Genetically Modified Foods: How Safe Are They?

In the 14 years since the first GM crop was commercially launched, only 8 per cent of the world's cropped area has been converted to growing them. There are two main reasons for this: the high costs of GM seeds and several unresolved controversies. Normally , farmers save some of their harvest for use as seeds for the next crop or governments and companies provide cheap seeds of better varieties. But for cultivating GM crops, special seeds are needed. Most of these seeds have been developed by one of the world's biggest agri-business companies Monsanto ($11.7 billion sales in 2009). They claim that they have spent millions in research and development of the seeds and so they price them high. Royalty has to be paid for producing their type of seeds and farmers cannot use seeds from their fields for the next harvest. Although it is claimed that ultimately, because of higher yields or savings from lesser use of pesticides, the farmers will end up saving more money, there is hesitation because of various controversies that have dogged the GM crops since their introduction. Many governments have introduced tough regulatory mechanisms so that potential dangers from unbridled use of GM crops do not occur.

Although no direct evidence has come up of GM foods causing toxic or allergic effects, some cases of gene transfer have been found. The environmental concern is about the inserted gene "going wild" , that is, getting transferred to other plants in nature. Some studies show that such transfer does take place through pollen flows. In all these issues , long range or chronic effects have not yet been documented and this has led to caution being exercised in use of GM crops.

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