List of genetically modified crops

Genetically modified crops are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering techniques. In most cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the plant which does not occur naturally in the species. As of 2015, 26 plant species have been genetically modified and approved for commercial release in at least one country. The majority of these species contain genes that make them either tolerant to herbicides or resistant to insects. Other common traits include virus resistance, delayed ripening, modified flower colour or altered composition. In 2014, 28 countries grew GM crops, and 39 countries imported but did not grow them. ^[1]

Background

Regulations regarding the commercialisation of genetically modified crops are mostly conducted by individual countries. For cultivation, environmental approval determines whether a crop can be legally grown. Separate approval is generally required to use GM crops in food for human consumption or as animal feed. ^{[2] [3]}

GM crops were first planted commercially on a large scale in 1996, in the US, China, Argentina, Canada, Australia, and Mexico. ^[1] Some countries have approved but not actually cultivated GM crops, due to public uncertainty or further government restrictions, while at the same time, they may import GM foods for consumption. For example, Japan is a leading GM food importer, and permits but has not grown GM food crops. The European Union regulates importation of GM foods, while individual member states determine cultivation. ^[4] In the US, separate regulatory agencies handle approval for cultivation (USDA, EPA) and for human consumption (FDA). ^[5]

Two genetically modified crops have been approved for food use in some countries, but have not obtained approval for cultivation. A GM Melon engineered for delayed senescence was approved in 1999 and a herbicide tolerant GM wheat was approved in 2004.

Genetically modified crops cultivated in 2014

Distribution of GM crops planted in 2014

1. GM soybean (50%)
2. GM maize (30%)
3. GM cotton (14%)
4. GM canola (5%)
5. Other (1.00%)

In 2014, 181.5 million hectares of genetically modified crops were planted in 28 countries. Half of all GM crops planted were genetically modified soybeans, either for herbicide tolerance or insect resistance. Eleven countries grew modified soybean, with the USA, Brazil and Argentina accounting for 90% of the total hectarage. Of the 111 hectares of soybean grown worldwide in 2014, 82% was genetically modified in some way. Seventeen countries grew a total of 55.2 million hectares of genetically modified maize and fifteen grew 23.9 hectares of genetically modified cotton. Nine million hectares of genetically modified canola was grown with 8 million of those in Canada. Other GM crops grown in 2014 include Alfalfa (862 000 ha), sugar beet (494 000 ha) and papaya (7 475 ha). In Bangladesh a genetically modified eggplant was grown commercially for the first time on 12 ha. ^[6]

The majority of GM crops have been modified to be resistant to selected herbicides, usually a glyphosate or glufosinate based one. In 2014, 154 million hectares were planted with a herbicide resistant crop and 78.8 million hectares had insect resistant. This include 51.4 million hectares planted in thirteen countries that contained both herbicide tolerance and insect resistance. Less than one million hectares contained other traits, which include providing virus resistance, delaying senescence, modifying flower colour and altering the plants composition. Drought tolerant maize was planted for just the second year in the USA on 275 000 hectares. ^[6]

Herbicide tolerance

Genetically modified crops engineered to resist herbicides are now more available than conventionally bred resistant varieties. ^[7] They comprised 83% of the total GM crop area, equating to just under 8% of the arable land worldwide. ^[7] Approval has been granted to grow crops engineered to be resistant to the herbicides 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, ^[8] dicamba, ^[9] glufosinate ^[10] glyphosate, ^[11] sulfonylurea, ^[12] oxynil ^[13] mesotrione ^[14] and isoxaflutole ^[15] Most herbicide resistant GM crops have been engineered for glyphosate tolerance, in the USA 93% of soybeans and most of the GM maize grown is glyphosate tolerant. ^[16]

GMO	Use	Countries approved in	First approved [17]	Notes
Alfalfa	Animal feed [18]	USA	2005	Approval withdrawn in 2007 [19] and then re-approved in 2011 [20]
Canola	Cooking oil Margarine Emulsifiers in packaged foods [18]	Australia	2003
		Canada	1995
		USA	1995
Cotton	Fiber Cottonseed oil Animal feed [18] Except in India, where Cottonseed oil used for human consumption	Argentina	2001
		Australia	2002
		Brazil	2008
		Colombia	2004
		Costa Rica	2008
		India	2002
		Mexico	2000
		Paraguay	2013
		South Africa	2000
		USA	1994
Maize	Animal feed high-fructose corn syrup corn starch [18]	Argentina	1998
		Brazil	2007
		Canada	1996
		Colombia	2007
		Cuba	2011
		European Union	1998	Grown in Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania [21]
		Honduras	2001
		Paraguay	2012
		Philippines	2002
		South Africa	2002
		USA	1995
		Uruguay	2003
Soybean	Animal feed Soybean oil [18]	Argentina	1996
		Bolivia	2005
		Brazil	1998
		Canada	1995
		Chile	2007
		Costa Rica	2001
		Mexico	1996
		Paraguay	2004
		South Africa	2001
		USA	1993
		Uruguay	1996
Sugar Beet	Food [22]	Canada	2001
		USA	1998	Commercialised 2007, [23] production blocked 2010, resumed 2011. [22]

Insect resistance

Most currently available genes used to engineer insect resistance come from the Bacillus thuringiensis bacterium. Most are in the form of delta endotoxin genes known as cry proteins, while a few use the genes that encode for vegetative insecticidal proteins. ^[24] Insect resistant crops target various species of coleopteran (beetles) ^[25] and lepidopteran (moths). ^[26] The only gene commercially used to provide insect protection that does not originate from B. thuringiensis is the Cowpea trypsin inhibitor (CpTI). CpTI was first approved for use cotton in 1999 and is currently undergoing trials in rice. ^{[27] [28]}

GMO	Use	Countries approved in	First approved [17]	Notes
Cotton	Fiber Cottonseed oil Animal feed [18]	Argentina	1998
		Australia	2003
		Brazil	2005
		Burkina Faso	2009
		China	1997
		Colombia	2003
		Costa Rica	2008
		India	2002	Largest producer of Bt cotton [29]
		Mexico	1996
		Myanmar	2006 [N 1]
		Pakistan	2010 [N 1]
		Paraguay	2007
		South Africa	1997
		Sudan	2012
		USA	1995
Eggplant	Food	Bangladesh	2013	12 ha planted on 120 farms in 2014 [30]
Maize	Animal feed high-fructose corn syrup corn starch [18]	Argentina	1998
		Brazil	2005
		Columbia	2003
		Mexico	1996	Centre of origin for maize [31]
		Paraguay	2007
		Philippines	2002
		South Africa	1997
		Uruguay	2003
		USA	1995
Poplar	Tree	China	1998	543 ha of bt poplar planted in 2014 [32]

Stacked traits

Many varieties of GM crops contain more than one resistance gene. This could be in the form of multiple insect resistant genes, multiple herbicide tolerance genes or a combination of the herbicide and insect resistant genes. Smartstax is a brand of GM maize that has eight different genes added to it, making it resistant to two types of herbicides and toxic to six different species of insects. ^[33]

Other modified traits

While most crops are engineered to resist insects or tolerate herbicides some crops have been developed for other traits. Flowers have been engineered to display colours that they cannot do so naturally (in particular the blue color in roses). A few crops, like the genetically modified papaya, are engineered to resist viruses. Other modifications alter the plants composition, with the aim of making it more nutritious, longer lasting or more industrially useful. Recently crops engineered to tolerate drought have been commercialised.

GMO	Use	Trait	Countries approved in	First approved [17]	Notes
Canola	Cooking oil Margarine Emulsifiers in packaged foods [18]	High laurate canola	Canada	1996
			USA	1994
		Phytase production	USA	1998
Carnation	Ornamental	Delayed senescence	Australia	1995
			Norway	1998
		Modified flower colour	Australia	1995
			Colombia	2000	In 2014 4 ha were grown in greenhouses for export [34]
			European Union	1998	Two events expired 2008, another approved 2007
			Japan	2004
			Malaysia	2012	For ornamental purposes
			Norway	1997
Maize	Animal feed high-fructose corn syrup corn starch [18]	Increased lysine	Canada	2006
			USA	2006
		Drought tolerance	Canada	2010
			USA	2011
Papaya	Food [18]	Virus resistance	China	2006
			USA	1996	Mostly grown in Hawaii [18]
Petunia	Ornamental	Modified flower colour		1998 [N 1]
Potato	Food [18]	Virus resistance	Canada	1999
			USA	1997
	Industrial [35]	Modified starch	USA	2014
Rose	Ornamental	Modified flower colour	Australia	2009	Surrendered renewal
			Colombia	2010 [N 2]	Greenhouse cultivation for export only.
			Japan	2008
			USA	2011
Soybean	Animal feed Soybean oil [18]	Increased oleic acid production	Argentina	2015
			Canada	2000
			USA	1997
		Stearidonic acid production	Canada	2011
			USA	2011
Squash	Food [18]	Virus resistance	USA	1994
Sugar Cane	Food	Drought tolerance	Indonesia	2013	Environmental certificate only
Tobacco	Cigarettes	Nicotine reduction	USA	2002

Genetically modified crops that are no longer cultivated

GMO	Use	Trait	Countries approved in	First approved [17]	Notes
Potato	Food [18]	Insect resistance	Canada	1995	Withdrawn from market 2001 [36]
			USA	1994
	Industrial [35]	Modified starch	European Union	2010	Development stopped 2012 [37]
Rice	Food	Insect resistance	Iran	2004	Grown on 4000 ha in 2005 [38]
Tobacco	Cigarettes	Herbicide resistance	China	1992 [39]	Not grown since 1995 due to strong opposition from tobacco importers. [39] [40]
Tomato	Food	Delayed softening	USA	1992	Production stopped 1997 [41] First GM food (see Flavr Savr)

Approved genetically modified crops that have not yet been cultivated

GMO	Use	Trait	Countries approved in	First approved [17]	Notes
Apple	Food [18]	Delayed browning	Canada	2015
			USA	2015
Bean		Viral disease resistance	Brazil	2011
Chicory	Animal feed	Herbicide tolerance	USA	1997
Eucalyptus	Tree	Altered growth	Brazil	2015
Flax	Linseed Oil	Herbicide tolerance	USA	1999	Canada gained approval in 1996, but it was rescinded in 2001 [42]
Grass	Ornamental Turfgrass	Herbicide tolerance	USA	2003	Rescinded approval in 2017 due to seed contamination in Oregon [43]
Plum	Food	Virus resistance	USA	2007
Potato	Food [18]	Reduced acrylamide Blackspot bruise tolerance Late blight resistance	USA	2015
		Virus resistance	Canada	1999
			USA	1997
	Industrial [35]	Modified starch	USA	2014
Sweet pepper	Food	Virus resistance	China	1998

Genetically modified crops by country

Country	GM food	Ha grown in 2014 [44]
Argentina	Cotton	530 000
	Maize	3 000 000
	Soybean	20 800 000
Australia	Canola	342 000
	Carnation
	Cotton	200 000
Bangladesh	Eggplant	12
Brazil	Cotton	600 000
	Maize	12 500 000
	Soybean	29 100 000
Bolivia	Soybean	1 000 000
Burkina Faso	Cotton	454,124 [N 3]
Canada	Canola	8 000 000
	Maize	1 400 000
	Soybean	2 200 000
	Sugar beet	15 000
Chile	Canola	2 000
	Maize	7 000
	Soybean	1 000
China	Cotton	3 900 000
	Papaya	8 475
	Poplar	543
	Sweet pepper
	Tomato
Colombia	Cotton	18 000
	Maize	81 000
Costa Rica	Cotton	36.3
	Soybean	1.7
Cuba	Maize	3 000
Czech Republic	Maize	1,754
Honduras	Maize	29 000
India	Cotton	11 600 000
Mexico	Cotton	160 000
	Soybean	10 000
Myanmar	Cotton	318,000
Pakistan	Cotton	2 850 000
Paraguay	Cotton	36 000
	Maize	500 000
	Soybean	3 300 000
Philippines	Maize	831 000
Portugal	Maize	8 542
Romania	Maize	771
Slovakia	Maize	441
South Africa	Cotton	9 000
	Maize	2 150 000
	Soybean	552 000
Spain	Maize	131,538
Sudan	Cotton	90 000
United States of America	Alfalfa	862 000
	Canola	685 000
	Cotton	4 500 000
	Maize	34 500 000
	Papaya	1 000
	Potato
	Soybean	32 300 000
	Squash	1 000
	Sugar beet	479 000
Uruguay	Maize	90 000
	Soybean	1 550 000

The following graph shows the area planted in GM crops in the five largest GM crop producing countries. The area planted is presented along the y axis in thousands of hectares while the year is along the x axis. ^{[N 4]}

See also

• AquAdvantage salmon

References and notes

Notes

1. No official public documentation available
2. No public documents
3. GM cotton production was banned in 2016 due to economic and quality concerns. ^[45]
4. The data for the graph is calculated from information found in ISAAA briefs. ^{[46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54]} The other values were found by adding up all the area for GM crop producing countries (excluding the top five).

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