Intended and unintended consequences of genetically modified crops – myth, fact and/or manageable outcomes?
2022/11/08 by John R. Caradus, J. R. Caradus
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Animal Genetics and Reproduction #Biology #Biotechnology #Business #CRISPR and Genetic Engineering #Economics #Genetically Modified Organisms Research #Genetically modified crops #Genetically modified organism #Genetics #Mythology #Natural resource economics #Philosophy #Risk analysis (engineering) #Transgene
paper · doi:10.1080/00288233.2022.2141273
openalex publication_date 2022/11/08 · crossref created 2022/11/08 · crossref issued 2023/12/01 · crossref published 2023/12/01 · crossref published-online 2023/12/01 · crossref published-print 2023/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/01/25 · crossref indexed 2026/08/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract
ABSTRACT Food and feed has been produced from genetically modified (GM) crops for 25 years. It is timely to review whether this technology has globally delivered the expected benefits and whether the ongoing debate on risks is justified. Expected benefits associated with GM include increased crop yields, reduced pesticide and insecticide use, reduced carbon dioxide emissions, improved soil structure, improved crop nutritive quality/value, and decreased costs of production. Concerns focus on food safety linked to toxicity and allergenicity, environmental risks associated with potential chances of gene flow, adverse effects on non‐target organisms, evolution of resistance in weeds and insects, and genetic perturbations resulting in unintended compounds, new diseases, or antibiotic resistance. This review focusing on benefits and risks of GM crops concludes that they are a valuable option for delivering improved economic and environmental outcomes by providing solutions for many of the challenges facing mankind. GM technologies like many non‐GM technologies can bring risks, but these can and have been monitored and quantified, allowing decisions balancing commercial, societal and environmental benefits against measurable risks. While ‘checks’ and ‘balances’ are required, regulatory schemes must focus on balancing risks and benefits and not on ‘checks’ alone which is the case for many countries.
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