GM technology transfers genes in the absence of full knowledge about how genes work.  How genes behave is largely a scientific ‘unknown’.  Scientists do not fully understand how genes interact with other genes, or with all the many gene families in an organism. Nor have they discovered how genes interact with the chemical environment within an organism or outside an organism. Because scientists do not fully know how genes behave in the original organism, they cannot predict how they will behave when transferred into a new organism. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that a gene which performs a certain function in one organism will perform that same function when transferred into another organism – or that a gene which is safe in one organism will be safe when inserted into another organism. (See section, GENE SCIENCE.)

GM technology is imprecise and unpredictable.   Scientists cannot transfer genes between organisms with accuracy.  When GM technology transfers foreign genes into a plant it cannot control how many of those genes will be transferred nor can it determine in advance the location of those genes in the plant’s DNA. Furthermore, the foreign genes cannot be controlled by the plant’s regulatory structure, (the plant cannot ‘switch them on’ and ‘switch them off’) because the transferred genes are alien to the plant and usually carry unregulated promoters. This means the foreign genes remain ‘switch on’ for the lifetime of the plant.  This is totally at odds with normal gene behaviour.  (See section, GM TECHNOLOGY AND GMO’S)