When I interviewed Fred Gould, a genetically modified organisms expert from North Carolina State University, he asked me a question he often poses to groups learning about GMOs: what percentage of vegetables in your grocery store are genetically modified? I hesitantly guessed 20%.
I, like many people Gould asks, was wrong—the answer is closer to 0%. While there are some genetically modified fruits and vegetables on the market, many people don’t realize that most of the GMOs eaten in the U.S. are actually processed foods made from tweaked corn, soybeans, and canola.
That, Gould told me, is just one misperceptions people have about GMOs. Perhaps the biggest one is that GMOs are unsafe, a conclusion that both scientists and regulators have refuted but still widely persists, even decades after these foods first became available in the U.S.
Writer Tom Scocca was fascinated by medical mysteries until he found himself living in one. In an essay for New York magazine, Scocca details the maelstrom of unexplained symptoms that have taken over his life—and highlighted just how unprepared the U.S. medical system is for puzzling cases like his.
