Source: New York Times
CHICAGO, USA June 9, 2001: Despite persistent concerns, genetically modified crops are spreading so rapidly that it has become almost impossible for consumers to avoid them. Wind-blown pollen, commingled seeds and black-market plantings have extended these products of biotechnology into the far corners of the global food supply — perhaps irreversibly. Some agriculture experts say that cross-pollination of biotech corn and seed corn, as well as poor and imperfect grain-handling practices, have thoroughly scrambled crops in a global food chain that for decades shipped bulk supplies of largely undifferentiated products. Most food makers in the United States continue to use biotech crops, insisting they are safe and far too pervasive to avoid; meanwhile, relatively few American consumers seem to care. “If your standard is 100 percent pure,” said one Purdue University agriculture professor, “you better stop eating right now.” Thus the various seed companies appear to have been successful in their scheme to introduce this genetically modified food without having to prove is safety.