GMO, GM (not General Mills!), and GE (and not General Electric!) are common buzz words that some people may be aware of, while others may not. For those who don’t know, GMO stands for genetically modified organism, and in this context the organism becomes food; GM stands for genetical modified; and GE stands for genetically engineered. Common foods that are genetically modified include (but not limited to) soybeans, corn, canola, and cotton seed oil. Even if you don’t eat any of these foods, food compounds derived from these crops are almost ubiquitous in our food system.
Since genetically engineered crops were introduced in the U.S. in 1996, their use has grown significantly. According to some global estimates, 25% of the 672 million acres used for cultivating crops was used to grow GM crops in 2003. And of this 25%, two-thirds of these science experiments are grown in the United States. While masses of Europeans are placing pressure on their governments to label foods as GM, less than half of Americans even know that some of the foods that they eat are genetically engineered. And depending on your diet, the mention of some above can easily turn into a majority!
