GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD

• Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms that have altered DNA to change their properties
• Genetically modified crops can improve yield, build resistances to pests, frost or drought, or add nutrients
• Crops can also be modified to reduce carbon emissions and boost the sustainability of food production
• While widespread, GM crop production uses only about 10% of the land non-GM crop production uses.
• GM is nothing more than a breeding technique, much like crossing that we’ve been doing for thousands of years. But it’s more sophisticated, so we can make very precise changes, very rapidly
• GMOs were first introduced in the US in 1994, with modified tomato plants that ripened more slowly to prolong their shelf life
• Since then, a wide range of crops, such as soybeans, wheat and rice have been approved for agricultural use, along with GM bacteria grown to produce large amounts of protein
• Scientists in India have also developed strains of Sub-1 rice, which are much more resistant to flooding
•  Flooding is a major issue in rice-growing regions of northern India and Bangladesh, set to become worse as the climate crises develops, and now 6 million farmers in the region are using Sub-1 rice to safeguard their crops against inundation
• Golden rice, on the other hand, is a GM strain modified to contain vitamin A, designed to combat the shortage of dietary vitamin A in parts of Asia and Africa

• Many people find the idea of GM foods hard to swallow — a 2020 opinion poll found 50% of people in 20 surveyed countries perceived GM foods as unsafe
• When GM crops were first developed 30 years ago, uncertainty and concerns about safety were shared by scientists, but things are different now
• Scientists say that "GM food is completely safe to eat, and 30 years of information showing it’s not dangerous for the environment"
• There are concerns big corporate interests from companies like Monsanto, which promote more pesticides and monocultures and wrong forms of agriculture and seeds sold to farmers and expensive prices

• GM agriculture is moving on from the Monsanto big-dog corporate model
• GM products are increasingly focused on social and public enterprise and the industry is looking at more local solutions that help smallholder farmers in developing countries
• Regulation and licensing are a huge part of this. Many, including Replanet, strongly advocate for open-source seeds and GM technologies
• You can develop GMOs without patents developed by humanitarian public organizations
• It’s about creating a licensing landscape that empowers local farmers to adapt to the demands of sustainable agriculture, but quickly enough to meet rising populations and climate change