I have spent portions of my life paying attention to the way I talk, walk, behave, work, relate, earn, sleep, play, and drive. Most humans do likewise. So, there is a whole fraternity that becomes aware of things periodically.

One thing I have not paid attention to, however, is what goes into the food I eat. Again, many humans tend to do likewise. Somehow, this is among the things we take most for granted. Even family is not sacrosanct anymore, but food, curiously, we have not spliced or split under a microscope.

That, however, is about to change.

Apparently, there are so many of us on the planet that there’s not enough food for us. So, for years now, scientists have taken from genes from various organisms and added them to crops. This is to make food healthier, better, and more abundant.

But, it isn’t so simple.

All food, especially baby food, is going into a lab and could possibly emerge completely different. In so happening, the new genetically engineered food could even alter the way we are.

Livers and kidneys, say reports, could behave vastly different. They could get weaker in the process of our food getting stronger, the reports say. There are a host of other cautions that have sprung up from the experiments to engineer food.

Vegetables, grain, chocolate, noodles. Anything.

This now is fundamental. Humans possibly cannot spend all their time in a state of permanent alert because someone somewhere is tinkering with their food. We need to know, just like we know the sun rises, and the sun sets.

How are we to respond if the sun were to be experimented with to produce more sunshine? How are we to respond when our food is now under trial, the unnerving phrase scientists use to say they still don’t know everything about what they are doing?

A safe food guide is now ready. Greenpeace India has put together what ought to be the first of a series of steps to awaken the consumer. In so waking, we become aware and make choices.

The choice we make will determine the outcome.

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