The Kansas Corn Commission hopes a website run by the agriscience industry will put fears about genetically modified crops to rest.

GMOAnswers.com, sponsored by bioscience companies BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences LLC, DuPont, Monsanto Co. and Syngenta, includes information on genetic engineering in crops and allows members of the public to ask questions about the process and the safety of genetically engineered foods.

Kansas corn commissioner Ken McCauley said organic farmers and some environmentalists have put out arguments against genetically modified foods that arent supported by science, and corn farmers who use modified seeds want to give their side. About 88 percent of the corn grown in the United States is grown from genetically modified seeds, according to the corn commission.

So many times individuals or groups can say anything without any data or backup, he said.

The Kansas Organic Producers Association didnt return a call seeking comment. Organic farmers, by definition, cant grow genetically modified crops.

Genetic modification involves creating desirable traits in plants, such as resistance to drought or insects, by combining DNA from other organisms with the crop. Farmers have crossed similar plants to produce desired crops for centuries, but the advent of genetic engineering makes it possible to use genes from very different plants or even bacteria or other types of organisms.

The Food and Drug Administration has to approve the safety of new genetically modified plants, and other government agencies evaluate their environmental impact. The FDA doesnt conduct the tests itself, but it evaluates studies performed by the company that developed the seed the same process it uses to decide whether to allow new drugs on the market. If genetically modified seeds are determined to be substantially equivalent to existing foods, they are evaluated in the same way as traditional foods, according to an overview of issues related to genetically modified foods published in 2008 in the scientific journal Annual Review of Plant Biology.

Testing safety by having animals consume the genetically modified food and a test group consume its traditional equivalent can be done, the article said, but it is relatively rare because of the large amounts animals would have to eat to conduct a test. Analysis to determine whether the engineered plant produces any substances known to be toxic or cause allergies is more common. A plan to alter the protein content of soybeans was halted after the possibility it would cause reactions in people allergic to Brazil nuts, the Review of Plant Biology article said.

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Kansas Corn Commission hails GMO website

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