MORE AMERICANS ARE EATING BIOTECH FOOD.

For many of your favorite foods, the future has arrived. Genetic engineering, long the focus of anticipation and discussion in American agriculture, entered the realm of reality in a big way in 1998. In the past year, if you have topped a sandwich with cheese, eaten a bowl of cereal, or sipped a soft drink, chances are that you have eaten foods from genetically modified crops.

Although people in agriculture have been heralding the promise of genetically enhanced crops for 20 years, few products made it to market. Quietly, over the past three years, that has changed in a major way. Marshall Martin, professor of agricultural economics and director of the Center for Agricultural Policy and Technology Assessment, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., points out that a number of common foods currently utilize biotechnology in their production and processing.

"The genetically engineered enzyme chymosin is used in two-thirds to three-quarters of the cheese produced. Bt-corn, which allows the corn plants to resist the corn borer, has found wide acceptance. So, everyone is already eating foods produced...