Whitman,+Deborah

Whitman, Deborah B. "Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?" //CSA//. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. .  o The term GM foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques  o Genetic engineering, on the other hand, can create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy.  o The best known example of this is the use of B.t. genes in corn and other crops. B.t., or //Bacillus thuringiensis//, is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are lethal to insect larvae.  o The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come.  o Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of potential health hazards, and run-off of agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can poison the water supply and cause harm to the environment.  o Crop plants genetically-engineered to be resistant to one very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by reducing the amount of herbicides needed.  o Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases.  o With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill unmodified seedlings.  o Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places.  o If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated.  o However, the grant that funded the creation of these two rice strains was not renewed, perhaps because of the vigorous anti-GM food protesting in Europe, and so this nutritionally-enhanced rice may not come to market at all.  o Medicines and vaccines often are costly to produce and sometimes require special storage conditions not readily available in third world countries.  o These vaccines will be much easier to ship, store and administer than traditional injectable vaccines.  o Plants such as poplar trees have been genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil.  o Some examples of these plants include tomatoes and cantalopes that have modified ripening characteristics, soybeans and sugarbeets that are resistant to herbicides, and corn and cotton plants with increased resistance to insect pests. <span style="line-height: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Thirteen countries grew genetically-engineered crops commercially in 2000, and of these, the U.S. produced the majority. In 2000, 68% of all GM crops were grown by U.S. farmers. In comparison, Argentina, Canada and China produced only 23%, 7% and 1%, respectively. Other countries that grew commercial GM crops in 2000 are Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Mexico, Romania, South Africa, Spain, and Uruguay. <span style="line-height: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Currently, there is no agreement about the results of these studies, and the potential risk of harm to non-target organisms will need to be evaluated further. <span style="line-height: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Just as some populations of mosquitoes developed resistance to the now-banned pesticide DDT, many people are concerned that insects will become resistant to B.t. or other crops that have been genetically-modified to produce their own pesticides. <span style="line-height: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Another concern is that crop plants engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds will cross-breed, resulting in the transfer of the herbicide resistance genes from the crops into the weeds. <span style="line-height: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Two ways to ensure that non-target species will not receive introduced genes from GM plants are to create GM plants that are male sterile (do not produce pollen) or to modify the GM plant so that the pollen does not contain the introduced gene. <span style="line-height: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Another possible solution is to create buffer zones around fields of GM crops <span style="line-height: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. <span style="line-height: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies. Labeling of GM foods and food products will acquire new importance, which I shall discuss later. <span style="line-height: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"> o On the whole, with the exception of possible allergenicity, scientists believe that GM foods do not present a risk to human health.