Healthy eating?
Take a considered view of the debate about how what we eat affects our health:
Introduction
Additives
Allergies
Ethics
GM Foods
You can discuss the science of food in our science and technology forum.
Dive in...
From the time when oysters were a food for the poor, through to the point when squid turn into calamari, we've an ocean of seafood secrets.
The meaning of beans
Famous advertising slogans and a poweful way of helping protect yourself against bowel cancer. Discover some bean secrets.
An introduction to the science and debate of GM foodstuffs
Mention genetic engineering to your average Brit, and they’ll probably look very disapproving. When the UK government started farm scale trials of genetically modified crops they were met with protest. The environmentalists’ message struck a cord with the British public. Yet GM technology promised to make food more nutritious, wholesome, and safely produced. As with food additives, manufacturers had already had to convince legislators their products were safe. They had conducted scientific tests for toxicity, capacity to cause allergies, and risk of cancer. So why worry? It comes down to something very deep-rooted in the way different people see the world, and equally different interpretations of what actually happens when we eat GM food.
Did you know ... ?
In 1999 there were 2,000 processed foods containing GM ingredients in British supermarkets. In 2000, after public opposition, only 100 remained.
Genetic Engineering
In conventional plant breeding, a plant with one set of desirable characteristics is crossed with a plant with another set of desirable characteristics, in the hope that some of the offspring will have the benefit of both. In genetic engineering, scientists take advantage of their vast knowledge of what genes do, in order to take a single gene from one organism and transfer it into another. It is possible to cross traditional boundaries of species, for example, by putting a gene for antifreeze properties from an arctic fish into a strawberry, to make a frost-resistant plant. In the Bt potato, scientists take a gene for insect resistance from a bacterium and engineer it into a potato.
Did you know ... ?
Farmers have been selectively breeding crops for 10,000 years
Bt potato
This is a GM product where, in a sense, the organic farmers got there first. For 40 years, organic farmers have been spraying crops with a bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, that is poisonous to insects. This is a biological phenomenon, so the spray doesn’t class as a pesticide and doesn't threaten organic status. When genetic engineers studied the bacterium, they were able to isolate the gene that produces the active ingredient. They took this gene and engineered it into maize, cotton, and potato. That way, the plants have 24-hour protection from damaging insect pests like the pink bollworm. But perhaps ironically, no organic farmer would dream of planting it.
Did you know ... ?
Bt crops are right across the United States
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Content last updated: 20/04/2005
