Pesticide resistant rape plants
Scientists have transferred a gene to the rape plant which enables the plant to resist a certain pesticide. When the farmer sprays his genetically modified rape crop with pesticides, he or she can destroy most of the pests without killing the rape plants.
Advantages:
The farmer can grow a larger crop because it is easier to fight pests.
In some cases the farmer can use a more environmentally friendly crop spray.
The farmer can also protect the environment by using less crop spray.
Disadvantages:
Genes from the genetically modified rape crop could be transferred to the pests. The pests then become resistant to the crop spray and the crop spraying becomes useless.
Rape plants can pollinate weeds - for example navew which is found in rape fields. When rape plants pollinate the navew their genes are transferred. The navew then acquires pesticide resistance.
Corn, soya beans and sugar cane have also been genetically modified by scientists so they are able to tolerate crop spray.
Insecticide sweet corn
Scientists have genetically modified sweet corn so that it produces a poison which kills harmful insects. This means the farmer no longer needs to fight insects with insecticides. The genetically modified corn is called Bt-corn, because the insect-killing gene in the plant comes from the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis.