University of New England DUNE: DigitalUNE English Faculty Publications English Department 1-1-2008 Flora, Not Fauna: GM Culture And Agriculture Susan McHugh University of New England,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://dune.une.edu/eng_facpubs Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation McHugh, Susan, "Flora, Not Fauna: GM Culture And Agriculture" (2008). English Faculty Publications. Paper 4. http://dune.une.edu/eng_facpubs/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English Department at DUNE: DigitalUNE. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DUNE: DigitalUNE. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Susan McHugh 25 Flora, Not Fauna: GM Culture and Agriculture Susan McHugh Genetically modified (GM) food plants, particularly those modi- fied to produce Bacillus thuringiensis toxins (Bt), are currently the most controversial and common transgenic organisms,1 but in the US, which is the largest producer of these and other biotech crops, consumers have a hard time recognizing their difference from conventional foods.2 Produced through the same monocrop methods and consumed in the same heavily processed meals that comprise the American diet, GM food plants like Bt corn and soy are now milled and mixed with (and thereby have come to pass for) their conventional counterparts, quietly becoming part of the everyday life of mass consumption. However inadvertently, film and fiction may be contributing