Great Britain may soon use DNA bar codes to make it easy to spot genetically modified (GM) foods. The technology, developed by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge, would help regulators quickly spot foods or crops contaminated with GM organisms. The British government is weighing the possibility of requiring biotech companies to use the technology, which involves adding a harmless DNA sequence to all bioengineered crops. The U.K., like most of the rest of Europe, is wary of genetic modification, and some believe DNA bar-coding could help put these fears to rest by making it fast and easy to differentiate between GM and conventional foods.
