Are there any potential effects on the environment of growing GM foods?
Many scientists have expressed concern about possible detrimental effects of GM on the environment. These effects can be direct or indirect. Direct effects that would very likely occur include the inadvertent poisoning of ‘non-target’ species of insects. For example, Bt crops would be just as poisonous to ecologically beneficial insects that feed on the Bt corn or cotton plant as they would to harmful insects. An example of a possible indirect effect was described recently. In a ‘modelling’ study, the likely effect on the wildlife of rural England of growing Roundup Ready sugar beet was investigated. According to the results of this (theoretical) study, this might lead to starvation of skylarks, because their major food, the weed ‘fat hen’, would no longer be available. Other potential detrimental environmental effects include the possibility that herbicide resistance might cross to weeds or other plants that are closely related to food crops, and ‘escapes’ of genes to neighbouring con
