Current trends in the global market of transgenic plants and environmental safety issues

Abstract

The world market for the first generation of transgenic crops (insecticidal and herbicide-resistant plants) has been expanding since 2012, mostly owing to developing countries. The cautious attitude in the majority of economically developed countries to the first-generation transgenic agricultural crops is due to several objective circumstances: the negative impact of insecticidal Bt-crops on useful and endangered invertebrate species, the allergenic properties of Bt-toxin for humans, toxicity of glyphosate to humans and animals, the widely spreading resistance of weeds to glyphosate, the increasing resistance of–harmful–insects to insecticidal Bt-plants, the danger of–genetic pollution–of aboriginal plant varieties, and the flow of herbicide resistance traits to weed plants.