ANSWERS 1. Answer: a. Yes.

"If you live in the United States, it's almost certain that at one time or another you've eaten foods made from genetically modified cro s," !olds"rough says. A large ercentage of the corn and soy"eans grown in the United States comes from genetically modified lants, and the cro s from these lants are made into common food ingredients such as high fructose corn syru and vegeta"le oil as well as other food additives. #he corn syru is used in a num"er of roducts, including soft drin$s, and the vegeta"le oil is used to fry foods such as fast%food french fries. According to the !rocery &anufacturers of America, this year an estimated '( ercent of the foods on grocery store shelves will have "een made or manufactured using genetically modified cro s. ). Answer: a. *heese. +efore the advent of genetically modified organisms, cheese was roduced using an en,yme o"tained from the stomachs of calves slaughtered for veal. -ow genetically modified "acteria roduce that same rotein. .ne result of this is that many cheeses are now considered /osher. 0. Answer: a. #hey im rove farm rofita"ility and ma$e some farmers' 1o"s easier. 2ight now, genetically modified cro s have made life a little "it easier for the nation's farmers who use them. 3owever, scientists and farmers "elieve that soon all of the answers will "e true: genetically modified cro s will create foods that are more nutritious, have longer shelf lives, contain fewer esticides, and are roduced with less damage to the environment. 4. Answer: e. -early 1(( ercent. All lant and animal cells contain 5-A, so nearly all food contains genetic material regardless of whether the food has "een genetically modified. #here are a few e6ce tions, however. "5uring the rocessing of some food roducts, such as vegeta"le coo$ing oils, almost all of the 5-A is removed," !olds"rough says. 7. Answer: c. .ne or two additional genes. !enetically modified cro s contain one or two additional genes than either conventional or hy"rid cro s. 8. Answer: c. It has no affect on your genes. "!enes in foods are easily digested and there is no evidence that these new genes are going to have any affect on our genes," !olds"rough says. '. Answer: ". -o. "#here are currently no regulations that re9uire human testing of these cro s," !olds"rough says. "#he roducers are re9uired "y the :ood and 5rug Administration to say where the genes come from, and to disclose nutritional ro erties, "ut that is as far as the re9uirements go." ;. Answer: ". -o. #here are no re9uirements to test whether genetically modified cro s cause allergic reactions. "<hen =ioneer ut genes from "ra,il nuts into foods and found that they did cause an allergic reaction "y using s$in tests, they sto ed research on that roduct," !olds"rough says. So far this system a ears to wor$. <hen conventional new foods are introduced into the U.S. mar$et >emdash?such as $iwi fruit >emdash? allergic reactions are common. +ut after three years of wides read use in the United States, no allergic reactions to genetically modified cro s have "een re orted. @. Answer: c. -o. #hey are neither "etter nor worse than foods from conventional cro s. "&ost of the genetically modified cro s currently availa"le are designed to reduce farmers' roduction costs. Under some circumstances there may "e less esticides used, and there is some indication that genetically modified corn is less li$ely to "e infected with fungal to6ins that are natural carcinogens, "ut the overall health effect of these "enefits is minor," !olds"rough says. "In the future these technologies hold the romise of delivering foods that are nutritionally enhanced. :or e6am le, foods might rovide essential vitamins or contain natural com ounds that can hel im rove your health."