Progress and problems of genetically modified crops

Introduction: it is one of the powerful means for human beings to solve the food shortage and improve the quality of agricultural products in the future to adopt biotechnology to cultivate new genetically modified crops (GMO), enhance their tolerance to the environment and increase the output of crops Since the commercial cultivation of GMO Products began in 1995, more than 30 kinds of products have been evaluated by relevant countries Among them, soybeans, corn, rapeseed, cotton and tobacco, which are not affected by herbicides and have strong resistance to diseases and pests, are the most concerned In addition, there are fresh-keeping tomatoes and other vegetables, as well as fresh-keeping, non discolored carnation flowers and so on It is reported that the income of genetically modified agricultural products in the United States was 80 million US dollars in 1996, but increased to 435 million US dollars in 1998 In 1999, about 55% of genetically modified agricultural products were soybeans, 33% were corn and 55% were cotton In addition, rapeseed in Canada, soybean in Brazil and Argentina have also made rapid progress in transgenic technology According to Monsanto, the largest biotechnology company in the United States, the planting area of GMO in the world will increase by more than 40% this year The main growth countries are China, Argentina, Portugal, Romania and Ukraine Transgenic agricultural products not only enhance their resistance to diseases and pests and harsh environment, but also are not affected by herbicides, reduce the amount and frequency of insecticides, and improve the adaptability of no till farming Transgenic agricultural products also create conditions for improving the quality of their products Taking soybeans as an example, the varieties recently cultivated in the United States, such as low linolenic acid (2%), low palmitic acid (4%), high oleic acid (70%), high stearic acid (28%) and high palmitic acid (27%), have effectively improved the nutritional value, oxidation stability, functionality and physical properties of soybean oil during hydrogenation, and are expected to increase the added value of oil products At the same time, compared with the general soybean, the soybean isoflavones containing anti-cancer components in herbicide resistant transgenic soybean were also reduced In addition, herbicide resistant transgenic rapeseed and weeds are cultivated together, resulting in herbicide resistant weeds Food manufacturers and governments have responded to the concerns of many consumers about GMO and the strong pressure of anti GMO organizations In Europe, in June 1998, the European Community (EU) stipulated that crops should be marked with GMO On October 22, 1999, the EU further proposed that GMO's mixing ceiling should be below 1% In France, as early as 1997, it was clearly required that agricultural products imported from the United States must be marked with the difference between GMO and non GMO, and their processed food must be labeled, and the cultivation of GMO agricultural products other than corn is prohibited In Germany, in 1997, margarine producers publicly announced that they would not process margarine from GMO soybean and rapeseed oil In the UK, in March 1999, the government enacted the marking regulations including fines From large supermarkets to chain stores, the use of imported GMO raw materials for food processing has been ruled out, and local raw materials for food processing must be sold In Europe and Japan, large food processing enterprises with corn as raw material decided to use all non GMO raw materials and non GMO feed to produce beef and milk since January 2000 In Japan, 80% of the soybeans needed by the edible oil manufacturing industry used to be imported from the United States and a considerable number of Canadian rapeseed Now, under the influence of the anti GMO trend, the Japanese oil industry association organized a survey mission to Australia for the first time in 1999 to seek diversified supply channels for non GMO rapeseed materials On November 29, 1999, Japan's Ministry of agriculture and forestry also announced that 24 kinds of products with imported soybeans and corn as the main raw materials must be labeled A separate management system is implemented for GMO and non GMO raw materials to prevent possible mix ups from the start of export to Japan ports from the United States and Canada At the same time, ensure that the upper limit of GMO mixing rate in soybean raw materials is less than 5% This standard will be formally implemented on April 1, 2001 In the face of the development of anti GMO activities, the trial plans of biotechnology companies led by the United States and Canada have been blocked, the pace of listing of some GMO varieties has slowed down, and major companies and farmers planting GMO crops sigh that they have lost new business opportunities In 1997-1998, compared with 1992-1996, the export volume of corn exported from the United States to EU decreased by 96% and lost about 200 million US dollars About 1 / 3 of the original soybean export volume of the United States was exported to EU, about 2-3 billion US dollars Now, the EU embargo has made many biotechnology companies in the United States suffer huge economic losses Observers pointed out that contrary to the estimates of some large companies, the cultivation area of GMO crops will not increase significantly, and there will be a slight trend of reduction At the same time, further in-depth GMO experiments also involve financial issues In order to provide more detailed genetic code information and other work, it must also have the support of the industry Therefore, it will take at least 5 to 10 years for "this technology is finally accepted by the public" The European Community and Japan are different from the United States in terms of the identification of GMO components and relevant standards The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined in 1992 that GMO and non GMO are generally "conceptually the same" and nutritionally the same In addition, as long as the enzymes and proteins controlled by biotechnology companies are not newly synthesized, but are inherent in the original food raw materials, they can be produced without applying for permission Foods containing GMO have the same safety as regular foods Recently, the FDA has not made any major changes to the above regulations But the FDA said it would review the new GMO at any time and publish security testing data on the Internet for people to consult The FDA's new rules also advise the public to continue to build confidence in GMO's food safety The new FDA regulations require biotechnology companies to report to FDA four months in advance before each new GMO product is launched, with relevant research data attached In the United States, it usually takes only five months from declaration to approval However, there are great differences between the relevant rules of GMO in the European Community and those in the United States Although EU has approved 9 kinds of GMO in December 1998, it usually takes a minimum of 17 months from declaration to approval for soybean products of a biotechnology company For a biotech company, it will take two years from application to approval.