What are the risks and benefits of GM plants?

Answer 1

Benefits: GM plants may be engineered to be resistant to environmental threats such as pest insects or damage from too dry or too wet conditions.

GM crops can also be engineered to mature more quickly, or have higher nutrient content.

These benefits will help ease malnutrition and ensure food security in developing countries.

However, GM foods are also developed to look and taste more appealing than their non-GM counterparts.

The Risks associated with GM crops can include the the transfer of genes from one organism to another. For example, if the gene which conveys resistance to a parasite gets into a undesirable organism which is kept in check by that parasite, then that pest organism may grow out of control.

Likewise, if resistance to a pesticide/herbicide can be genetically inserted into a crop, then the crop can be sprayed with the pesticide/herbicide without worrying that the crop will suffer from the usual effects of exposure.

People tend to be worried that GM crops are a danger to themselves, but according to a study in the journal Science, there is little or no evidence to suggest that GM crops are a direct danger to humans:

However, critics maintain that this is because of insufficient testing of GM crops.