Expert Committee Finds Genetically Engineered Crops Are As Safe To Eat As Conventionally Bred Plants

An expert committee of scientists The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has released its conclusion of a comprehensive analysis looking into the safety of genetically engineered (GE) foods. It found that there doesn’t seem to be any difference between them and conventionally bred crops, and that genetically modified organisms pose no greater threat to the environment, either.

The experts note that there are difficulties in establishing long term trends, but that the only immediate risk posed by the food stuffs related to major pests developing resistance to the genetically engineered crops. They also found that there was no significant increase in productivity from GE crops.

They found that modern advances in genetic engineering are blurring the once clear lines that distinguished between GE and conventionally bred organisms. With the development of new techniques, such as the precision gene editing procedure of CRISPR, there is expected to be an explosion over the coming years in terms of new genetically engineered crops entering the market, and as it differs to older, more traditional methods, regulators are struggling to keep up.

The report was compiled by a group of 20 expert scientists, who started reviewing all the evidence over two years ago, with the support of the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Since then, they have analyzed almost 900 publications and studies from the last two decades relating to soybean, corn, and cotton (which make up almost all commercial GE crops), listened to 80 speakers at three public meetings, and read over 700 comments from the public to give them an insight into the issues that concern the general population.