As genetic engineering becomes more high-tech, could growing food crops become more high-risk?
There are many genetic interactions that take place in a plant as it grows, each of which can influence the function of other genes and potentially change the plant’s properties. Many newer engineered genes have been selected for agriculture because they influence crop genes responsible for intrinsic yield or drought tolerance (which affects operational yield). But because genetic interactions are so complex, altering the function of crop genes can lead to side effects far removed from the desired effect. For example, a promising engineered gene for drought tolerance was recently found to increase susceptibility to several plant diseases. Commercialization of this gene may therefore help increase yield, but increase the use of pesticides in order to avoid disease outbreaks. Similar side effects could make it difficult to successfully increase yields without some degree of harm. Even genes that work as expected could sometimes cause significant unintended consequences for food safety an
