Genetically Modified Organisms

GM Products

First-generation GM crops enable producers to reduce production costs and more easily control disease, insects, and pests. These crops are more or less similar or “substantial equivalent” to non-GM counterparts when it comes to appearance, taste, and nutrition value. The second-generation GM crops, also called value-enhanced crops, focus on consumer-oriented benefits like enhanced nutritional quality. Third-generation GM crops include those that are altered to produce pharmaceuticals, vaccines, or biologics.

The first GM crop to appear in the market was Flavr Savr™ tomatoes, with slower ripping and longer shelf life. Roundup Ready soybean and corn were introduced in 1996 and 1998, respectively. Designed by Monsanto, Roundup has an herbicide called glyphosate as an active ingredient. Roundup can be sprayed on GM soy and corn cultivation to kill the weeds without damaging the actual crops. In 2005, about 85 percent of the soybean cultivated in the field was glyphosate tolerant.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) plants and crops are the most widely used GM products. Bt is the name of a bacterium that was isolated from soil in 1911. It has been used in pest control since 1930, but in the last few decades, its consumption has increased. Monsanto and other biotech corporations found a way to insert the toxin-producing gene from Bt [Page 218]bacteria into plants. This enabled the Bt plant or crop to produce its own pesticide, and therefore kill the insects eating it. Statistics indicate that in 2006, approximately 11 percent of corn and 33.5 percent of cotton grown around the world was Bt.

Another GM product on the market is recombinant bovine somatotropin milk. An artificial growth hormone, recombinant bovine growth hormone is synthetically produced to mimic bovine growth hormone protein hormone, which is produced in the pituitary glands of cows and other cattle. When injected in cattle, recombinant bovine somatotropin increases milk production by preventing mammary cell death.

This geneticist is working with genetically modified wheat plants that may be resistant to the fungi Fusarium which can lead to costly crop losses.

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service/Jack Dykinga

Advantages of GMOs

GMO crops have the potential to improve crop productivity on existing land and water resources, either by increasing the yield potential of plants or by reducing the effect of biotic and abiotic challenges. Several GMO crops are resistant to pests and disease. Crops that are resistant to abiotic challenges, such as drought, soil acidity, and salinity, have the potential to bring marginal land under agriculture while increasing productivity on existing farmland. For example, drought-resistant soybeans and rice, salt-tolerant rice, maize, tomatoes, rapeseed, and so on all have been engineered. Cost-saving measures like improving storage stability, delayed ripening, and other changes that provide flexibility to manage products have also being explored.

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