Although Americans may be feeling a little wary, at best, about the spread of genetically modified (GM) crops, many Europeans make no secret about their disdain for such Frankenstein foods. A mere mention of the words Monsanto or genetic engineering provokes a fight.

Contrary to the claims of industry proponents, GM crops have not been proven safe. The regulatory framework governing them was fatally flawed from the start; it was designed to expedite product approval at the expense of safety considerations.

The approval of GM crops uses a principal called 'substantial equivalence,' which is intentionally vague and ill-defined. It gives companies complete license to claim that transgenic products are 'substantially equivalent' to non-transgenic products, and hence 'safe.'

Actually, there have been very few credible studies on GM food safety. And what findings there are already give cause for concern.

In one of the few systematic investigations on GM food ever carried out, 'growth factor-like' effects were found in the stomach and small intestine of young rats that ate GM plants. There have also been other studies that raised serious safety concerns.

Much of what little protesting is being done about GM blight in America, however, flies under the consumer radar. Some food companies have shelved GM concoctions due to legal obstacles thrown their way by a few consumer groups.

I am convinced that the GMO issue may be one of the biggest threats to the future health of the world and very few people are aware of the danger. Industry has been able to hoodwink the vast majority of the public on this important topic. It is likely my next book will address this topic.

Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped the use of GM products in some 75 percent of the processed foods you'll see at a typical grocery store near you. To protect your family's health from GM foods, please review a short list of tips I posted earlier this year on how to avoid them:

• Reduce or eliminate processed foods. There are many reasons why processed foods are not optimal for your health -- for instance they often contain trans fat, acrylamide and little nutritional value -- so avoiding them will not only help you to cut back on the amount of GM foods you are consuming, but will also boost your health.

• Read produce and food labels. GM soybeans and corn make up the largest portion of genetically modified crops. When looking at a product label, if any ingredients such as corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu (to name a few) are listed, there's a good chance it has come from GM corn or soy, unless it's listed as organic.

• Buy organic produce. Buying organic is currently the best way to ensure that your food has not been genetically modified. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all GM organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs.

• Look at produce stickers. Those little stickers on fruit and vegetables contain different PLU codes depending on whether the fruit was conventionally grown, organically grown or genetically modified. The PLU code for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine, and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.