Genetically modified food benefit both farmers and consumers Essay

THE TERM GM FOODS OR GMOS (GENETICALLY-MODIFIED ORGANISMS) IS MOST commonly th annihilaterical roled to refer to preen seeds created for serviceman or animal consumption using the latest molecu- lar biology techniques. These plants stand been modified in the laboratory to enhance de- sired traits such(prenominal) as increase opposition to herbicides or improved nutritional content. The enhancement of desire traits has traditionally been undertaken through breeding, but conventional plant breeding methods can be rattling time consuming and are much non very accurate.Genetic applied science, on the other hand, can create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy. For example, plant agentticists can specify a gene responsible for drouth tolerance and insert that gene into a different plant. The new genetically-modified plant will gain drought tolerance as well. Not only can genes be transferred from one plant to another, but genes from non-pl ant organisms also can be physical exertiond. The best cognize example of this is the use of B. t. genes in gamboge and other crops. B. t. , or vitamin B thuringiensis, is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are lethal to louse larvae.B. t. crystal protein genes have been transferred into corn, enabling the corn to produce its own pesticides against insects such as the European corn borer. For two informative overviews of some of the techniques pertain in creating GM foods, visit Biotech Basics (sponsored by Monsanto) http//www. biotechknowledge. monsanto. com/biotech/bbasics. nsf/index or Techniques of Plant Bio engine room from the National Center for Biotechnology Education http//www. ncbe. reading. ac. uk/NCBE/GMFOOD/techniques.1 Transgenic pollen harms monarch larvae (Nature, Vol 399, No 6733, p 214, May 20, 1999) 2 Assessing the impact of Cry1Ab-expressing corn pollen on monarch butterfly larvae in field studies (Pro- ceedings of the Natio nal academy of Sciences, Vol 98, No 21, p11931-11936, Oct 2001) 3 2000 CSA What are some of the advantages of GM foods? The domain of a function population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the following 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is outlet to be a major challenge in the years to come.GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of shipway Pest resistance Crop losses from insect pests can be staggering, resulting in devastat- ing financial loss for grangers and starvation in developing countries. Farmers typi- cally use many tons of chemical pesticides annually. 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 poi- son the water supply and cause harm to the environment. increment GM foods such as B. t. corn can help separate the application of chemical pestic ides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market. 4,5 Herbicide tolerance For some crops, it is not cost-effective to remove weeds by physi- cal means such as tilling, so farmers will often spray large quantities of different her- bicides (weed-killer) to destroy weeds, a time-consuming and costly process, that requires care so that the herbicide does not harm the crop plant or the environment. Crop plants genetically-engineered to be resistant to one very muscular herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by step-down the amount of herbicides needed.For example, Monsanto has created a strain of soybeans genetically modified to be not affected by their herbicide product Roundup . 6 A farmer grows these soy- beans which then only require one application of weed-killer instead of eight-fold ap- plications, reducing production cost and limiting the dangers of agricultural waste run-off. 7 Disease resistance There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases. 8,9 Cold tolerance Unexpected frost can destroy lovesome seedlings.An antifreeze gene from cold water fish has been introduced into plants such as tobacco and potato. With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally 4 Insecticidal proteins from bacillus thuringiensis protect corn from corn rootworms (Nature Biotechnol- ogy, Vol 19, No 7, pp 668-672, Jul 2001).5 Lepidopteran-resistant transgenic plants (US Patent 6313378, Nov 2001, Monsanto) shutting We must by with Genetically-modified foods have the potential to solve many of the worlds hunger and malnutrition problems, and to help protect and preserve the environment by increasing yield and reducing reliance upon chemical pesticides and herbicides.Yet there are many challenges ahead for governments, especially in the areas of safety testing, regulation, internationalis t policy and food labeling. Many people feel that genetic engineering is the inevitable wave of the future and that we cannot afford to ignore a technology that has such enormous potential benefits. However, we must proceed with caution to distract causing unintended harm to human health and the environment as a result of our enthusiasm for this powerful technology.