• Most of the food we consume today has been radically modified over thousands of years through deliberate selection and accidental mutations.  Science has taken that process a step further.  By taking gene coding from other organisms and using them to modify food at the most basic genetic level.
  

• As of yet, there is no evidence that the transgenes found in genetically altered foods are injurious to humans.  However, there are other concerns.   
  

• Some believe that the widespread consumption of genetically modified food might lead to increases in diseases resistant to several types of broad-spectrum antibiotics.
  

• Another safety concern is for those who might have an allergic reaction after unknowingly consuming genetically modified foods containing allergenic proteins introduced from external sources.

• Bt-Corn, a transgenic breed of corn, accounts for a large amount of the corn grown in modern agriculture.  This corn is used because of its ability to resist pests which cuts down on the amount of pesticides used.  But there is a rising concern on the risks that the corn's pollen poses to the surrounding moth and butterfly populations.    

R. Bessin, University of Kentucky Entomology

• As we narrow down the types of corn used to a few genetically engineered super-plants, the number of available breeds diminish.  We may lose a great well of natural genetic diversity that is highly versatile to different fungi, environmental factors and diseases.  Even with the advent of genetic engineering, the corn project may play an important role in preserving a way of agriculture and the way of life that could be vital to our future.
  

References: 

Eichenwald, Kurt.  "New Concerns Rise on Keeping Track of Modified Corn."  The New York Times
October 14, 2000.  21 April 2003.  <http://www.mercola.com/2000/oct/22/starlink_corn.htm>

Franco, Pilar.  "Mexico: Genetically altered corn eyed with suspicion." Third World Network.  23  April       2003.  <http://www.twnside.org/title/corn-cn.htm>

Wagner, Connie.  "Corn Varieties."  21 April 2003. <http://cyberspaceag.com/cornvarieties.html>

Created by:  Silas Holtz