GMOs Important Weapon In Fight Against Global Hunger

In a recently released 400-plus page report, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine reviewed hundreds of studies and decades of disease data and reached the conclusion genetically modified organisms pose no increased risk to human health.

For many, including scientists with Texas A&M AgriLife Research, this validates the need to keep GMOs as part of the global food supply as a means to help feed an ever-increasing world population.

“Genetic modifications to crops like corn, soybeans and cotton undergo rigorous testing and approval over a time period of anywhere from five to eight years by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture and/or Food and Drug Administration,” said Dr. Bill McCutchen, executive associate director of AgriLife Research, College Station. “The development of genetically modified crops that are insect and disease tolerant has reduced the amount of chemical inputs needed and reduced the overall environmental impact associated with growing these crops.”

As an example of how biotechnology can improve crops, McCutchen cited a collaboration by AgriLife Research and Florida-based Southern Gardens Citrus to investigate introducing spinach proteins into citrus trees to provide them a genetic defense against citrus greening, a disease responsible for millions of dollars in citrus crop losses annually.

Research conducted by Dr. Erik Mirkov, an AgriLife Research plant pathologist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco, resulted in the production of proteins that appear to provide effective control of citrus greening, as well as defending against diseases in other plants.

“These genetic modifications will have a positive impact on agriculture and the public should be aware of the rigorous testing that goes into their development,” McCutchen said.

McCutchen also noted while current regulations regarding GMO development are stringent, advances in DNA editing technology could allow for greater ease of approval in the future.

“Some individuals will dig in against technology for a variety of reasons, ethical or otherwise, no matter who speaks on its behalf or the weight of the body of evidence,” said Dr. Peter Murano in the department of nutrition and food science at Texas A&M University in College Station. “Genetically modified organisms and genetically engineered crops and foods are an example of such an issue.”

However, genetic modification techniques and genetically modified crops and foods are already widespread and have been part of the diet of many millions worldwide for years, Murano said.

Continue reading on Texas A&M AgriLife.