1.

) GENETICALLY MODIFIED CORN

- Bt-corn is a type of genetically modified organism, termed GMO. A GMO is a plant or animal that has been genetically
modified through the addition of a small amount of genetic material from other organisms through molecular techniques.
Currently, the GMOs on the market today have been
given genetic traits to provide protection from pests,
tolerance to pesticides, or improve its quality.
Examples of GMO field crops include Bt-potatoes, Bt-
corn, Bt-sweet corn, Roundup Ready soybeans,
Roundup Ready Corn, and Liberty Link corn.
- Genetically modified foods are foods derived from
GMO crops. For example, corn produced through
biotechnology is being used in many familiar foods,
including corn meal and tortilla chips. In addition, corn
is used to make high fructose corn syrup, which is
used as a sweetener in many foods such as soft
drinks and baked goods. While the FDA (U.S. Food
and Drug Administration) regulates genetically modified foods, it considers Bt-corn to be nutritionally equivalent to traditional
corn.
- To transform a plant into a GMO plant, the gene that produces a genetic trait of interest is identified and separated from
the rest of the genetic material from a donor organism. Most organisms have thousands of genes, a single gene represents
only a tiny fraction of the total genetic makeup of an organism.
- A donor organism may be a bacterium, fungus or even another plant. In the case of Bt corn, the donor organism is a
naturally occurring soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, and the gene of interest produces a protein that kills Lepidoptera
larvae, in particular, European corn borer. This protein is called the Bt delta endotoxin. Growers use Bt corn as an
alternative to spraying insecticides for control of European and southwestern corn borer.

SOURCE : https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef130

2.) GENETICALLY MODIFIED COTTON

- Genetically engineered (also called genetically
modified or GM) cotton is currently grown on 25 million
hectares around the world, mostly in India, China, Pakistan and the
US.[i] Other countries growing significantly smaller amounts of GM
cotton are South Africa, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Brazil,
Argentina, Paraguay, Columbia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Burma,
Australia, and Egypt.
- GM cotton is engineered with one of two traits. One makes it
resistant to glyphosate-based herbicides such as
Monsantos Roundup, while the other stimulates the plant to produce a toxin that kills the bollworm, one of the crops
primary pests. This pest-resistant cotton is engineered with a gene from the bacteria Bacillus thurengiensis or Bt, and is
the more commonly grown of the two types.

SOURCE : http://www.cban.ca/Resources/Topics/GE-Crops-and-Foods-On-the-Market/Cotton/Genetically-Modified-Cotton-
CBAN-Factsheet
3.) GENETICALLY MODIFIED
- In the late 1980s, the University of Hawaii began developing a papaya cultivar resistant to Papaya Ringspot Virus. To do
this, certain viral genes encoding capsid proteins were transferred to the papaya genome. These viral capsid proteins elicit
something similar to an "immune response" from the papaya plant. These new, genetically modified papaya plants are no
longer susceptible to infection, allowing farmers to
cultivate the fruit even when the virus is
widespread.
- The first virus resistant papayas were
commercially grown in Hawaii in 1999.
Transgenic papayas now cover about one
thousand hectares, or three quarters of the total
Hawaiian papaya crop.
- Genetically modified papayas are approved for
consumption both in the US and in Canada.
Several Asian countries are currently developing
transgenic papaya varieties resistant to local viral
strains.
- At this point, GM papayas are not approved in the EU. Until now, no application for approval has been submitted.
Therefore, importing and marketing genetically modified papayas is not permitted in the EU.
- Since 1998, genetically modified papayas have been cultivated in Hawaii, USA. They are resistant to a domestic viral
disease. In the EU, genetically modified papayas are not approved.
- Cultivation of virus resistant papayas in Hawaii: On the left, rows of conventional papaya trees infested with the Ringspot
Virus. On the right, genetically modified virus-resistant plants of the variety "Rainbow".

SOURCEhttp://www.gmocompass.org/eng/grocery_shopping/fruit_vegetables/14.genetically_modified_papayas_virus_resis
tance.html