The advantages of GM crops are:
- More tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses (hormones, nutrition and cold, drought, salt, heat).
- Resistance to pests, thereby less relayed on chemical pesticides (pest-resistant crops).
- Increases fertility of soil with the efficiency of mineral usage prevents early exhaustion of fertility of the soil.
- Enhanced nutritional value of food, e.g., vitamin-A enriched rice (Golden rice), protein enriched vegetables like spinach, brocolli etc.
- In addition to these uses, GM has been used to create special plants to supply alternative resources to industries, in the form of starches, fuels and pharmaceuticals.
The disadvantage of GM crops are:
- Transgenic genes in GM crops endanger native species.
- They cause damage to natural environment by reducing biodiversity.
- They may cause human health problems by altered genes
- Development of new strains of bacteria with are antibiotic resistance or other drug resistance.