The purposes of genetically engineered crops, currently, are for insect protection, insecticide immunity, heightened chemical excretion (an example of modified output traits), and controlled soil erosion. Higher nutritional content makes a food crop easier and less expensive to process.^xx "Products of Plant Biotechnology>Immunity to insecticides, such as Roundup, allows farmers to spray their crops to get rid of weeds and other pests, but not kill the crop at the same time.^xxiii "Seeds of Discontent?"Increased chemical excretion allows plants to be grown in place of other, harder-to-grow plants. For example, laurate canola excretes oil for use in place of coconut tree oil. In the future, modification will be focused on disease protection and resistance, improvement in processing characteristics, varying traits, and boosting particular chemical content.

Current examples of biologically engineered crops are tomatoes, potatoes, squash, cantaloupe, grapes, peppers, peanuts, corn, canola, soybeans, cucumbers, and alfalfa. Soybeans are a crucial consumer food, contained in over 60% of processed products.^xiv "Not Ready for Roundup"The US produces and exports a majority of the world’s soybeans and over half the US’s 73 million soybean acres are Roundup resistant crops.^xxiii"Seeds of Discontent?" From 1996-1997, genetically engineered crops grew six times in acreage to cover 19 million acres of farmland on three continents.^xv "Our Lives Depend on Plants"> US canola growers currently use 30% genetically engineered seeds.^x"Genetically Engineered Foods Likewise, 40% of the US’s 71 million corn acres are Roundup resistant.^xxiii "Seeds of Discontent?"A range of 40-60% of all US soybean, cotton, and corn crops are genetically engineered.^xviii "Poison Plants?"A closer breakdown can be seen in the graph below.^ix"Genetically Engineered Crops for Pest Management"

A daily staple in over one third of the Earth’s population is rice, 90% of which is produced and consumed solely in Asia.ⁱⁱ In the 1960s, scientists from the International Rice Research Institute developed genetically engineered rice. Current alterations to fit various ecosystems include dwarf rice, floating rice, high-altitude rice, and dry-land crop rice.ⁱⁱ In dispersing the location of crop growth, by genetically altering their ecosystem applicability, soil erosion is controlled.

The US’s Monsanto Company has the following insect-fighting genetically engineered plants: Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), NewLeaf (fights Colorado potato beetles), Bollgard (fights cotton and pink bollworms and tobacco budworms), YieldGard (fights European and Southwestern core borers), and Roundup Ready crops (such as soybeans, canola, cotton, corn, sugar beets, and oilseed rape).^xvii "Plant Biotechnology at Monsanto" By enhancing the Bt gene, a toxin is produced that protects the plant from herbicides. Bt use makes the bacterial toxin’s, protein CryIA(b), manual application unnecessary in plant protection from insects such as the European core borer and spruce budworm.^xviii "Poison Plants?"Monsanto’s Roundup sales make up 15% of their total sales. It is the world’s best selling herbicide.^xiv One particular product’s success, Bollgard, can be seen from the chart below.^xx "Products of Plant Biotechnology>

A test done in China, using Bollgard versus non-Bollgard crops, shows that non-Bollgard crops needed 12 applications of insecticide for a land yield of 825 kg of cotton. For the Bollgard crops, 1125 kg of cotton were produced and it didn’t need to be sprayed at all.^xx"Products of Plant Biotechnology> Another emphasis of gene alteration is for virus-resistance, as in the Mexican potato virus X, potato virus Y, and potato leaf roll virus. By altering genomes and planting those seeds as crops, yields have been increased by 5-22%.^xx

Approved FDA genetically engineered foods are: phytaseed (phytase gene from Aspergillus niger var van Tieghem) and laurate (acyl carrier protein thioesterase gene from California bay, Umbellularia californica) canola; bromoxynil tolerant canola (nitrilase gene from Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. ozaenae) and cotton (nitrilase gene isolated from Klebsiella ozanaenae and nitrilase gene from Klebsiella pneumoniae); male sterile/fertility restorer canola (barnase and barstar genes from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and phosphinothricin acetyltransferase gene from Streptomyces viridochromogenes), oilseed rape (barnase and barstar genes from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens), radicchio rosso (barnase gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens), and corn (DNA Adenine methylase gene from Escherichia coli and barnase gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens); insect protected tomato (cryIA(c) gene from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki), potato (cryIIIA gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) sp. tenebrionis), corn (cryIA(c) gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), cryIA(b) gene from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki, and cry9C gene from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. tolworthi) , and cotton (cryIA(c) from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) subsp. kurstaki); virus protected/resistant potato (Potato Leafroll Virus replicase gene and Potato Virus Y coat protein gene), papaya (coat protein gene of papaya ringspot virus), and squash (coat protein genes of cucumber mosaic virus, zucchini yellow mosaic virus, and watermelon mosaic virus 2); sulfonylurea tolerant flax (Acetolactate synthase gene from Arabidopsis) and cotton (Acetolactate synthase gene from tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi); high oleic acid soybean (sense suppression of GmFad2-1 gene that encodes delta-12 desaturase enzyme); modified fruit ripening (S-adenosylmethionine hydrolase gene from E. coli bacteriophage T3), improved ripening (fragment of aminosyslopropane carboxylic acid synthase gene from tomato and Aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid deaminase gene from Pseudomonas chloraphis strain 6G5), and delayed softening (fragment of polygalacturonase gene from tomato) tomatoes; Flavr Savr tomato (antisense polygalacturonase gene from tomato); glufosinate tolerant soybean (phosphinothricin acetyltransferase gene from Streptomyces viridochromogenes), sugar beet (phosphinothricin acetyltransferase gene from Streptomyces viridochromogenes), canola (phosphinothricin acetyltransferase gene from Streptomyces viridochromogenes), and corn (bar and phosphinothricin acetyl transferase genes from Streptomyces hygroscopicus and phophinothricin acetyltransferase gene from Streptomyces viridochromogenes); and glyphosate (Roundup resistant gene) tolerant cotton (enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase gene from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4), corn (modified enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase gene from corn, enolypyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase gene from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4, and glyphosate oxidoreductase gene from Ochrobactrum anthropi), soybean (enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase gene from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4), sugar beet (enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase gene from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4 and truncated glyphosate oxidoreductase gene from Ochrobactrum anthropi), and canola (enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase gene from Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4).^viii"Foods Derived from New Plant Varieties Derived Through Recombinant DNA Technology>Superior strains are selected to boost outputs and plant genomes are modified to produce particular products, like oleic oil. Another genome alteration target is vitamin E increase, through Arabidopsis seed oil.ⁱ"The Plant Revolution" To protect plants from a disease, non-disease-causing genes are inserted into the DNA.^xx"Products of Plant Biotechnology>

The Midland Company has separated their crops when exporting; to comply with standards for such places like Japan, where labeling is required.^xxiii "Seeds of Discontent?"Europe, just like Japan, segregates and labels genetically altered food crops at market sale.^xvi"Panel Sees Use for Genetically Altered Crops" Asia, through the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, has suspended approval of Bt crops. The UK pulled the plug on the growth of the first genetically engineered crop, an oilseed rape variety that had been developed by Plant Genetics System (PGS), a Belgium company. This crop was designed to be resistant to a herbicide made by the agro-chemical giant who owns PGS, Hoescht.^vii"Food Victory as Government Pulls Plug on Genetically Modified Crop In 1998, an American company, Farm for Profit, condemned the growth and consumption of genetically modified crops.^xii"National Agriculture Organization Condemns Growth and Consumption of Genetically Modified Crops and Food" Other companies and countries who want more criteria before putting genetically modified products on the market include Codex Alimentarius (a UN Food and Agriculture Organization), 30 of Britain’s leading food processors (including Northern Foods), Paris’s Groupe Danone, the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, and Switzerland’s Nestle.^xviii "Poison Plants?" Gerber and Heinz no longer use modified crops, due to concerns of unknown long-term health effects.^xxii"Statement of Rebecca Goldburg, of the Environmental Defense Fund"There has been some advancement in use, as in Brazil, where they reversed their import ban on gene-modified soybeans.^xvi"Panel Sees Use for Genetically Altered Crops"

ii Albor, Theresa. "Scientists Develop Rice for Low-Quality Farmland." The Christian Science Monitor. Philippines.

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