GMOs and Ecological Impacts

The introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has created an emotionally charged worldwide public discussion. The development of crops with newly injected DNA has spurred ethical, political, and social discussions as well as more a straightforward scientific debate.

Since 1996, 170 million worldwide acres have been converted to growing genetically modified organisms with little appreciation for the ecological impacts and risks arising from such a transformation. Plant ecologists, entomologists, and populations geneticists have approached the technology and its vast application with caution based on the following impacts:

1. Increased weediness from crop to wild relative genetic exchange
2. Creation of insect resistant pests
3. Impacts to non-target beneficial organisms
4. Gene exchange from crop to wild resulting in extinction of rare plants and weedy relatives

The ecological impacts resulting from the vast introduction of genetically modified transgenic organisms are perhaps the least completely understood though most consequential to our maintenance of plant genetic variability, ability to surmount crop blight, and ultimately to our continued health and well-being.

Studies & Reports

• Deficiencies in Federal Regulatory Oversight of Genetically Engineered Crops
• Genetic Pollution Threatens Trade, Health and the Environment
• Gone to Seed: Transgenic Contaminants in the Traditional Seed Supply
• Contamination from Gene-altered Crop Trials Poses Unappreciated Threats to Wildlife
• Pesticide resistant Bt plants may pose risk to soil and environment
• Cross pollination does occur:
  • Gene Flow
  • Dangerous Liaisons? When Cultivated Plants Mate with Their Wild Relatives
  • Gene Flow And Introgression Between Domesticated Crops And Their Wild Relatives
• Seed varieties disappearing, Farmers find agricultural options limited
• Crop Strength Through Diversity
• Fate and Effects of the Insecticidal Toxins From Bacillus Thuringiensis
• GMOs Affect Beneficial Organisms
• Current knowledge of gene flow in plants: implications for transgene flow
• Embedded in Nature: Human Health and Biodiversity

See also: GMO Articles & News