13. Other benefits of transgenic plants
Important advantage of GM food is its enhanced ability to withstand long-distance transportation. The GM crops are picked, when still green are allowed to ripen during transportation, therefore yielding a longer shelf life. Even with prolonged shipping and storing periods, the product reaches its destination without spoiling.
According to the manufacturers of these GM crops, using these seeds will yield a number of benefits, including increased yields and decreased costs. They push GM crops as a second “Green Revolution” in a World, with billions of hungry mouths to feed.
14. Disadvantages of transgenic crops
The use of transgenic crops was an issue for many years. Many concerns have been raised and these are falling into two categories.
1.
A concern, about what affect genetically modified material, could have on human health. For example, transgenic crops have been suggested to cause allergies in some people, although it is uncertain, whether transgenic crops are the source of this reaction.20 Furthermore, the antibiotic resistance genes, placed in these crops have been suggested to cause resistance to antibiotics, leading to super bugs, which cannot be killed with antibiotic treatments.21 The population being uncomfortable with ingesting DNA that originated from another source, like virus or bacteria.
2.
A concern, about whether transgenic crops cause damage to the natural environment. One example that includes pollen from transgenic corn, which has capacity to kill the Monarch butterfly larvae. It has been shown that hybrid corn expresses a bacterial toxin in its pollen, which is then dispersed over 60 m by wind. In this range, the corn pollen is deposited on other plants near cornfields, where it can be ingested by non-target organisms including the monarch butterfly21 which leads to their death.
The following are, however, potential issues of concern for plant protein production.
1.
Allergic reactions to plant protein glycans and other plant antigens.
2.
Plant and product contamination by mycotoxins, pesticides, herbicides and endogenous metabolites.
3.
Regulatory uncertainty, particularly for proteins requiring approval for human drug use.22