Benefits and Controversies of GM Foods

Benefits of GM foods on Environment
- Conservation of soil, water, and energy
- Better natural waste management
- Use lesser chemcials like insecticides and herbicides
- More efficient processing
- Bioprocessing for forestry products

Controversies of GM foods on Environment
- Development of Bt- resistant pests or effects of Bt toxin on non- target organisms
- Unintentional gene transfer to wild plants e.g. genes for herbicide resistance leading to
'superweeds' and in turn increased use of herbicides
- Minimising crop genetic diversity
- The micoorganism carrying the gene may be altered allowing the emergence of new pathogens
such as plant viruses with genetic material recombined from different species

Benefits of GM foods on Crops
- Enhanced taste and quality
- Reduced maturation time
- Increased nutrients, yields, and stress tolerance
- Improved resistance to disease, pests, and herbicides
- New products and growing techniques

Benefits of GM foods on Animals
- Increased resistance, productivity, hardiness, and feed efficiency
- Better yields of meat, eggs, and milk
- Improved animal health and diagnostic methods

Benefit of GM foods on Society
- Increased food security for growing populations

Controversy of GM foods on Society
- New advances may be skewed to interests of rich countries

Controversy of GM foods on Safety
- Potential human health impact: allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers

Controversies of GM foods on Ethics
- Violation of natural organisms' intrinsic values
- Tampering with nature by mixing genes among species
- Objections to consuming animal genes in plants and vice versa
- Stress for animal


Source: http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/gmfood.shtml
http://www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs/session3/10/gmfood.htm