If you want to spark a heated debate at a dinner party, bring up the topic of
genetically modified foods.For many people, the concept of genetically altered,
high-tech crop production raises all kinds of environmental, healthy
safety and ethical questions. Particularly in countries with long agrarian
trditions-and vocal green lobbies-the idea seems against nature.In fact, genetically
modified foods are already very much a part of our lives. A third of th corn and more
than half the soybeans and cotton grown in the US last year were the product of
biotechnology,according to the Department of Agriculture.
More than 65 million aceres of genetically modified crops will be planted in
the US this year. The geneticd is out of the bottle.
Yet there are cleary some very real issues that need to be reslved. Like any
new product entering the food chain,
genetically modified foods must be subjested to rigorous testing.
In wealthy countries, the debate about biotech is
tempere by the fact we have a rich array of foods to choose from-an a
supply that far exceeds our needs. In developing
countries desperate to feed-growing and undered populations; the issue
is simpler and much more urgent:Do the benefits
of biotech outweigh the risks?