GENETICALLY MODIFEID

FOODS
Genetically modified (GM) foods are food items that have had
their DNA changed through genetic engineering. Unlike
conventional genetic modification that is carried out through
conventional breeding and that have been consumed for
thousands of years, GM foods were first put on the market in the
early 1990s. The most common modified foods are derived from
plants: soybean, corn, canola, and cotton seed oil. For example,
a typical GM Food could be a strawberry that has to survive in
cold climates. Therefore, the farmer would get its DNA altered
so it could survive in the frost. They would take DNA from a frost
resistant cell, and transfer it into the strawberry cells genes.
Therefore, the cells of the strawberry are now frost resistant and
will survive the frost, so the farmer does not lose money.
 ADVANTAGES OF GM FOODS
After a 12 years of use on more than 690.9 million hectares
worldwide, plant biotechnology delivers proven economic and
environmental benefits, a solid record of safe use and promising
products for our future. Following are key global facts about the
advantages of genetically modified foods and crops:
12 million farmers — 90 percent of who farm in developing
countries – choose to plant biotech crops.
Farmers in 23 countries on six continents are using to solve
difficult crop production challenges and conserve the environment.
Over the past plant biotechnology decade, they’ve increased area
planted in genetically modified (GM) crops by more than 10
percent each year, increased their farm income by more than
US$34 billion, and achieved economic, environmental and social
benefits in crops such as soybeans, canola, corn and cotton.
To date, total hectares of biotech crops harvested exceed more
than 690.9 million with a proven 12-year history of safe use. Over
the next decade, expanded adoption combined with current
research on 57 crops in 63 countries will broaden the advantages
of genentically modified foods for growers, consumers and the
environment.

International regulatory standards for GM crops are affirmed

by a decade of safe use.

Biotech crops are among the most studied and reviewed foods in
the world. Using well-established, internationally accepted
standards of risk assessment, regulatory authorities worldwide
have reviewed all biotech crops now on the market and
determined that they pose no more risk than crops produced
through traditional breeding methods.
A proven 12-year history of safe use supports the conclusion that
the regulatory process has been successful. Experts estimate
more than 1 trillion meals containing ingredients from biotech
crops have been consumed with no reliable documentation of any
food safety issues for people or animals.
Twenty-five Nobel Prize winners and 3,400 prominent scientists
have expressed their support for the advantages and safety of
genetically modified foods and crops as a “powerful and safe” way
to improve agriculture and the environment. Numerous
international organizations also have endorsed the health and
environmental safety of biotech crops, including the Royal Society
(UK), National Academy of Sciences (USA), the World Health
Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, the European Commission, the French Academy of
Medicine, and the American Medical Association.