by Ronnie Cummins

About the author: Ronnie Cummins is national director of the Organic Consumers Association and a leader of the Campaign for Food Safety, which is dedicated to building a healthy, safe, and sustainable system of food production. He is coauthor (with Ben Lilliston) of GE Foods: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers.

Genetic engineering is a radical new technology, one that breaks down fundamental genetic barriers—not only between species, but also between humans, animals, and plants. By combining the genes of dissimilar and unrelated species, permanently altering their genetic codes, novel organisms are created that will pass the genetic changes onto their offspring through heredity. Scientists are now snipping, inserting, recombining, rearranging, editing, and programming genetic material. Animal genes and even human genes are being inserted into plants or animals creating unimagined transgenic life...