Genetically engineered (GE)crops have been produced and consumed by people for 20 years,starting in 1994.Adoption of GE crops by farmers was astonishingly rapid and in 2013,GE varieties of cotton,maize,soybean,canola,sugarbeet,and alfalfa were grown on 174 million hectares around the world.Fourteen countries grew more than 500 000 hectares each.Two phenotypes represent the overwhelming majority of the GE crops:herbicide tolerance and insect resistance.Penetration has now reached 90% levels in major producing countries.There are now more hectares of GE crops in developing countries than in developed ones.There are no figures on human consumption of GE crops and foods containing GE ingredients.By far the largest proportion (possibly 90%) of the major GE crops is undoubtedly used for animal feed.Minor GE crops such as papaya,squash and sweet maize are consumed directly.Ingredients such as oil,starch,high fructose sweetener,sucrose and lecithin that are made from GE crops are used extensively in the food industry.In US supermarkets up to 70% of the products available contain GE ingredients.Such products are also consumed by people in many countries,especially those were there is no GE labeling requirement.The activities of NGOs,often using misinformation about GE foods,continue to slow the acceptance of GE foods by the public and the commercial production of GE crops in many countries.Decisions by policy makers are unfortunately often based on political considerations rather than on scientific criteria.