ARTICLE: Do GMOs Risk “Unintended” Health or Environmental Consequences, as Critics Maintain?

The following is an except of an article posted to the Genetic Literacy Project website on the safety of GMO crops.

It’s a common refrain among critics of genetic modification of food: such technology produces unintended results which could affect our health, or the health of the environment in unknown ways.

Most geneticists believe that the sources of unintended consequences are more likely to be from traditional hybrids and other conventional breeding techniques, and not genetic engineering. How could that be?

First, all crops are not clones of one another. Each plant will vary according to height, weight, longevity, product production and even susceptibility to disease. This is just as true of conventionally bred plants as of GE ones. In addition, the descendants of the F1 hybrid (the predominant method of plant breeding) will be quite different from the F1 plant itself, as we’ve described in earlier stories here.

Second, traditional breeding has resulted in surprises, some negative, and others positive. In Israel for example, crop geneticists have produced hybrids (by conventional means) to produce a variety of new plants with new traits, such as a spaghetti squash with high levels of antioxidants, or a new, Galia melon, which has been a hit because it looks, smells and tastes better. Pluots, tangelos, and red grapefruits are all the products of conventional plant breeding with unpredictable endings.

So, back to the 20 years of research. What has that shown us?

To read the entire article, please click here.