingredients.