Merits of transgenic plants:
a) Crops are more productive and have a larger yield.
b) Transgenic plants can offer more nutrition and flavour.
c) A possibility that they could eliminate allergy causing properties in some foods.
d) Crops can have resistance to pests, weeds and disease.
e) Crops are more capable of surviving in regions with poor soil or adverse climates.
f) Crops are more environment friendly as they require less herbicides and pesticides.
g) Foods are more resistant and stay ripe for longer so they can be shipped long
distances or kept on shop shelves for longer periods.
h) Crops can be grown on small part of land.
Demerits of transgenic plants:
a) The use of genetically modified food should not be encouraged without research into the risks.
b) Not labelling transgenic foods is wrong and unfair to the consumers who should have the right to know what they are buying so they can decide for themselves whether they want to buy the food or not.
c) Genetically modified crops pose a risk to food diversity as the plants are much more dominant.
d) Transgenic crops could give rise to super-weeds and super-pests that would need newer, stronger chemicals to destroy them.
e) Transgenic crops cross-pollinate with nearby non-transgenic plants and could create ecological problems.
f) The new technology interferes with traditional agricultural methods.