Last week, I listened to a story on NPR about countries in Central America, notably Honduras, that are turning to genetically modified crops as the global food crisis worsens. Honduras is the only country in Central America that has embraced genetically engineered corn.

Genetically engineered corn is against the law in most of Central America where the crop has been grown for thousands of years. They ban genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to protect their many diverse varieties of corn from contamination. But with the price of corn doubling, Honduras has recently decided to use GMOs.

The food crisis is bringing about a new trend towards genetically modified crops. Egypt just approved GMO corn, and China increased its funding in research on GMO foods. However, this may be a destructive temporary solution. Environmentalists are concerned that biotech crops could damage the natural diversity of plants. These crops are made by injecting new genes that were found in other species. In essence, they're getting rid of previous natural varieties and creating new ones.

What do you think? Should countries view GMO foods as a solution to the current food crisis?

The USDA has just approved a plan to grow 3,200 acres of genetically modified rice near Junction City, Kansas for the purposes of making pharmaceuticals. The "Franken-rice," as it is called by those opposed to the plan, will have human proteins in them.

Though the USDA claims that it will be safe because there are no commercial rice farms (i.e. not for human consumption) in Kansas, there is the possibility that the rice may mix with other edible crops.

Yikes.

Eighteen months ago, a woman bought a 9-acre organic farm on the big island of Hawaii. About a week ago, she called Greenpeace because she suspected that she had found GMO papaya trees on her new farm. Volunteers showed up on her farm in hazmat suits to "decontaminate" her farm of the GMO papaya trees.

The workers had to wear the hazmat suits in order to prevent any further spread of the GMO seeds, which ended up on the woman's farm via birds or wind from nearby farms that grow the SunUp variety of papayas. The SunUp and Rainbow varieties of papaya were created by the University of Hawaii and Cornell University in order to resist disease. Genetically engineered papayas are only grown in Hawaii.

Scientists around the world are working to develop a reliable process that will grow meat in a lab from a few cells. So far, they have successfully grown meat tissue that, while it smells like meat, neither looks nor tastes very much like the real thing. The process has only been done on a small scale and the results resemble jelly. Flesh colored jelly. To get an idea of what this product currently looks like, take a look at PBS's virtual taste test, which compares the properties of lab meat to animal meat.

Scientists hope to see this jelly develop into something that looks and tastes like the cuts of meat that can be achieved from butchering a cow - without having to kill the cow and with the added benefit of being able to grow the meat at home in an incubator. Achieving this goal would nearly eliminate the need for animals in meat production and reduce the total energy and expense required to feed, raise, slaughter and transport those animals.

Meat from a non-sentient source presents an interesting problem for vegetarians, as many become vegetarians for ethical reasons alone, objecting to the practice of raising animals for slaughter. Because the initial culture cells can be taken without harming the donor animal, no animals would be harmed in this type of meat production. In-home meat growth might also limit access to truly natural meat, which may raise concerns of those who are against artificial and otherwise modified food products.

There is a short video segment available on the PBS website about cultured meat and a poll which reveals that 45% of respondents would eat the artificially grown meat. I can't honestly count myself among them.

Could it be true? Could bacon really be...healthy for your heart?

According to an article I just came across, American researchers have cloned pigs that can produce their own omega-3 fatty acids, which would make bacon and pork good for your heart. Omega-3 fatty acids are those compounds found in fish like tuna that reduce the incidence of heart disease.

For now, the research is still in a theoretical stage, as scientists are not sure whether meat from the cloned piglets whose flesh is laden with the omega-3 fatty acids have the same effect as the omega-3 fatty acids from fish. They are also not sure how consumers would react to genetic modification.

The FDA is getting ready to approve a new genetically modified salmon which grows twice as fast as normal farm-raised salmon. The trick is altering a gene that controls the production of growth hormones. The company behind the technology is Aqua Bounty, and they say that the modification of the growth hormone does not affect taste or raise any health concerns. What do you think? Are you ready for super big GM salmon on your shelves?