The findings arrive as the federal government debates over proper labeling of genetically engineered crops in food products. While the report may ease fears about the medical consequences of consuming genetically modified food, more research is needed on the environmental and personal effects of herbicides.
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A committee set up by the National Academy poured over more than 900 research publications investigating the effects of genetic meddling in corn, soybean, and cotton.
The report pointed to some evidence that insect-resistant biotech crops have actually boosted human health by cutting back on insecticide poisonings.
A major new report into the use and effect of genetically modified (GM) crops has revealed key findings into the impact on yields, human health and the environment. That’s according to a comprehensive report released by the National Academy of Sciences [May 17]-a group founded by the U.S. Congress to provide expert scientifically-based advice on a wide variety of issues.
The report, which was released on Tuesday, did not also find evidence of environmental problems that can be attributed to genetically modified crops albeit it noted that pesticide resistance increasingly becomes a problem. Conversely, the use of herbicide-resistant crops might have led to an increase in the spraying of chemical weed killers in some cases.
Overall, the crops saved farmers money but didn’t appear to increase crop yields. “I hope that people looking for our report to support a pro or con position on GE crops will initially be very disappointed in our report, but that they will read further to understand why we didn’t come to simple conclusions”.
Many other regulatory, scientific and health organizations have also concluded the foods are safe.
“Although the sum of experimental evidence indicates that GE traits are contributing to actual yield increases, there is no evidence from USDA data that they have substantially increased the rate at which United States agriculture is increasing yields”. Also, the crops that were modified to give more vitamin A could stop the incidence of blindness and even death as a result of vitamin A deficiency. Nor is it feeding with the world with substantially increased yields, as proponents promised.
The committee investigated 1,000 scientific articles on GE crops and solicited input from the industry, scientists and environmental groups. A previous report by the groups, released in 2010, found that genetic engineering had provided environmental and economic benefits to US farmers. Twenty years ago, farmers started growing soybeans that had been genetically modified to tolerate the popular weedkiller known as Roundup and corn that contains a protein, extracted from bacteria, that kills some insect pests.
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It found no difference between the chemical composition of genetically engineered foods now on the market that would implicate a higher risk to human health and safety than from eating their conventionally produced counterparts.
