Until such variables can be ruled out, putting the blame on genetic modification is premature.
Genetic modification should help to increase the economic impact of that shift, while reducing its environmental impact.
The genetic modification of animals for medical research or drug development is seen as a necessary evil.
However to date, the only widely used traits developed by genetic modification are herbicide tolerance and Bt insect resistance.
That GM, or genetic modification, is a good way to protect the environment.
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And there are cases where genetic modification of crops had big benefits.
The result was a two-thirds majority against a ban on genetic modification of plants and animals and their release into the environment.
Although the tried-and-true method of hybridisation is just another type of genetic modification, the public seem to think that it is normal.
One of those, U.S. seed and genetic modification researcher Monsanto, reported that its quarterly profit had grown 77% year over year.
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But it is odd, at first sight, that genetic modification in a laboratory should weaken a plant any more than traditional breeding methods do.
That was an important distinction for some of the company's customers, as there remained "a lot of resistance in Europe" to genetic modification, he said.
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But genetic modification is so fraught with public accusations of corporate cover-ups and government conspiracies that the Lancet decided that it was right to publish.
Which, if true, would be a devastating indictment of genetic modification.
Pest-resistance and other traits related to yield or other desired qualities have thus been introduced and enhanced for centuries by a variety of genetic modification techniques.
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One concern is the idea that genetic modification in the laboratory is more dangerous than genetic modification in the field, which is long-established (see article).
Groups such as Greenpeace frighten the public by arguing that genetic modification is dangerous and that companies have overestimated their ability to measure and manage the risks.
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From a primitive plant called brassica, laborious trial-and-error genetic modification over centuries created canola, cabbage, bok choi, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, rutabaga, mustard and turnip, among others.
Although the government says all the fish have now been destroyed, environmentalists believe it demonstrates that much of the work on genetic modification is taking place in secret.
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Friends of the Earth Europe, another anti-GMO group, says that the Sangamo technology may well turn out to be a type of genetic modification that it would oppose.
Van Tunen said the KeyGene's methods were a quicker and cheaper way of improving crops than genetic modification -- and differed from that process in one crucial aspect.
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They are leading a chorus of young scientists and forward thinkers who see genetic modification not as a threat to sustainable farming but as a new way to make it better.
He thinks genetic modification of this humble crop, so far from the world of advanced science, will provide the most comprehensive defence and be the best way to boost yields.
Australian scientists are attempted to use genetic modification to develop a strain resistant to Race 4, while those in Honduras are working on breeding a better banana through more conventional means, by cross-pollination.
Genetic modification has been with us for millennia.
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The US researchers, reported Science magazine, used genetic modification techniques to knock out a mouse gene which is responsible for keeping the immune system in check so that it does not launch attacks on itself.
Its invocation would provide crusading NGOs, bloggers and activist journalists with an unchecked justification for rejecting almost any processed food, especially those made using genetic modification or where trace chemicals can be found in food packaging.
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Not all experts believe that genetic modification is the way forward - some point out that rather than enhancing the protein content of potatoes, the government could simply ensure the availability of foods which are already rich in protein, such as pulses.
They include anyone who uses alternative medicine, or who buys organic food, or worries about genetic modification, or opposes nuclear power, or likes post-modernism, or doesn't vaccinate their children properly, or distrusts scientists, or believes the Bible, or dislikes global capitalism or thinks that human progress damages the environment.
In spite of the scientific consensus that the new techniques of genetic engineering are essentially extensions, or refinements, of conventional (but less precise and less predictable) techniques of genetic modification, both U.N. entities have established requirements for the products of genetic engineering (whether plants or food derived from them) that no conventionally modified product could meet.
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