I was reading a science paper and found a stat about CRISPR in crops that really caught me off guard

The article said over 90% of the soybeans grown in the US are genetically modified. I found that in a report from the USDA last year. Has anyone else seen numbers that made them rethink how common this stuff already is?

3 comments

3 Comments

amy_murphy8518d ago

Oh, that's a really common mix-up. The soybeans are GMO, for sure, but that's not the same as CRISPR. The old school GMO stuff usually means they added a gene from another species, like for herbicide resistance. CRISPR is more like precise gene editing, often just tweaking the plant's own DNA. It's a newer tech and not in our food supply on that huge scale yet. That USDA stat is about the traditional transgenic GMOs. It's wild how much of that is already out there, but the CRISPR crops are still mostly in labs and field trials.

hugo_schmidt18d ago

Yeah, that CRISPR stuff is way over my head. I just know the soy thing is everywhere, like 94% of it? Wild.

claire_sullivan9d ago

Wait, so 94% of our soy is already the old GMO kind? That's actually insane lol.