Altered Food

In response to “Genetically Engineered Food” letters, June 6:

The Luddites are at it again, trying to hold back the future. Why is there even a flap about altered food? Humans have been altering their environment since they first fell out of trees. No one seems upset that we have been marrying donkeys to horses for centuries and getting mules. Every plant and animal we eat today is not what great-grandpa ate, nor is it cooked on a wood stove.

The food and farming techniques that our farmers used in 1900 were great for 1900. There were only about 1.5 billion of us to feed. By the year 2000 there will be 6 billion of us. We must make choices. Do we grow genetically altered crops that taste bad to bugs or do we dump pesticide over everything-- crops, ground, people? Do we use radiation to ensure one-half of the food shipments doesn’t rot or get eaten in transit? If we do not use modern farming methods, our modern media methods will show and tell us of millions of people starving to death each year.

WOODROW J. HUGHES

Northridge