Controversies

Controversies surrounding GM foods and crops commonly focus on human and environmental safety, labelling and consumer choice, intellectual property rights, ethics, food security, poverty reduction, and environmental conservation.

Safety
Potential human health impact: allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers, unknown effects Potential environmental impact: unintended transfer of transgenes through cross-pollination, unknown effects on other organisms (e.g., soil microbes), and loss of flora and fauna biodiversity

Labelling
-Not mandatory in some countries (e.g., United States)
-Mixing GM crops with non-GM confounds labelling attempts

Access and Intellectual Property
-Domination of world food production by a few companies
-Increasing dependence on Industrialized nations by developing countries
-Bio-piracy—foreign exploitation of natural resources

Ethics
Violation of natural organisms' intrinsic values
Tampering with nature by mixing genes among species
Objections to consuming animal genes in plants and vice versa
Stress for animal

Society
New advances may be skewed to interests of rich countries