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GREEN ROOM
The Green Monster
Could Frankenfoods be good for the environment?
By James E. McWilliams
Posted Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009, at 6:58 AM ET
I'm sitting at my desk examining a $10.95 jar of South
River Miso. The stuff is delicious, marked by a light,
lemony tang. The packaging, by contrast, is a heavy-
handed assurance of purity. The company is eager to tell
me that the product I've purchased is certified organic,
aged for three weeks in wood (sustainably harvested?),
unpasteurized, made with "deep well water," handcrafted,
and—the designation that most piques my interest— GMO free .
GMO refers to "genetically modified organisms." A genetically modified crop results from the laboratory
insertion of a gene from one organism into the DNA sequence of another in order to confer an advantageous trait
such as insect resistance, drought tolerance, or herbicide resistance. Today almost 90 percent of soy crops and 80
percent of corn crops in the United States sprout from genetically engineered seeds. Forty-five million acres of
land worldwide contain genetically engineered crops. From the perspective of commercial agriculture, the
technology has been seamlessly assimilated into traditional farming routines.
From the perspective of my miso jar, however, it's evident that not all consumers share the enthusiasm. It's as
likely as not that you know GMOs by their stock term of derision: Frankenfoods . The moniker reflects a broad
spectrum of concerns: Some anti-biotech activists argue that these organisms will contaminate their wild cousins
with GM pollen and drive native plants extinct. Others suggest that they will foster the growth of "superweeds"
—plants that develop a resistance to the herbicides many GMOs are engineered to tolerate. And yet others fear
that genetic alterations will trigger allergic reactions in unsuspecting consumers. Whether or not these concerns
collectively warrant a ban on GMOs—as many (most?) environmentalists would like to see—is a hotly debated
topic. The upshot to these potential pitfalls, however, is beyond dispute: A lot of people find this technology to be
creepy.