Genetically Modified (GM) Foods - Review of GM Foods and Crops

What is Genetically Modified (GM) Food?

Genetically modified (GM) foods, more accurately called Genetically Engineered Foods, are foods that have had their DNA altered through genetic engineering. Unlike conventional genetic modification that is carried out through conventional breeding and that have been consumed for thousands of years, GE foods were first put on the market in the early 1990s. The most common modified foods are derived from plants e.g. soybean, corn, canola, and cotton seed oil.

Controversies surrounding GM foods and crops commonly focus on human and environmental safety, labeling and consumer choice, intellectual property rights, ethics, food security, poverty reduction, and environmental conservation.

Development of GM Foods and Crops ↓

The first commercially grown genetically modified whole food crop was the tomato, which was made more resistant to rotting by Californian company Calgene. Calgene was allowed to release the tomatoes into the market in 1994 without any special labeling. It was welcomed by consumers who purchased the fruit at two to five times the price of regular tomatoes. However, production problems and competition from a conventionally bred, longer shelf-life variety prevented the product from becoming profitable.

The attitude towards GM foods would be drastically changed after outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease weakened consumer trust in government regulators, and protesters rallied against the introduction of Monsanto's Roundup-Ready soybeans. The next GM crops included insect-resistant cotton and herbicide-tolerant soyabeans both of which were commercially released in 1996. GM crops have been widely adopted in the United States. They have also been extensively planted in several other countries (Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, India, and China) where the agriculture is a major part of the total economy. Other GM crops include insect-resistant maize and herbicide-tolerant maize, cotton, and rapeseed varieties.

Abundance of GM crops ↓

Between 1995 and 2005, the total surface area of land cultivated with GMOs had increased by a factor of 50, from 17,000 km2 to 900,000 km2, of which 55 percent were Brazil.

Although most GM crops are grown in North America, in recent years there has been rapid growth in the area sown in developing countries. For instance in 2005 the largest increase in crop area planted to GM crops (soybeans) was in Brazil (94,000 km2 in 2005 versus 50,000 km2 in 2004.) There has also been rapid and continuing expansion of GM cotton varieties in India since 2002. It is predicted that in 2006/7 32,000 km2 of GM cotton will be harvested in India (up more than 100 percent from the previous season). Indian national average cotton yields of GM cotton were seven times lower in 2002, because the parental cotton plant used in the genetic engineered was not well suited to the climate of India and failed. The publicity given to transgenic trait Bt insect resistance has encouraged the adoption of better performing hybrid cotton varieties, and the Bt trait has substantially reduced losses to insect predation. Economic and environmental benefits of GM cotton in India to the individual farmer have been documented.

In 2003, countries that grew 99 percent of the global transgenic crops were the United States (63 percent), Argentina (21 percent), Canada (6 percent), Brazil (4 percent), China (4 percent), and South Africa (1 percent). The Grocery Manufacturers of America estimate that 75 percent of all processed foods in the U.S. contain a GM ingredient. In particular, Bt corn, which produces the pesticide within the plant itself is widely grown, as are soybeans genetically designed to tolerate glyphosate herbicides. These constitute "input-traits" are aimed to financially benefit the producers, have indirect environmental benefits and marginal cost benefits to consumers.

Genetically modified soybeans carried herbicide tolerant traits only, but maize and cotton carried both herbicide tolerance and insect protection traits (the latter largely the Bacillus thuringiensis Bt insecticidal protein). In the period 2002 to 2006, there were significant increases in the area planted to Bt protected cotton and maize, and herbicide tolerant maize also increased in sown area.

Future Developments of GM products ↓

Future envisaged applications of GMOs are diverse and include drugs in food, bananas that produce human vaccines against infectious diseases such as Hepatitis B, metabolically engineered fish that mature more quickly, fruit and nut trees that yield years earlier, and plants that produce new plastics with unique properties. While their practicality or efficacy in commercial production has yet to be fully tested, the next decade may see exponential increases in GM product development as researchers gain increasing access to genomic resources that are applicable to organisms beyond the scope of individual projects. Safety testing of these products will also at the same time be necessary to ensure that the perceived benefits will indeed outweigh the perceived and hidden costs of development. Plant scientists, backed by results of modern comprehensive profiling of crop composition, point out that crops modified using GM techniques are less likely to have unintended changes than are conventionally bred crops.

Transgenic plants possess a gene or genes that have been transferred from a different species. Although DNA of another species can be integrated in a plant genome by natural processes, the term transgenic plants refers to plants created in a laboratory using recombinant DNA technology. The aim is to design plants with specific characteristics by artificial insertion of genes from other species or sometimes entirely different kingdoms.

Genetically Engineered Plants ↓

The intentional creation of transgenic plants by laboratory based recombinant DNA methods is more recent (from the mid-70s on) and has been a controversial development in the field of biotechnology opposed vigorously by many NGOs, and several governments, particularly within the European Community. These transgenic recombinant plants (biotech crops, modern transgenics) are transforming agriculture in those regions that have allowed farmers to adopt them, and the area sown to these crops has continued to grow globally in every years since their first introduction in 1996.

Transgenic recombinant plants are generated in a laboratory by adding one or more genes to a plant's genome, and the techniques frequently called transformation. Transformation is usually achieved using gold particle bombardment or through the process of Horizontal gene transfer using a soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, carrying an engineered plasmid vector, or carrier of selected extra genes.

Transgenic recombinant plants are identified as a class of genetically modified organism (GMO); usually only transgenic plants created by direct DNA manipulation are given much attention in public discussions.

Transgenic plants have been deliberately developed for a variety of reasons viz; longer shelf life, disease resistance, herbicide resistance, pest resistance, non-biological stress resistances, such as to drought or nitrogen starvation, and nutritional improvement (Golden rice). The first modern recombinant crop approved for sale in the US, in 1994, was the FlavrSavr tomato, which was intended to have a longer shelf life. The first conventional transgenic cereal created by scientific breeders was actually a hybrid between wheat and rye in 1876. The first transgenic cereal may have been wheat, which itself is a natural transgenic plant derived from at least three different parenteral species.

Genetically modified organisms where prior to the cornming of the commercially viable crops as the FlavrSavr tomato, only strictly grown indoors (in laboratories). However, after the introduction of the Flavr Savr tomato, certain GMO-crops as GMO-soy and GMO-corn where in the USA being grown outdoors on large scales.

Commercial factors, especially high regulatory and research costs, have so far restricted modern transgenic crop varieties to major traded commodity crops, but recently R&D projects to enhance crops that are locally important in developing counties are being pursued, such as insect protected cow-pea for Africa, and insect protected Brinjal eggplant for India. Transgenic plants have been used for bioremediation of contaminated soils. Mer- cury, selenium and organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been removed from soils by transgenic plants containing genes for bacterial enzymes.

What effects could genetically modified crops have on the environment?

Agriculture of any type has an impact on the environment. Genetic engineering may accelerate the damaging effects of agriculture, have the same impact as conventional agriculture, or contribute to more sustainable practices. Growing genetically modified or conventional plants in the field has raised concern for the potential transfer of genes from cultivated species to their wild relatives. However, many food plants are not native to the areas in which they are grown. Locally, they may have no wild relatives to which genes could flow.

Moreover, if gene flow occurs, it is unlikely that the hybrid plants would thrive in the wild, because they would have characteristics that are advantageous in agricultural environments only. In the future, genetically modified plants may be equipped with mechanisms designed to prevent gene flow to other plants. A controversy has arisen about whether certain genetically modified plants (which are insect resistant because they carry the Bt gene) could harm not only insect pests but also other species such as the monarch butterfly. In the field, no significant adverse effects on non-target species have so far been observed. Nonetheless, continued monitoring for such effects is needed.

Genetically modified crops may have indirect environmental effects as a result of changing agricultural or environmental practices. However, it remains controversial whether the net effect of these changes will be positive or negative for the environment. For example, the use of genetically modified insect-resistant Bt crops is reducing the volume and frequency of insecticide use on maize, cotton and soybean. Yet the extensive use of herbicide and insect resistant crops could result in the emergence of resistant weeds and insects.

The broad consensus is that the environmental effects of genetically modified plants should be evaluated using science based assessment procedures, considering each crop individually in comparison to its conventional counterparts.

Objective and Traits of GM crops ↓

The curent wave of GM crops' primary objective is to improve pest resistance. In turn, this should reduce/change the use of crop protection products and/or increase yields.

1. Herbicide tolerance : The insertion of a herbicide tolerant gene (glyphosphate or glufosinate tolerance) into a plant enables farmers to spray wide spectrum herbicides (such as Monsanto's Roundup Ready or AgrEvo's Liberty Link) on their fields killing all plants but GM's. For that reason, the new GM seeds opened new markets for both products.
2. Insect resistance : By inserting genetic material from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) into seeds, scientists have modified crops to allow them to produce their own insecticides. The Bt gene responsible for producing the toxin is directly inserted into the plant to produce pest resistant varieties. For example, Bt cotton combats bollworms and budworms, whereas Bt corn/ maize protects against the European corn/maize borer.
3. Virus resistance : Today a virus resistant gene has been introduced in tobacco and potatoes (also tomato). The insertion of a potato leaf roll virus resistance gene protects the potatoes from the corresponding virus which is usually transmitted through aphids. For that reason, it is expected that there will be a significant decrease in the amount of insecticide used. The introduction of a virus resistance gene in tobacco may offer similar benefits.
4. Quality traits : Today quality traits-crops are only sown marginally and represent less than 50,000 hectares in Canada and the USA. It concerns high oleic soybeans, high oleic canola/rapeseed and laurate canola.