References: Impacts of GMO’s

This page contains numerous articles addressing the potential environmental and health impact of Genetic Modification/Engineered (or “bioengineered”) foods.

Studies have consistently shown that the process by which GM foods are produced can have negative implications for our enviroment (mostly related to agrochemical use and expansion of monocultures which hurt biodiversity).

Please note: These articles have been updated through January 2026.
  • BioExplorer. 6 Major Disadvantages of Genetically Modified Foods | Biology Explorer. Bio Explorer. Published October 4, 2016.
    • Genetically modified plants release toxins that eventually pests become accustomed to and are therefore not worn off from harming the plants. Therefore, transgenic plants become ‘pest resistant’ and require greater amounts of insecticides. In the same way, ‘super weeds’ are a result of transgenic plants becoming resistant to herbicides, thus requiring even larger use of the ‘protectant.’ This increased chemical use in agriculture creates greater soil and water pollution
  • Bohn, T et al. Glyphosate tolerant GM soybeans contain high residues of glyphosate and AMPA. Food Chemistry. Volume 153, 15 June 2014, Pages 207-215

    • Globally, glyphosate-tolerant GM soy is the number one GM crop plant. The herbicide glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide globally
    • Soybeans from different agricultural practices differ in nutritional quality.Organic soybeans showed a more healthy nutritional profile than other soybeans.
    • Organic soy contained more sugars, protein and zinc, but less fibre and omega-6. This study rejects that GM soy is “substantially equivalent” to non-GM soybeans.
  • Brock, S. & Kessler, M. (Host). (nd). Julie Guthman on Capital, Tech and Alternative Food (No. 21) [Audio podcast episode]. Feed: A Food Systems Podcast. Table.
    • The answer is not to make seeds that grow under any conditions. In the end we may still have bad soil, and because we don’t know the long-term effects of GE seeds, we will have additional problems in producing food, leading to increasingly diminished health and environmental outcomes
    • Solutions that do not address soil health and instead rely on engineered seeds, enhance the power of those that own that food technology
    • If soils continue to deteriorate and we become reliant on proprietary genetically modified seeds, it becomes a human health rights issue. The health control power of a select few puts human health at risk
    • Genetic engineering is a way to make animals or plants to grow faster or bigger under the same growing practices. It does not address the desertification of land, loss of ground water or soil nutrients, and it may eliminate the seasonal productive and reproductive rhythms so production becomes continuous
  • Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. (n.d.). How gmos are regulated. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
    • According to the FDA, GMOs in the U.S. are monitored by the FDA, EPA, and the USDA and are held to the “same” standard as normal foods (Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition). Given that GMOs are more highly regulated and even banned from European countries, GMO industries should be held to higher safety standards as they are allowed in the U.S.
  • Center for Food Safety. GE Food & Your Health. Center for Food Safety. Published 2024.
    • Genetic engineering allows, for the first time, foreign genes, bacterial and viral vectors, viral promoters and antibiotic marker systems to be engineered into food.
    • Potential Human Health Concerns
      • Toxicity: Each insertion of a novel gene, and the accompanying “cassette” of promoters, antibiotic marker systems and vectors, is random.  GE food producers simply do not know where their genetic “cassette” is being inserted in the food, nor do they know enough about the genetic/chemical makeup of foods to establish a “safe” place for such insertions. 
      •   Allergic Reactions: Each genetic “cassette” being engineered into foods contains a number of novel proteins (in the form of altered genes, bacteria, viruses, promoters, marker systems, and vectors) which have never been part of the human diet.
      •  Antibiotic Resistance: Virtually all genetically engineered foods contain “antibiotic resistance markers” which help the producers identify whether the new genetic material has actually been transferred into the host food. 
      •  Undesirable loss of nutrients
  • Fairbairn M, Guthman J. 2020. Agri-food tech discovers silver linings in the pandemic. Agric Human Values. doi: 10.1007/s10460-020-10052-6.
    • The human life that bio-industrialization aims to sustain is selective; in the service of abundant agricultural production some human lives, ie farm workers, have been made disposable
  • Food, Genetically Modified. World Health Organization. Published May 1, 2014. 
    • What are the issues of concern for the environment?
      • Issues of concern include: the capability of the GMO to escape and potentially introduce the engineered genes into wild populations; the persistence of the gene after the GMO has been harvested; the susceptibility of non-target organisms (e.g. insects which are not pests) to the gene product; the stability of the gene; the reduction in the spectrum of other plants including loss of biodiversity; and increased use of chemicals in agriculture. The environmental safety aspects of GM crops vary considerably according to local conditions.
    • Are there implications for the rights of farmers to own their crops?
      • Yes, intellectual property rights are likely to be an element in the debate on GM foods, with an impact on the rights of farmers. In the FAO/WHO expert consultation in 2003, WHO and FAO have considered potential problems of the technological divide and the unbalanced distribution of benefits and risks between developed and developing countries and the problem often becomes even more acute through the existence of intellectual property rights and patenting that places an advantage on the strongholds of scientific and technological expertise. Such considerations are likely to also affect the debate on GM foods.
    • What are the main issues of concern for human health?
      • Gene transfer from GM foods to cells of the body or to bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract would cause concern if the transferred genetic material adversely affects human health. This would be particularly relevant if antibiotic resistance genes, used as markers when creating GMOs, were to be transferred. Although the probability of transfer is low, the use of gene transfer technology that does not involve antibiotic resistance genes is encouraged
  • Hakim, D. (2016, October 29). Doubts about the promised bounty of genetically modified crops. The New York Times. Retrieved November 23, 2022
    • In 2016, New York Times released an article including a review done comparing the US and the UK crop yields and the use of chemical pesticides after the US introduction of genetic modification to crops (Hakim, 2016). This was to challenge the view that genetic modification would increase crop yield to feed the growing population as well as require less pesticides overall. However, it was found that crop yield did not increase and more herbicides were used (21 percent increase) in US growers compared to the UK. This technological advance did not live up to the claim that was made by the companies that introduced these as a great solution to food issues.
  • Initial Written Submission of the Mexican Government. Iatp.org. Published 2024.
    • To date, evidence shows that the impacts of GM corn on human health continue to increase, among them, there are certain irrefutable impacts: i) negative effects on human health; ii) unintended consequences at the epigenetic level; iii) horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance transgenes; and iv) deficiencies in nutritional quality
    • GM crops of Bt corn were adopted for commercial planting in the United States, with no evidence on the safety or lack of toxicity of GMOs.146 However, since 1999, it had been shown that exposure to Bt sprays could cause allergic skin
  • Perry ED, Ciliberto F, Hennessy DA, Moschini G. Genetically engineered crops and pesticide use in U.S. maize and soybeans. Science Advances. 2016;2(8):e1600850.
    • For both soybean and maize, GT adopters used increasingly more herbicides relative to nonadopters, whereas adopters of IR maize used increasingly less insecticides. The estimated pattern of change in herbicide use over time is consistent with the emergence of glyphosate weed resistance.
  • Shaani A. GMO ARGUMENT | National Association of Nutrition Professionals. NANP. Published March 14, 2023.
    • Human intervention has practically resulted in the existence of most crops grown on farms today. Breeding seeds chosen from the best yielding plants for the purpose of having a better plant (which changes the plant genome in a way that does not occur naturally in nature) has been practiced by farmers for numerous years. However, these are not considered plant GMOs
    • Studies have shown that exposure to pesticides can lead to epigenetic changes in crops, altering the expression of genes involved in the plant’s defense mechanisms and potentially making the plant’s tissues more toxic (Rohila, 2018). This can have implications for human health, as people who consume these crops may be exposed to the toxins and other substances produced by the plants as a result of these epigenetic changes.
  • Soares, D., Silva, L., Duarte, S., Pena, A., & Pereira, A. (2021). Glyphosate use, toxicity and occurrence in food. Foods, 10(11).
    • The use of GMO seeds for corn, soy, wheat, and other staple crops in industrial agriculture has created a system dependent on chemical inputs. Most of these GM seed varieties were created to be resistant to direct application of the glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup. However, repeated use of this product for weed management has resulted in the spread of resistant superweeds, which perpetuates the need for further herbicides. The increase in pesticide use as a result of GM crops raises concerns for our food system and the consumers of these chemicals
  • Suuk, M. (2018, July 19). Resistance to genetically modified seeds in Africa. DW.
    • The push for GMO seeds in developing nations of India and Africa has replaced traditional crops and local seed varieties with monocrops. This control of seed stock threatens community food sovereignty, care for and biodiversity of the Earth, and ancestral knowledge; because farmers can no longer rely on a variety of their own indigenous seeds for good health, diversity in their diet, and connection to their ancestors
  • Tsatsakis, A. M., Nawaz, M. A., Kouretas, D., Balias, G., Savolainen, K., Tutelyan, V. A., Golokhvast, K. S., Lee, J. D., Yang, S. H., & Chung, G. (2017). Environmental impacts of genetically modified plants: A review. Environmental research, 156, 818–833.
    • Concerns including biosafety, as well as “unintended effects of transgenes associated with gene flow, flow of naked DNA, weediness, chemical toxicity, modification in crop pervasiveness or invasiveness, the emergence of herbicide and insecticide tolerance, transgene stacking, and disturbed biodiversity”
    • Disruption of gene flow (lowering genetic diversity of the crop and causing potential gene cross-over into wild species); 2. Impacts on soil and water health since many are engineered to be tolerant of high herbicide use (impacting aquatic life and microbial soil communities); and 3. reducing pesticide resistance (contribute to the evolution of resistant genes)
  • Vega Mejia N., Ponce Reyes, R., Martinez Y., et al, 2018. Implications of the Western Diet for Agricultural Production, Health and Climate Change.
    • In the case of GMO/GE corn the excess of corn grown has created the need to develop many types of products to utilize the corn. Sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup is one of them that ultimately wreak havoc on our systems and lead to more diseases like diabetes and obesity.
  • Vinje, E. (2015, April 16). GMO Papayas Threaten Organic Crop. Planet Natural.
    • “Since 1998, the Rainbow papaya has been genetically engineered to resist a fungus that was killing trees in Hawaii and other papaya growing regions”
    • these trees are cross-pollinating with other non-GMO and organic papaya trees without the research to support if this will increase “allergens and antibiotic resistance”
    • By genetically engineering foods we are not addressing the root issue: the health of the soil.