IS GMO “SUSTAINABLE”? A REVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS OF GM PLANTS IN COMPARISON WITH CONVENTIONAL AND ORGANIC CROPS

Abstract

See, stats, and : https : / / www . researchgate . net / publication / 293647479 IS " SUSTAINABLE " ? A ENVIRONMENTAL COMPARISON . . . . Article DOI : 10 . 7862 / rz . 2014 . mmr . 55 CITATION 1 READS 1 , 372 3 , including : Some : Inprofood Salt Jacek Rzeszów 24 SEE Gene Gene 110 , 981 SEE All . The . The present paper aims to review and discuss potential and existing risks of GM crops to the environment , in comparison with organic and conventional agriculture . The review of over 30 relevant papers on the environmental effects of modern agriculture allowed us to define five main sources of risks , namely : 1) Pollution by synthetic fertilizers and pesticides , 2) Exploitation of marginal lands and protection of natural habitats , 3) Gene flow , invasiveness and " superweeds " , 4) Impact on non - target species , particularly pollinators , 5) Biodiversity of crops and wildlife . Although these effects are typically considered with respect to GM crops , the paper compares them with conventional and organic systems . The review shows that each factor , except for the " Gene flow , invasiveness and superweeds " (which is a risk specific to GM crops) , may have posi - tive and negative effect dependent on the breeding method . For example , conventional crops re-quiretheuseofalargeamountofsyntheticfertilizersandpesticides,unlikeorganiccrops,whileGMagriculturereducestheuseofpesticides.Moreover,someriskstypicallyassociatedwithtransgeniccrops,i.e.decreaseofgeneticbiodiversity,mayalsoarisefromconventionalagricul-ture.Thepaperconcludesthatthereisnoperfectagriculturaloptionandtrade-offsareneededtosatisfytheneedforsustainability.