by Martin Teitel and Kimberly A. Wilson

About the authors: Martin Teitel is the executive director of the Council for Responsible Genetics, a nonprofit organization founded to foster public debate on the implications of genetic technology. Kimberly A. Wilson directs the council’s program on commercial biotechnology and the environment. They are the authors of Genetically Engineered Food: Changing the Nature of Nature, from which this viewpoint is excerpted.

Throughout history monarchs have employed food tasters. This rather high- risk line of work was invented not for gastronomic reasons [reasons concerned with the taste of food], but out of a recognition that when we eat food we are placing a great deal of trust in whomever provides that meal. In societies where people grow their own food one has a pretty good idea...