IT SOUNDS like a trick worthy of the gene police in Gattaca, but hiding a bar code in DNA could prove very valuable for identifying genetically modified plants. Spotting modified plants at present is a tough job because you need to know what has been added before you know what to look for (see 鈥淏ritain wants genetically modified food to have DNA bar codes鈥�). With a standard bar code, a single test would show that a plant had been modified.
DNA in the bar code would encode the name of the plant鈥檚 creator, say, and details of the plant. Sceptical European consumers ought to welcome the idea. Absence of the bar code would assure them that their food is GM-free. And people who are happy to eat food that includes a gene for Bt toxin are unlikely to baulk at consuming a little extra inactive DNA.
Some may still find bar codes unpalatable, however. Many environmentalists don鈥檛 want any technology that would make GM foods more acceptable. The US government and food companies may object too. At negotiations over Europe鈥檚 ban on GM foods, they argue that labelling brands GM crops as inferior. Ironically, American food producers could benefit from bar codes. They鈥檙e worried that their foods will be contaminated by pollen from plants designed to yield pharmaceuticals. Adding a second bar code to these 鈥減harmed鈥� plants would create a fast way to spot contamination.
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Bar codes could also give farmers elsewhere more control. India has already lost control of GM cotton as farmers trade modified varieties alongside natural ones. If this mixing were to happen with GM food crops, the country could find markets closed to its produce. If Europe chooses the bar code route to stop this happening, it had better act sooner rather than later.