Is gm safe?.

Sums up the history of genetic modification of crops and shows the difference between this and traditional cross pollination. The arguments for and against genetic modification are presented. Tests for toxicity in genetically modified food are described and shown. In Irapuato, Mexico, there is urgent need for a way of improving the poor crops which result from the climate and soil conditions and experiments in the genetic modification of maize showed promising results. However, the environmental lobby has so far prevented field trials. On the cotton farms of Tucson, Arizona, the pink boll worm has been successfully defeated by insecticide engineered into the cotton. Farmers argue that this is preferable to spraying chemical pesticides but opponents of genetic modification fear that this may result in more resistant pests, the destruction of other insects, contamination of the environment and imbalance of the ecosystem. Another argument for genetic modification is presented by Prof. Ingo Potrykus of Zurich who carried out the genetic modification of rice to include vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency is a huge problem in parts of the developing world where the diet is mainly rice, and this would be an efficient way of rectifying it - but critics argue that genetic modification of food is not the answer.