Final Reading Test

Section 1

1. Why is important for farmers to separate GM crops from non-GM crops?
Because consumers around the world demand so to know what they consume.

2. What uncertainties are facing farmers surrounding GM foods?
It can be mixed up in the long chain between the farmer and the consumer (retailers, distributers, processors).

3. Why are the biotech companies worried?
They are worried about the long termbusiness prospects for their technology. The investors backing them are not sure to put so much money in a product that the cunsumers might dislike.

Section 2

4. List 5 benefits of GM foods.
The crops can repel any kind of bloghts or insects.
The crops can stand the herbicides that kills the weeds around.
There will be a better nutritional value.
These plants will grow faster.
This food will taste better.

5. List 5 disadvantages of GM foods
It is not properly tested.
There might be allergic reactions to genetic changes that are not completely understood.
Foreign genes in these plants can pass into the wild to create unkillable "superweeds".
These plant could harm some beneficial insects.
These plants could stimulate pesticide resistance in some insects.

Section 3

6. Briefly describe the denounced and discredited studies that have been presented to show that GM foods are unsafe for human consumption.
There was the researcher Arpad Pusztai who showed that this food had potential health hazards by domaging the immune system of rats. Also studies from Cornell University, Iowa state University and Switzerland pointed unexpected effects of genecally modified food on insects that benefit the ecosystem.

7. What are biotech companies doing to combat studies like these?
They invest tens of millionis of dollars to fight what they view as a nasty and hysterical campaign that misrepresented their products. They are founding scientific research, educational forums, lobbying legislators and regulators for farm groups.

8. What is the future of GM companies like Monsanto, DuPont and Novartis?
They will try to be acknowledged by the population. Influencing public opinion is critical. Perceptions create reality in the marketplace. Their revenues will go down and the stock prices will fluctuate. It is going to be hard for them to get investments for developing the next generation of GM products.

Section 4

9. Describe three problems that may prevent further development of GM foods.
The European Union rejected some types of GM food.
Some countries ask for specific labels on GM products and the producers refuse.
The issue could reach the highest level of international trade (WTO).

Section 5

10. What do consumer groups and those who speak for biotech companies want the Canadian government to do?
The government should give the public a better idea of how their food is vetted and approved. That way consumers would be more confident.