
Kenya lifted a 10-year ban on cultivating and importing genetically modified (GM) crops in October 2022.
However, the move was opposed by lobby groups that went to court and got an injunction, thus blocking the implementation of the government’s decision.
The main question in a critical thinker’s mind is;
Why is the a need to take risks with GM crops when effective, readily available, and sustainable solutions to the problems that GM technology is claimed to address already exist?
The government argued that for Kenya to be a food-secure country it must adopt genetically modified crops. They said for instance; The reduction in corn production in Kenya by 35% from 2018 to 2022 was due to a lack of insect or pest-tolerant varieties in the market.
However, this was not true. According to a report by FAO, the reduction was primarily caused by the great drought experienced in a similar period.
This month, we are focusing on GM crops, the sole aim being to reveal the truth and myths about GM crops. First, let’s understand what GM crops are and how they are made.
This series of articles is based on scientific reports published on GMO Myths and Truths: An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops—a report by Earth Open Source.
How GM Crops are Made
GM proponents claim that genetic engineering is just an extension of natural plant breeding.
They say that GM crops are no different from naturally bred crops, apart from the inserted foreign GM gene (transgene) and its protein product. But this is misleading.
GM is completely different from natural breeding and poses different risks. Natural breeding can only take place between closely related forms of life (e.g. cats with cats, not cats with dogs; wheat with wheat, not wheat with tomatoes or fish). In this way, the genes that carry information for all parts of the organism are passed down the generations in an orderly way.
In contrast, GM is a laboratory-based technique that is completely different from natural breeding.

The main stages of the genetic modification process are as follows:
1. In a process known as tissue culture or cell culture, tissue from the plant that is to be genetically modified is placed in culture.
2. Millions of the tissue-cultured plant cells are subjected to the GM gene insertion process. This results in the GM gene(s) being inserted into the DNA of a few of the plant cells in tissue culture.
The inserted DNA is intended to re-programme the cells’ genetic blueprint, conferring completely new properties on the cell.
This process would never happen in nature. It is carried out either by using a device known as a gene gun, which shoots the GM gene into the plant cells, or by linking the GM gene to a special piece of DNA present in the soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
When the A. tumefaciens infects a plant, the GM gene is carried into the cells and can be inserted into the plant cell’s DNA.
3. At this point in the process, the genetic engineers have a tissue culture consisting of hundreds of thousands to millions of plant cells. Some have picked up the GM gene(s), while others have not. The next step is to treat the culture with chemicals to eliminate all except those cells that have successfully incorporated the GM gene into their DNA.
4. Finally, the few cells that survive the chemical Section at a glance X Genetic engineering is completely different from natural breeding and entails different risks.
The genetic engineering and associated tissue culture processes are imprecise and highly mutagenic, leading to unpredictable changes in the DNA, proteins, and biochemical composition of the resulting GM crop that can lead to unexpected toxic or allergenic effects and nutritional disturbances.
Check Out This:Minus GMOs, Our Food Is Still Unsafe. Find Out how?
X Foods produced by cisgenic or intragenic methods are as hazardous as any other GM crop. X, It is misleading to compare GM with radiation-induced mutation breeding and to conclude that, as crops bred by the latter method are not tested for safety or regulated, neither should GM crops be tested or regulated.
Radiation-induced mutation breeding is potentially even more mutagenic than GM, and at least as destructive to gene expression, and crops produced by this method should be regulated at least as strictly as GM crops.
X, It is unnecessary to take risks with GM when conventional breeding – assisted by safe modern gene mapping technologies – is capable of meeting our crop breeding needs. GMO Myths and Truths 10 treatments are treated with plant hormones. The hormones stimulate these genetically modified plant cells to proliferate and differentiate into small GM plants that can be transferred to soil and grown on.
5. Once the GM plants are growing, the genetic engineer examines them and eliminates any that do not seem to be growing well. He/she then does tests on the remaining plants to identify one or more that express the GM genes at high levels. These are selected as candidates for commercialization.
6. The resulting population of GM plants all carry and express the GM genes of interest. However, they have not been assessed for health and environmental safety or nutritional value.
The fact that the GM transformation process is artificial does not automatically make it undesirable or dangerous. It is the consequences of the procedure that give cause for concern.
Reference: GMO Myths and Truths:An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety
and e!cacy of genetically modi”ed crops