Publication - July 12, 2010
Notes from the British Parliament,
June 2010 (4 pages)
This briefing note outlines the mains issues about GE insects. Groups like Greenpeace raised concerns about the release of GM insects:
- new insects or diseases may fill the ecological niche left by the insects suppressed or replaced, possibly resulting in new public health or agricultural problems
- the new genes engineered into the insects may ‘jump’into other species, a process called horizontal transfer, causing unintended consequences to the ecosystem
- releases would be impossible to monitor and irreversible, as would any damage done to the environment.
Download the pdf Genetically Engineered Insects