GMOs 101: Your Basic Questions Answered - USDA

1 F e e d yo u r m i n d gmos 101: your Basic Questions Answered GMO foods have been available to consumers since the early 1990s. Since then, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Department of Agriculture (USDA) have worked together to ensure that crops produced through genetic engineering are safe for people, animals, and the environment. Despite there being a wide range of foods GMO and non-GMO available to consumers, there is some confusion around what gmos are and how they are used in our food supply. What makes it a GMO? A GMO (genetically modified organism) is a plant, animal, or microorganism that has had its genetic material (DNA) changed using technology that generally involves the specific modification of DNA, including the transfer of specific DNA from one organism to another.

2 Scientists often refer to this process as genetic March 2020 1. Is it called GMO or What GMO crops are something else? out there? GMO has become the common term Only a few types of GMO crops are grown in the consumers and popular media use to describe United States, but some of these gmos make up foods that have been created through genetic a large percentage of the crop grown ( , engineering. This term is not generally used soybeans, corn, sugar beets, canola, and cotton). to refer to plants or animals developed with In 2018,4 GMO soybeans made up 94% of all selective breeding, like the common garden soybeans planted, GMO cotton made up 94% of strawberries available today that were created all cotton planted, and 92% of corn planted was from a cross between a species native to North GMO corn.

3 Most GMO crops are used in food for America and a species native to South America. animals like cows, chickens, and fish. They are While genetic engineering is the term typically also used to make ingredients that are then used used by scientists, you will start seeing the in food products like cereal, snack chips, and bioengineered label on some of the foods vegetable oils. Even though you won't find many we eat in the United States because of the GMO fruits or vegetables in the produce section new National Bioengineered Food Disclosure of your grocery store, gmos are a common part of today's food supply. A complete list of GMO crops currently Did you know? available in the United States: Bioengineered food is the term that Congress used to describe certain types Alfalfa Papaya of gmos when they passed the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.

4 Apples Potatoes The Standard defines bioengineered foods3 as those that contain detectable Canola Soybeans genetic material that has been modified through certain Summer lab techniques and cannot be Corn squash created through conventional breeding or found in nature. Sugar Cotton beets Non-GMO versions of these crops are also available. March 2020 2. Why do we have gmos ? Do gmos affect your health? Humans have used traditional ways to modify crops and animals to suit their needs and tastes for GMO foods are as healthful and safe to eat as more than 10,000 years. Cross-breeding, selective their non-GMO counterparts. Some GMO plants breeding, and mutation breeding are examples of have actually been modified to improve their traditional ways to make these changes.

5 These nutritional value. An example is GMO soybeans breeding methods often involve mixing all of the with healthier oils that can be used to replace genes from two different sources. They are used to oils that contain trans fats. Since GMO foods create common crops like modern corn varieties5. were introduced in the 1990s, research6 has and seedless watermelon. shown that they are just as safe as non-GMO. foods. Additionally, research7 shows that GMO. Modern technology now allows scientists to use plants fed to farm animals are as safe as genetic engineering to take just a beneficial gene, non-GMO animal food. like insect resistance or drought tolerance, and transfer it into a plant. The reasons for genetic modification today are similar to what they were thousands of years ago: higher crop yields, less Do GMO plants reduce crop loss, longer storage life, better appearance, better nutrition, or some combination of these traits.

6 Pesticide use? Some GMO plants contain plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs)8 to make them resistant to Did you know? insects, reducing the need for and use of many spray As another safety measure, As of 2017, GMO crops EPA works with developers and scientists to help are grown in 24 countries develop gmos that will resist insects for as long around the world, such as possible through their Insect Resistance Management Other GMO plants are as Canada, Brazil, the developed to tolerate certain weed killers, which Philippines, and Bangladesh. allows farmers a wide variety of options for weed The approval process for control. Some people are concerned that GMO crops varies from farmers who grow these gmos will use more country to country, but all weed killers.

7 While this is sometimes the case, regulations are based on EPA regulates the safety of all weed killers that the same objective that farmers use on GMO crops and non-GMO crops alike. EPA also shares information11 to help gmos should be safe for farmers who are concerned about weeds human and animal health and developing resistance to weed killers. the environment. Get more information about gmos at March 2020 3. Sources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. March 2020 4.