In the years since 1996,when the first field commercial plantings of GM crops were put in place,the underlying science has moved ahead rapidly as have the commercial gains attributable to such crops.In 2013,GM crops were grown on 175 million hectares by 18 million farmers in 27 countries.This area has grown from 1.7 million hectares devoted to the cultivation of such crops in 1996,roughly a 100-fold increase.