Position paper, Question 2

There are many reasons why there should be government regulations to protect the environment from genetically engineered crops. One reason is there are many environmental risk factors, one being the unintended harm to other organisms. Another environmental risk factor is the reduced effectiveness of pesticides because some crops have been genetically engineered to produce their own pesticides. Another environmental risk is gene transfer to non-target species. Another risk would be that biotechnology companies claim that their manipulations are similar to natural genetic changes or traditional breeding techniques. But the cross-species transfers would not happen in nature and may create new toxins, diseases, and weaknesses. Another risk is the increased pollution of food and water supply because more then 50% of the crops developed by biotechnology companies have been resistant to herbicides, resulting in greater pollution of our food and water with toxic agrochemicals. Another reason is that existing species can be displaced from the ecosystem with disastrous effects. One last reason is that crops are now being engineered to produce their own pesticides, which will promote the rapid appearance to resistant insects and lead to the destruction of useful insects and soil organisms. These are only a few of the many reasons why there should be government regulations to protect the environment from genetically engineered crops.