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When genetically modified foods were introduced, most of the scientists and marketers involved were totally unprepared for the negative reaction with which the public greeted the new items. Although this reaction was clearly orchestrated by several anti-everything groups, the reason that the propaganda found such a receptive audience has its roots in our biological heritage. Our resistance to gene modification is genetically programmed.
Creatures of our instincts
New foods both terrify and attract us. Professor Paul Rozan calls this ‘the omnivore’s dilemma’. Our instincts tell us that adding foods to our diet might give us the chance to snatch an advantage over the other cavemen and the sabre-tooths, but on the other hand a new food might be poisonous. Mankind has had 100,000 generations as hunter-gatherers, 500 generations with agriculture, barely ten generations during the industrial age, and only two generations of fast foods. Although we live in a technological society our genes are still those of omnivorous hunter-gatherers.
Many animals have an instinctive fear of new foods. A woman of my acquaintance volunteered to take care of the local school’s pet white rat during a holiday break. She was told that the rat would ‘eat anything’ yet her first few days as surrogate zookeeper were marred by the rat refusing almost everything she offered. Eventually the situation settled down, for reasons she didn’t understand, and she was relieved to be able to return the rodent pet back to the school in a healthy condition.
What this woman didn’t realise is that rats are successful omnivores because they instinctively mistrust new foods. Even a starving rat only nibbles at a new food. Then it waits for a day. If the rat feels unwell, it will reject that food forever. If not, the new food goes on the approved-for-rodents list. The animal ‘who ate anything’ was quite happy, on the basis of past experience, to eat marmite sandwiches and similar foods from schoolkids’ lunch bags, but was wary about the new adult-type foods offered by the generous substitute caretaker. She didn’t realise that the rat’s initial refusal of salmon canapés was precautionary rather than an insult to her cooking skills. (Rats are highly motivated to avoid dangerous foods because they are unable to vomit.)