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Biotech: Beneficial Innovation or Food’s “Third Rail”?

Smithsonian.com ran an article about future benefits of agricultural biotechnology such as rapidly growing salmon and soybeans engineered to be rich in Omega-3s, and whether these innovations are at risk because of political pressures such as California’s labeling debate.
 
In theory, genetically modified, or GM, food seems to be just what the planet needs. With the world’s population of 7 billion expected to climb at least another 2 billion by mid-century, using science – specifically DNA manipulation – to make crops hardier, more productive, and less vulnerable to pests and weed-killing herbicides would appear to be a sagacious way to help the food supply keep pace.
 
And so far, there’s little to indicate that GM food is harmful to humans; already more than 70 percent of the processed foods in the United States, such as snacks, breakfast cereals and vegetable oils, contain traces of GM crops because common ingredients, including corn, soy and canola oil, usually have been genetically modified.

 


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