Other common traits include virus resistance, delayed ripening, modified flower colour or altered composition.
[2][3] GM crops were first planted commercially on a large scale in 1996, in the US, China, Argentina, Canada, Australia, and Mexico.
The European Union regulates importation of GM foods, while individual member states determine cultivation.
Half of all GM crops planted were genetically modified soybeans, either for herbicide tolerance or insect resistance.
Eleven countries grew modified soybean, with the USA, Brazil and Argentina accounting for 90% of the total hectarage.
This include 51.4 million hectares planted in thirteen countries that contained both herbicide tolerance and insect resistance.
Less than one million hectares contained other traits, which include providing virus resistance, delaying senescence, modifying flower colour and altering the plants composition.
[26] The only gene commercially used to provide insect protection that does not originate from B. thuringiensis is the Cowpea trypsin inhibitor (CpTI).
Smartstax is a brand of GM maize that has eight different genes added to it, making it resistant to two types of herbicides and toxic to six different species of insects.