Are there potential risks associated with agricultural biotechnology?
As technology advances, it is important that scientists and regulatory agencies assess the impacts of both new and existing technologies for farmworker and consumer safety and for any environmental effects on plants, animals and water systems. Some areas of risk-assessment considered with our present biotechnology crops include the potential for genes moving from genetically engineered crops into wild plants; pests eventually developing resistance to pest-resistant crops; introducing allergy-causing compounds or changing the nutritional composition in foods. These are the same types of concerns that should be evaluated with traditional methods of producing our food and fiber. Research conducted at land grant universities, like those that produced this brochure, is critical to this evaluation process. What are the effects of agricultural biotechnology on the environment? The environmental benefits of biotech crops vary by region and crop. They may include substantial reductions in tradi
