The principle crops grown are soybean, cotton, maize and canola although rice and sweet potato are also on the increase. The production of Roundup Ready soybean in 1996 that being exported worldwide as basic ingredient for the feed and food industry, initiated the worldwide public debate on the environmental risks of genetically modified (GM) crops. The kinds of environmental risks include: gene flow to non-target effects, risk of superpests, superdiseases and superweeds, impact on biodiversity, antibiotic resistance markers (ARMs) from GM crops to environment and the concerns related to food safety and their impacts on human, livestock and poultry health. In addition to GM crops resistant to herbicides and pests, new-generation GM crops are now also being developed for the production of recombinant proteins, industrial enzymes and biopolymers, biofuels and micronutrients.