NUTRITION SPECIAL FOOD SCIENCE
C orn is one of the few genetically modified food crops grown in Canada.
y
OU’VE HEARD the rumours at your local grocery store and you’ve read them on the Internet: People are talking about GMOs hiding in our food and how they’re the suspected cause of everything from an increase in allergies to a surge in cancer rates. It’s enough to make you wary of every supersize strawberry in the produce aisle. Are the rumours true?
WHAT ARE GMOS?
unDERSTanDING What do genetically modified foods mean to your health? We separate fact from fiction to help you decide what’s right for your family. BY JILL BUCHNER
40
GMos CANADIANLIVING.COM | MARCH 2015
PHOTOGRAPHY, GETTY IMAGES
Genetically modified organisms are organisms, such as plants and animals, that have been engineered using technology pioneered in the 1970s to allow scientists to transfer individual genes from one organism into another. For example, scientists have taken a gene from a soil bacterium (Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt) that’s toxic to insects and transplanted it into corn to make it pest-resistant. The corn, which looks exactly the same, has been commercially available in Canada for 17 years. “We can move DNA from anywhere to anywhere,” says Rene Van Acker, professor in plant agriculture and associate dean at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agriculture College. “Genetic modifica-
