by Douglas Powell

About the author: Douglas Powell is an assistant professor in the department of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He is also scientific director of the Centre for Safe Food. He has written several articles about agricultural biotechnology.

In 2000, one of my farmer colleagues grew some genetically engineered sweet corn and table potatoes. Neither the Bt sweet corn nor the potatoes required any insecticides to manage pests. After harvest, the two crops were sold in his farm market in Hillsburgh, Ontario (Canada), fully labelled, alongside their conventional counterparts.

The genetically engineered Bt sweet corn outsold the conventional by a margin of 3-2. Same for the potatoes. The two products were sold for the same price, and while many consumers were more interested in taste, for others, the primary...