Letter: Modified food

Sir: Richard Dawkins' ancestors, and mine, presumably had genes for being wary of strange new (potential) foods (letter, 14 August). It is one of the reasons they lived long enough to become ancestors. The problem with genetically engineered foods is simply that they are unfamiliar, and we react to this situation as we are programmed to do - with extreme caution. To a genetic scientist, this is no doubt annoying, but from the point of view of evolutionary psychology, it is just what you would expect.

ROSIE FORTH

Colchester