Besides the obvious nutritional reasons, British environmentalists have found another good reason to avoid potatoes: Evidence that genetically modified (GM) versions have been linked to cancer in rats.
Greenpeace and Russian environmentalists had fought for years for the release of the report that showed how mice fed potatoes modified to produce the protein lectin developed tumors and serious tissue and organ damage.
The report, vindicating the work of Dr. Arpad Pusztai, has prompted some in the UK government to call for an end to new trials on GM potatoes, scheduled to begin this spring in secret locations around the country.
Halting the production of just one variety of GM crop certainly doesn't signal a trend, but it is a start in the right direction. And it doesn't mean the GM blight that taints some 70 percent of the foods you see at your corner grocery store is over by a long shot either. With the help of the U.S. court system, perhaps, Americans will have a little more time to get a little smarter about GM crops.
The Independent February 17, 2007