Oh He## No, They Did NOT Just Do That!

I wouldn't put them in the category of dangerous as we just don't know enough yet. The problem I have with genetically modified organisms is that the long-term studies on the effects on the environment and on health side effects in people just haven't been done. I used to work with transgenic animals and adding genes to plants and animals isn't directly harmful (unless it inserts into a critical region and knocks out an essential protein coding or regulatory region), and the animals were never going to be released into the wild in order to spread their genetic modifications. But making plants to sell and plant outside of controlled confines without understanding all of the downstream consequences is risky. Monsanto has a history of ramming these products through without the proper safety reviews performed and that's absolutely wrong (they aren't necessarily playing God, unless their God is the almighty dollar). They've got quite a reach into Washington though, and a stranglehold on the market so they've gotten their way.

Yes, they are modifying the plants not just for herbicide resistance, but also improved yields and drought resistance. Those modifications are different in that they are using natural genes from other plants, and the plants won't require a chemical (herbicide) to be added that harms the environment to help them grow - they will grow as if they were natural with less resources. There's still the inherent issue of what the long-term effect will be on our biology with ingesting these plants to figure out though, but I myself am a little more comfortable with those types of modifications (as it will become more and more necessary to grow crops in harsher conditions).