Posted Sunday, July 20, 2003; 16.11BS
That's not good enough for Pete Riley, senior food campaigner for Friends of the Earth. His organization's study of the chemical constituents of genetically modified maize indicates GM foods show increases in amino acids, the building blocks of proteins that control bodily processes. "That could be significant in the long term," Riley says, arguing that years of exposure to GM foods could affect muscle and organ growth.

There's been little research into how GM foods behave inside the human body. But one study, commissioned from Newcastle University by Britain's Food Standards Agency, found evidence that low levels of antibiotic-resistant genes inserted into GM soya can pass into the bacteria that live inside the gut. That's worrying, says Emily Diamand, senior food research officer for Friends of the Earth, because "if you insert an antibiotic-resistant gene into a crop, and then the food is broken down in your stomach, other bacteria can pick up the gene and use it in unpredictable ways." Those concerns were backed up last month when the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization and the who warned that a failure to rigorously study the health effects of GM foods could prevent us from identifying GM-induced toxic reactions, allergies and resistance to antibiotics.

"I am astonished and appalled that there have been no systematic clinical tests of the long-term health impact of people eating GM foods," says Michael Meacher, the former British Environment Minister who launched the trials in which Christopher Lewis is taking part. "I am not against GM," he says, "but I don't think anything like the right amount of testing has been done."

The bottom line is, there is no bottom line: no definitive proof that GM foods damage your health, no definitive proof that they're safe. And this is a handy point to keep in mind when trying to interpret research results: absolute certainty is a myth.

Once the GM genie gets out of the bottle, it's going to be very difficult to put back in — MIKE GRENVILLE, anti-GM activist

"Science can never say there is no chance of something happening," says Colin Blakemore, a professor of physiology at Oxford University. "All you can do is gradually accumulate evidence that reduces the probability." Most scientists agree that the balance of probability is that GM foods are safe. But most will also admit they can't be sure.

What we can be sure about, though, is that Europeans want to decide for themselves whether to eat the stuff. So in the absence of scientific certainty, the E.U. is providing the next best thing: freedom of choice. By the end of this year, any product with more than 0.9% of GM content must be identified as such. Hundreds of foodstuffs — ranging from mayonnaise to cooking oil to peanut butter and coming mostly from the U.S. and Canada — will now require labels.

Neither side of the GM divide is likely to accept the other's results, so the arguments both for and against are sure to continue. There is one thing, however, on which they can agree: the customer is always right. But for consumers who have to make their decisions without the benefit of conclusive science, the question is simple: Feeling lucky?

Not on My Roof, S'il Vous Plait
Every season seems to bring another scary but speculative story about purported links between mobile-phone radiation and brain damage. mobile use may trigger premature Alzheimer's, warned Britain's Daily Mail in February, though the study in question looked at the effect of electromagnetic radiation on rats, not people. None of those stories has dented the popularity of mobile handsets. Instead, what's freaking Europeans out is the idea of electromagnetic radiation from phone masts. Marie, who asks that her real name not be used, is a 35-year-old mother of four whose east Paris duplex has a mast on its roof — and she's hopping mad about it. "It's just above the older children's room," Marie says, "and they started getting headaches several months after we moved in."

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	Are First World Fears Causing the Third World to go Hungry? [July 10, 2001] People in the U.S. and Western Europe have qualms about genetically modified foods. But does that mean we should deny those foods to developing nations? Read Any Good Fruit? [Nov. 24, 2002] The E.U. approves tough new labeling for GM food, pleasing activists and complicating trade relations To Greener Pastures [Mar. 12, 2001] Germany's new farming minister is up to her ears in food scares and dead cows. Her answer: Go organic When Pigs Go Bad [Feb. 27, 2001] British farming, in its worst slump since the 1930s, is hit by a new plague: foot-and-mouth disease Slaughterhouse [March 12, 2001] Cattle burn, farmers despair and consumers worry as a new food-related catastrophe hits Europe Search all issues of TIME Magazine