With proper regulatory mechanisms in place, the day is not far when Asia will be regarded as the world’s prominent player in the field of Genetically Modified (GM) foods.

In the wake of growing population lev-els across the globe, the world has realized the potential threat of food deficit in the coming years. In this scenario, genetic engineering has emerged as the messiah to cater to growing consumer demands and to up-lift depleting nutrition standards. Ge-netic modification of crops is one of the most significant developments in the field of plant biotechnology around the world. Genetic modification or genetic engineering refers to the process of introducing a pure gene from a specific source into a targeted plant to achieve performance enhancement through the improved quality of the resultant agricultural product. During the last decade, plant biotechnology has rev-olutionized farming by increasing the productive efficiency of crops.

Many countries have adopted and are encouraging the use of geneti-cally modified crops and food products. These countries offered their support to the research and development ac-tivities in this segment, keeping in view the growing consumer demands and the highly commercial nature of these crops which will entail these countries to reap higher economic benefits. But at the same time, the introduction of Genetically Modified (GM) foods has given rise to a wide range of controversies across various regions of the world. The major causes of concern being potential threats im-posed by the consumption of genetical-ly modified foods on human health and adverse consequences of these genetic modi-fications on other life forms on earth. While, the cost reducing function of these crops has made them appear more lucrative to farmers around the globe, con-sumers in different re-gions are expressing different opinions with regard to the health and safety is-sues associated with these foods. Looking at the world scenario, consumers in the US appear to be the most indif-ferent to the issue of GM foods; European con-sumers are strongly averse to them and Asian consumers are still skeptical about the possible consequences of consuming GM food products.

Genetically Modified Foods, Asian Perspective,Genetically Modified,consumers, countries, demands, biotechnology, health, modification, development, economic, commercial, mechanisms, nature, agricultural, population, product, quality, research, source.