How are genetically engineered crops designed?
First, plant breeders find that there’s a trait they want in a plant that they can’t reach through artificial selection. They then consult with biologists to see if genes for that trait exist in other living things. If so, biologists isolate those genes, and insert them into plants in the laboratory. They then grow the plants in the lab to see that everything is going right: the new genes are producing the desired trait, and no odd side-effects are occurring. These tests are then repeated on a larger scale in greenhouses, and then finally in isolated test fields. Only after all these tests come up right do farmers get to plant the crop. See these topics in Life’s Big Instruction Book: What’s that?
