Special to ABCNEWS.com

You say Tomato, isay IGF-1

There's a food revolution going on under our noses. When foods at the supermarket catch our eye, they may be trying to shout, "I have been genetically altered!"

Only we would never know it.

That ripe, "real" tomato (not the usual pale, waterlogged specimen) that causes our salivary glands to twitch might be carrying genes borrowed from bacteria or a virus in order to prevent it from getting too soft too quickly. That large, smooth potato may have been genetically fixed to resist the onslaught of pesticides. That milk may have come from cows who were injected with a genetically engineered growth hormone to boost milk production. Only we would never know it.

In fact, there are now scores of foods on the shelves, particularly those containing corn and soybeans, that are the products of a mix-and-match genetic revolution that tiptoed into our lives with hardly a footprint.

Forget about checking the labels. To know exactly what you're buying may one day require taking a gene detection kit to the store.

When you try to test the regular-looking cucumbers at your neighborhood genemart, you would likely find that an Arctic char gene had been inserted into the cuke to keep it from freezing.

Fiddling on the Farm

As might be expected, the purveyors of these new super foods almost promise the moon. Biotech First Marketing Principles argue that all this recombinant fiddling will give consumers quality, safety and Great Taste! and greatly improve farm productivity.

In an appeal to our humanity, I presume, former First Farmer Jimmy Carter, whose own fields are bursting with genetically engineered corn and soybean seed, recently argued that poor nations can benefit greatly from this productivity revolution.

Of course, anyone raising doubts about these wondrous new developments should be boiled in pesticide-resistant oil, right?

Look, can we just begin with a bit of proper labeling? I'd truly like to know what's in my food. If my salad is going to contain virus, insect or animal genes, please tell me about it, so that I can make a more informed choice of iceberg or radicchio. Are the bigwigs at the FDA still comatose on this issue? Or do I need to move to Europe where there is political support for some labeling?

Unlabeled, Unknown

Which brings me to the safety question. Yes, I know, I'm supposed to trust the big company scientists whose major concern is my safety. In Monsanto I Trust? Sure. And in the FDA, too, which grants fast-paced approval for short-term testing? Sure.

It needles me to know that a lot of milk products out there are laced with unlabeled BGH (bovine growth hormone), thanks to Monsanto's genetic engineering. I'm sure that farmers on this bandwagon are happy with their bigger yields, but I'm concerned about the unlabeled amount of a protein called IGF-1 (Insulinlike growth factor-1) in this BGH-treated milk.

It so happens that preliminary research suggests that men with high levels of IGF-1 might be at higher risk for prostate cancer, and women for breast cancer. Since I'm not convinced, as the company claims, that IGF-1 in the milk doesn't reach body tissue because it's broken down in the digestive process, I, for one, prefer to avoid BGH-treated products. Fat chance of that, short of knocking off many of life's culinary goodies.

Allergies and a Weedy Mess

There are many more health issues associated with the cornucopia of genetically engineered foods. Take food sensitivity. Unexpected allergens can emerge from gene-recombinant technology. One study showed that soybeans containing a Brazil-nut gene could cause reactions in people sensitive to Brazil nuts. And what about the potential reaction from bacteria that enter the diet for the first time? Who really knows?

Questions also remain unanswered about the environmental harm this new technology might inflict. Will virus-resistant crops, incorporating foreign virus genes, lead to the creation of new superplant viruses that will, in turn, destroy crops? Lab studies suggest this is a reasonable concern. It's disturbing to discover how little scientific reassurance there is that this won't happen.

A recent report by Danish scientists showed that genes from canola specimens genetically modified to resist herbicides were able to be transferred to their weed relatives. These weeds - you guessed it - then became resistant to the chemical that normally killed them. This points to a potentially frightening scenario of humankind combatting a weed revolution, rather than enjoying the promised benefits of a food revolution. If all this is too stressful to think about, why not just go food shopping, blinders on as usual, and check out the great-tasting strawberries?

Nicholas Regush produces medical features for ABCNEWS In his weekly column, he looks at medical trouble spots, heralds innovative achievements and analyzes health trends that may greatly influence our lives.