Opponents call them Frankenfoods, man-made aberrations that should be banished from our grocery stores or at least clearly labeled so consumers know what they're eating.
Supporters have long cast genetically modified foods in a different light: as answers to human problems. They would, the dream went, make crops that didn't rot, spoil or succumb to frost. They would boost harvests, feed the hungry and fortify the malnourished.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, October 24, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 3 inches; 114 words Type of Material: Correction
Genetically altered foods: An article on genetically engineered foods that appeared in Monday's Health section said that the city of Santa Cruz had banned growth of genetically modified organisms. The ban was by Santa Cruz County. The story also quoted Greg Jaffe of the Center for Science in the Public Interest as saying that voluntary safety testing by companies appears to be working and that genetically altered foods currently on the market are safe. To clarify: Although CSPI does believe that the genetically engineered foods now on the market are safe, it also believes that the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory process should be changed from a voluntary system to one of mandatory, pre-market approval.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday, October 29, 2007 Home Edition Health Part F Page 9 Features Desk 3 inches; 108 words Type of Material: Correction
'Biotech Buffet': An Oct. 22 article on genetically engineered foods said the city of Santa Cruz had banned growth of genetically modified organisms. The ban was by Santa Cruz County. The story also quoted Greg Jaffe of the Center for Science in the Public Interest as saying that voluntary safety testing by companies appears to be working and that genetically altered foods currently on the market are safe. To clarify: Although CSPI does believe that the genetically engineered foods now on the market are safe, it also believes that the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory process should be changed from a voluntary system to one of mandatory, pre-market approval.
Several decades later, very few of those goals have been realized. Yet today, largely unbeknownst to most consumers, more than 70% of processed foods on grocery store shelves contain genetically engineered or biotech ingredients.
For the most part (with the exception of a virus-resistant papaya from Hawaii) you won't find these genetically modified foods (or GMOs) in the produce aisle, but you will find them pretty much everywhere else -- in flours, cereals, margarines, oils, salad dressings, pies, chips, cookies, fried foods and candy coatings. The main sources: oil, flour, sweetener and lecithin. The ingredients come from just three crops -- corn, soy and canola -- and are engineered to do two things: withstand sprayings of herbicides and resist pests.
Biotech companies and public sector labs are working on the next wave of products, including hypoallergenic, heart-healthy, and vitamin-, nutrient- and even pharmaceutical-packed varieties of engineered crops. But this next wave faces significant challenges.
For one thing, biotech products have proven technically difficult and costly to develop. It takes about $100 million and an average of 10 years to bring a new biotech product to the market, says David Stark, vice president for consumer traits at the St. Louis-based agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto.
The foods also face obstacles from consumers. Compared with other parts of the world (notably Europe), GMO foods have met far less opposition in the U.S. But that ready acceptance may be changing.
Over the last few years a growing number of towns and counties (mostly in California) have voted to declare themselves GMO-free, concerned that the food isn't adequately tested and can't be proven safe for the environment and consumers. The towns of Arcata, Santa Cruz and Point Arena and the counties of Marin, Mendocino and Trinity have banned GMOs. You also can't grow GMOs in Montville, Maine, or on city land in Boulder, Colo.
