Technology...

This week, the Department of Agriculture is starting to make it easier to grow corn that’s genetically engineered to be used for ethanol, but safety advocates are concerned that some of that genetically engineered corn might end up in the food we eat as well as in gas tanks. The corn (developed by Syngenta Seeds, Inc) would be designed to produce an enzyme that makes it easier to convert into ethanol.

On one hand, the Department of Ag insists that there won’t be any environmental, food, or human safety concern with the corn. On the other, the Center for Food Safety argues that the gene in the corn could impact allergies in humans. “This is the first crop proposed for industrial use,” Bill Freese, science policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety, told the Associated Press, “and in a widely used food crop, we need to be extremely cautious.”

The good news, by 2009, the U.S. will be using at least 9 billion gallons of alternative fuel, thanks to new federal mandates. And, already, 30 percent of U.S. corn goes to producing ethanol.

As the The Detroit News and the AP reported, before it makes a final decision, the Department of Ag is asking for public comment. (Here’s more information from The Department of Agriculture about the request for comment.) Leave your comments before January 20, 2009 at Regulations.gov.

Image from the World Community Cookbook.