Q.Write the benefits and risk of Genetically Modified Foods.

GM food offers agronomic and nutritional benefits but carries biosafety, ecological, and socio-economic risks.

Genetically modified (GM) food is derived from crop plants whose genome has been altered using recombinant DNA technology to introduce a desirable gene, often from an unrelated organism.

Benefits: GM crops can be engineered for higher yield and improved productivity. Traits such as built-in resistance to insect pests (e.g., Bt cotton/Bt crops expressing a bacterial toxin gene) and tolerance to specific herbicides allow farmers to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides. Disease-resistant GM varieties reduce crop losses. Nutritional quality can also be improved -- for example, Golden Rice is genetically engineered to produce beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, to help address vitamin A deficiency in populations dependent on rice as a staple. GM crops can also be engineered for longer shelf life (delayed ripening/spoilage) and for greater tolerance to environmental stresses such as drought, salinity, and extreme temperatures, helping maintain productivity under adverse conditions.

…

Cry genes from Bacillus thuringiensis let genetically modified crops manufacture their own insecticidal protein, protecting them from specific pests.

The soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis naturally produces crystal proteins encoded by cry genes (such as cryIAc and cryIIAb); these Cry proteins are toxic specifically to certain insect larvae because they bind to receptors present only in the gut lining of susceptible insects, causing gut-cell lysis and death of the larva, while being harmless to humans, livestock and most non-target organisms lacking these specific gut receptors. Scientists isolated these cry genes and introduced them into crop plants through genetic engineering -- Bt cotton, carrying cryIAc and cryIIAb genes, is the best-known Indian example, producing its own Cry toxin throu …