Pros And Cons Of Genetically Modified Organisms And The Hungry World
Genetically Modified Organisms and the Hungry World For hundreds of years, humans have selectively bred and crossbred animals and plants to create or eliminate specific characteristics to produce a wider range of crops, animals and livestock. Genetic technology has become very common in our world today. Therefore, the possibility of altering plants and specifically crops for food supply raises many ethical and possible health issues which need to be explored. For example, the technical aspects of genetic modification and the possible positive and negative effects of genetically modified foods. Genetic engineering might be the phenomenon of the twentieth century, however genetic technology began over 30,000 years ago (Rangel). Genetic modification might seem novel, however humans have been altering the genetic makeup of plants for over 30,000 years. With scientific laboratories being non-existent 30,000 years ago, how were our ancestors capable of directly manipulating DNA? "The process of choosing the organisms with the most desired traits and mating them with the intention of combining and
…show more content…
propagating these traits through their offspring is called selective breeding or artificial selection which was used by our ancestors many years ago" (Rangel). In a result of repeating this process through many generations, it can result in dramatic changes to a species. While the process of artificial selection is typically not how genetically modified organisms are thought of today, it is one of the earliest examples of our species influencing genetics. For centuries, we have been doing our own sort of genetic modification by manipulating certain breeds and species.
Around 32,000 years ago, the dog was thought to be one of the first organisms our ancestors artificially selected (Rangel). In East Asia, wild wolves joined our ancestors and were domesticated to what we know now as Chinese native dogs. Over centuries, the traits of dogs such as size, hair length, color and body have been artificially selected to the point that dogs like Chihuahuas and corgis barely resemble wolves at all. Since the time that our ancestors artificially selected wolves, artificial selection has been applied to many different species like beef cattle, seedless watermelons, prize-winning race horses. Today, artificial selection is a primitive process, however there is a more modern process of altering the genetics of
organisms. Today's use of genetic modification has become comparatively common in our technologically expanding world. In 1973, the birth of genetic modification opened up many opportunities to improve human lives. Two scientists, Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen, were the first to successfully genetically engineer an organism. Boyer and Cohen developed a method known as the "cut-and-paste" or "gene-gun" method that goes a step beyond selective breeding. However, the "gene-gun" approach is one of the several gene transfer methods. The "cut-and-paste" method entails: cutting out the gene and inserting it in into a vector with a selectable antibiotic distance marker gene. Following the previous step, the vector is copied into the bacteria and then it is coated with tungsten or gold particles with DNA vectors. Next, the vector coated particles are loaded onto the Teflon bullet. Then, the gene gun is shot and releases the particles at a high velocity that penetrates the plant cells. Now, the vector enters the cell and then the genes are incorporated into the pant genome. After, the cells are plated on a selective antibiotic media and then the only cells that have incorporated the vector will grow. Lastly, the cells are transferred to medium containing plant growth factors. After the new gene has been introduced, the organism can be bred to create a new strain that passes the gene from generation to generation (Switching to This New Strain). After the "cut-and-paste" method was introduced to the public, a year later, Rudolf Jaenisch and Beatrice Mintz, used Boyer and Cohen's procedure in animals and introduced a foreign DNA into mouse embryos (Rangel). This was the turning point in the future of genetic technology, consequently it raised many questions with the media, government officials, and scientists and they began to worry about the potential effects on human's health and the Earth's ecosystems. Throughout the years of doing extensive research, we have discovered there are countless potential uses of GE technology in development. In 1982, the United States Food and Drug Administration released the first human medication produced by a genetically modified organism. "Bacteria had been genetically engineered to synthesize human insulin, allowing them to produce enough of the hormone to purify, package, and prescribe it to diabetes patients as the drug Humulin" (Rangel). After releasing the GM (Genetically Modified) human medication in 1982, it sparked ideas to genetically modify crops. After five years of substantial research, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the first food crop for commercial production known as Flavr Savr tomato. Flavr Savr tomatos increased the production of how much a farmer could produce and the firmness which extends the shelf life of the tomatoes. However, the subject of of public controversy is food scarcity. With an increasing world's population, thus creates food scarcity in many undeveloped countries, GM crops seems like it could be the answer. It is estimated that by 2050, farmers will need to produce 70% more food than we currently do in order to sufficiently feed the global population (Rangel). With the technology that we have, we can transfer potentially any gene from any organism on the planet to another organism, which could benefit farmers and the global population. By growing GM (Genetically Modified) crops it influences farmers' income, thus their economic access to food. For example, after some African countries introduced GM crops, as a result they had an increase in productivity.
"Of 15.4 million farmers that planted GM crops in 2010, over 90 percent (14.4 million) were resource-poor farmers in developing countries, including in three African countries: Burkina Faso, South Africa and Egypt. Almost 100,000 farmers in Burkina Faso cultivated GM cotton on 260,000 hectares in 2010 (representing a 126 percent increase from 2009), and GM crops are estimated to have benefited Burkina Faso’s economy by over US$100 million per year" (Adenle).
A study by UC Berkeley proposed that without bioengineered crops, the price of food would be five to ten percent higher than it is now. Cotton would be the heaviest impacted and would see an increase up to thirty to forty percent (Finz). With these predicted implications, developing countries would be heavily impacted and suffer the most. Increasing the level of production is not the only benefit that can be derived from using GM crops. There are many other potential benefits bioengineered crops have impacted on the world; The Hawaiian papaya is a prime example. The Hawaiian papaya encountered a virus called the papaya ringspot long ago, thus led it to almost becoming extinct. However, with the discovery of a new GM papaya plant, it was engineered to block infections like the papaya ringspot virus. Scientists also contend that genetic modification could be the only way to save oranges in California and Florida. Oranges are the latest crops to be besieged with citrus greening disease and without interfering could lead us to end a multi-billion dollar industry (Finz). However, with the ongoing debate about GMOs being safe for humans to eat has raised many questions. The use of genetically modified plants and animals has become a major concern because they will cause reduced genetic diversity.
"What this means is that the DNA, which codes for proteins in an organism, will become more similar between individuals of a species. Genetic diversity is directly related to biodiversity, the variability in the traits of organisms that make up an ecosystem, because diversity in DNA will inform the characteristics of the organisms that make up a population" (Landry).
The potato famine is one example of when a lack of genetic diversity resulted in a major agricultural problem. In the mid 1800s, potatoes was one of Ireland's main source of nutrition. The potatoes were not grown from seeds, they were planted sections from a parent potato, meaning that all potatoes were clones of their parents and contained identical genetic information. However, with the lack of genetic variability it caused the potato crops to develop an invasive pathogen, P. infestans, and it wiped out the entire population. "Because all potatoes had nearly identical genes, there were no populations of potatoes with favorable traits that allowed them to evade P. infestans" (Landry). If this happened today, it could leave undeveloped countries with nothing and it could greatly effect the course of the world. Another posing risk of using GMOs happens to be in alfalfa. According to Philip Bereano, "The US department of Agriculture announced that it would fully deregulate the planting of GE alfalfa, despite its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) conclusions that such a course of action might lead to genetic contamination" (Bereano 29-33). This means that the farmers' alfalfa was contaminated with the engineered Roundup Ready gene. By using GM alfalfa it does not make the milk organic anymore, resulting in millions of dollars in lost sales. Using genetically modified crops consistently year after year, has resulted in a epidemic of weeds that have evolved resistance to this chemical. Bill Freese states, "Millions of acres of crop land have become infested with glyphosate-resistant weeds in the US, Argentina and Brazil, precisely those countries that rely most heavily on Roundup Ready crops, leading to a vicious cycle of increasing pesticide use and evolution of still greater levels of weed resistance." This has caused a problem in all countries because herbicides are expensive and are beyond the means of most poor farmers. Cotton is afflicted with so many pests not killed by the built-in insecticide, biotech cotton farmers in India and China often apply as much chemical insecticide as growers of conventional cotton. Only because they have paid up to four times as much for the biotech seed, they end up falling into debt. Monsanto is a company that is able to genetically engineer a particular seed with a foreign trait and then patent that seed. The Monsanto Corporation can then dictate the terms of use of its patented product. This creates a monopoly and as a result makes the product very expensive. Food security is threatened as companies like Monsanto take control of the ownership of the food supply. Genetically engineering our food is a potentially useful tool to solving food security, however it is important to remember where this work all began, and give credit to our ancestors who have made this advance in technology possible. GMOs hold the potential to increase the productivity of crops, while at the same time they could leave farmers broke. Using GMOs in our everyday lives raises many potential risks and benefits that need to be explored. As we look into the future, and the science improves, GMOs could dramatically benefit the world.
propagating these traits through their offspring is called selective breeding or artificial selection which was used by our ancestors many years ago" (Rangel). In a result of repeating this process through many generations, it can result in dramatic changes to a species. While the process of artificial selection is typically not how genetically modified organisms are thought of today, it is one of the earliest examples of our species influencing genetics. For centuries, we have been doing our own sort of genetic modification by manipulating certain breeds and species.
Around 32,000 years ago, the dog was thought to be one of the first organisms our ancestors artificially selected (Rangel). In East Asia, wild wolves joined our ancestors and were domesticated to what we know now as Chinese native dogs. Over centuries, the traits of dogs such as size, hair length, color and body have been artificially selected to the point that dogs like Chihuahuas and corgis barely resemble wolves at all. Since the time that our ancestors artificially selected wolves, artificial selection has been applied to many different species like beef cattle, seedless watermelons, prize-winning race horses. Today, artificial selection is a primitive process, however there is a more modern process of altering the genetics of
organisms. Today's use of genetic modification has become comparatively common in our technologically expanding world. In 1973, the birth of genetic modification opened up many opportunities to improve human lives. Two scientists, Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen, were the first to successfully genetically engineer an organism. Boyer and Cohen developed a method known as the "cut-and-paste" or "gene-gun" method that goes a step beyond selective breeding. However, the "gene-gun" approach is one of the several gene transfer methods. The "cut-and-paste" method entails: cutting out the gene and inserting it in into a vector with a selectable antibiotic distance marker gene. Following the previous step, the vector is copied into the bacteria and then it is coated with tungsten or gold particles with DNA vectors. Next, the vector coated particles are loaded onto the Teflon bullet. Then, the gene gun is shot and releases the particles at a high velocity that penetrates the plant cells. Now, the vector enters the cell and then the genes are incorporated into the pant genome. After, the cells are plated on a selective antibiotic media and then the only cells that have incorporated the vector will grow. Lastly, the cells are transferred to medium containing plant growth factors. After the new gene has been introduced, the organism can be bred to create a new strain that passes the gene from generation to generation (Switching to This New Strain). After the "cut-and-paste" method was introduced to the public, a year later, Rudolf Jaenisch and Beatrice Mintz, used Boyer and Cohen's procedure in animals and introduced a foreign DNA into mouse embryos (Rangel). This was the turning point in the future of genetic technology, consequently it raised many questions with the media, government officials, and scientists and they began to worry about the potential effects on human's health and the Earth's ecosystems. Throughout the years of doing extensive research, we have discovered there are countless potential uses of GE technology in development. In 1982, the United States Food and Drug Administration released the first human medication produced by a genetically modified organism. "Bacteria had been genetically engineered to synthesize human insulin, allowing them to produce enough of the hormone to purify, package, and prescribe it to diabetes patients as the drug Humulin" (Rangel). After releasing the GM (Genetically Modified) human medication in 1982, it sparked ideas to genetically modify crops. After five years of substantial research, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the first food crop for commercial production known as Flavr Savr tomato. Flavr Savr tomatos increased the production of how much a farmer could produce and the firmness which extends the shelf life of the tomatoes. However, the subject of of public controversy is food scarcity. With an increasing world's population, thus creates food scarcity in many undeveloped countries, GM crops seems like it could be the answer. It is estimated that by 2050, farmers will need to produce 70% more food than we currently do in order to sufficiently feed the global population (Rangel). With the technology that we have, we can transfer potentially any gene from any organism on the planet to another organism, which could benefit farmers and the global population. By growing GM (Genetically Modified) crops it influences farmers' income, thus their economic access to food. For example, after some African countries introduced GM crops, as a result they had an increase in productivity.
"Of 15.4 million farmers that planted GM crops in 2010, over 90 percent (14.4 million) were resource-poor farmers in developing countries, including in three African countries: Burkina Faso, South Africa and Egypt. Almost 100,000 farmers in Burkina Faso cultivated GM cotton on 260,000 hectares in 2010 (representing a 126 percent increase from 2009), and GM crops are estimated to have benefited Burkina Faso’s economy by over US$100 million per year" (Adenle).
A study by UC Berkeley proposed that without bioengineered crops, the price of food would be five to ten percent higher than it is now. Cotton would be the heaviest impacted and would see an increase up to thirty to forty percent (Finz). With these predicted implications, developing countries would be heavily impacted and suffer the most. Increasing the level of production is not the only benefit that can be derived from using GM crops. There are many other potential benefits bioengineered crops have impacted on the world; The Hawaiian papaya is a prime example. The Hawaiian papaya encountered a virus called the papaya ringspot long ago, thus led it to almost becoming extinct. However, with the discovery of a new GM papaya plant, it was engineered to block infections like the papaya ringspot virus. Scientists also contend that genetic modification could be the only way to save oranges in California and Florida. Oranges are the latest crops to be besieged with citrus greening disease and without interfering could lead us to end a multi-billion dollar industry (Finz). However, with the ongoing debate about GMOs being safe for humans to eat has raised many questions. The use of genetically modified plants and animals has become a major concern because they will cause reduced genetic diversity.
"What this means is that the DNA, which codes for proteins in an organism, will become more similar between individuals of a species. Genetic diversity is directly related to biodiversity, the variability in the traits of organisms that make up an ecosystem, because diversity in DNA will inform the characteristics of the organisms that make up a population" (Landry).
The potato famine is one example of when a lack of genetic diversity resulted in a major agricultural problem. In the mid 1800s, potatoes was one of Ireland's main source of nutrition. The potatoes were not grown from seeds, they were planted sections from a parent potato, meaning that all potatoes were clones of their parents and contained identical genetic information. However, with the lack of genetic variability it caused the potato crops to develop an invasive pathogen, P. infestans, and it wiped out the entire population. "Because all potatoes had nearly identical genes, there were no populations of potatoes with favorable traits that allowed them to evade P. infestans" (Landry). If this happened today, it could leave undeveloped countries with nothing and it could greatly effect the course of the world. Another posing risk of using GMOs happens to be in alfalfa. According to Philip Bereano, "The US department of Agriculture announced that it would fully deregulate the planting of GE alfalfa, despite its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) conclusions that such a course of action might lead to genetic contamination" (Bereano 29-33). This means that the farmers' alfalfa was contaminated with the engineered Roundup Ready gene. By using GM alfalfa it does not make the milk organic anymore, resulting in millions of dollars in lost sales. Using genetically modified crops consistently year after year, has resulted in a epidemic of weeds that have evolved resistance to this chemical. Bill Freese states, "Millions of acres of crop land have become infested with glyphosate-resistant weeds in the US, Argentina and Brazil, precisely those countries that rely most heavily on Roundup Ready crops, leading to a vicious cycle of increasing pesticide use and evolution of still greater levels of weed resistance." This has caused a problem in all countries because herbicides are expensive and are beyond the means of most poor farmers. Cotton is afflicted with so many pests not killed by the built-in insecticide, biotech cotton farmers in India and China often apply as much chemical insecticide as growers of conventional cotton. Only because they have paid up to four times as much for the biotech seed, they end up falling into debt. Monsanto is a company that is able to genetically engineer a particular seed with a foreign trait and then patent that seed. The Monsanto Corporation can then dictate the terms of use of its patented product. This creates a monopoly and as a result makes the product very expensive. Food security is threatened as companies like Monsanto take control of the ownership of the food supply. Genetically engineering our food is a potentially useful tool to solving food security, however it is important to remember where this work all began, and give credit to our ancestors who have made this advance in technology possible. GMOs hold the potential to increase the productivity of crops, while at the same time they could leave farmers broke. Using GMOs in our everyday lives raises many potential risks and benefits that need to be explored. As we look into the future, and the science improves, GMOs could dramatically benefit the world.