Post by Chewbacca on Apr 20, 2016 10:56:10 GMT
GMO in Food:
Genetic engineering is something that is new and exciting and we all have different views on it. GMO stands for a genetically modified organism. A genetically modified organism is an organism whose DNA has been altered in a way that would not appeared naturally without help from genetic engineering. Genetic engineering also allows individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another. GM foods are foods that are produced from using GM organisms. We use this technique because it can make plants resistant to insects and it also gives us greater benefits in terms of durability or nutritional value. Examples of GM foods are corn, canola and soya products. GM food is also used to feed animals. In addition to the GM food, some biological differences were found in the animals.
-We first started using GMO in the late 1980s. This is how the process looks like when we create an insect resistant tomato plant,
-We cut the gene and insert it into a vector with a selective antibiotic resistance marker gene
-We copy the vector into bacteria
-We put coat tungsten or gold particles with DNA vectors into a gene gun
-Shooting the gene gun releases the particles at a high velocity penetrating the plant cells
-The vectors enter the cell and the genes are incorporated into the genome of the plant
-The cells are plated on selective antibiotic media
-These cells are transferred to petri dishes where they can grow
GMO in food is not the way to go! It is difficult to see the benefits of it when there are so many risks with it. A lot of people mean that this is something great that can help us prevent the starvation in different parts in the world. Should we really be risking our own and our children’s health? Is it really worth it? I think that we need to take a serious look at the bigger picture.
First of all, we don’t know how introduction of the non-native gene would affect the wild population. We need to learn more about what impacts the genetically modified plants have on the environment before we mass produce them. The new plants may for example contain something toxic that could completely destroy all the other plants. We don’t really know how the animals are going to react either. It has been proved that when the insecticidal toxins in corns leaked into nearby streams it caused mortality and reduced growth of caddisflies. The toxins in the caddisflies were later spread further in the ecosystem, and it was too late for us to do something about it. This is just one example but it shows that we really need to think before we act. I’m pretty sure that most of us know that insecticidal toxins aren’t that great for us and we need to remember that we are at the top of the ecological pyramid.
Secondly, the producing of GM foods is not cheap. The farmers that have decided that the right way to help the population is with GM food has to pay royalty fees, licensing fees, and trade fees. We also have to remember that this only additions to the already high price of the GM seeds. GM seeds are not something that you can take from this year’s crop and plant again next year, because it’s regarded illegal by the contract that the farmers have to sign. It’s pretty obvious that only some of the farmers can afford the GM seeds and the problem with that is that the gap between the wealthy and poor farmers will be widening. This is something that can cause jealousy and fights. The more GM food that we buy the richer the farmers who produce it will get but at the same time we will buy less of the “normal food” and the poor farmers will get even poorer.
Some people mean that GMO is great and can help us prevent world starvation. Something that you may have heard about is the golden rice. Golden rice has been developed to eliminate malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency. The rice contains beta-carotene which transfers into vitamin A when it’s consumed. The lack of vitamin A and malnutrition are big problems in poor parts of the world today so the rice was invented to prevent them both.
A lot of people do mean that GM food is the only way to end starvation. However they haven’t considered the consequences in depth, as with the golden rice. People mean that the golden rice can prevent nine thousand causes of blindness and nine hundred and fifty deaths per year in the Philippines, which of course would be great if the rice wouldn’t come with so many negative consequences. The rice might be full of nutritions and that’s great, but the fact is that all the nutritions actually can cause a lack of nutrients and make malnutrition worse if it’s consumed at a too large amount at one time. Another risk with it is that it isn’t that great to get all of your nutritions from just one industrial staple food. The golden rice is also going to cost a pretty big amount of money to produce and who’s going to pay for that? It hasn’t either been proved that it can help us in the long run, we don’t know what’s going to happen to our bodies after two years of daily consuming this rice. Is it really worth the risks? We should of course try eliminate starvation but we can’t do it with the golden rice. The theory that only GM foods can help us to end world hunger is just a big lie. My opinion, like what many scientists in the nutrition field proclaim, is that it would be much better to eat a balanced diet with a lot of vitamins and high nutritional foods, that already exist and are a lot cheaper than the GM food. The money problem will still be there but we can actually save a lot of money if we were to stop experimenting with GM products.
Finally, a lot of people are allergic to different things today. It has been proven that protein from genetically modified food can be toxic or cause allergic reactions to certain people. GM soy may even make you allergic to normal food because it can drastically change the digestive enzymes which can be really dangerous. The number of people that comes to the emergency room because of allergic reactions has risen drastically over the last ten years. 1 out of 17 children in the U.S. has developed a food allergy since the late 1990s. The amount of people with peanut allergies has doubled since the 1970s. The worst part of all of this is that some of the plants have not even been tested to see if they could harm any of the allergic customers. To develop an allergic reaction is not something that’s funny and it could have some really dangerous consequences. People die every year because of food allergies.
In conclusion, we are today in desperate need of holding this world together and a lot of people die every year because of nutrient shortage. We have experimented with GM products even if we don’t really know much about them. The production and use of GM products can affect the nature and the animals in a negative way, it’s also very expensive and can cause allergic reactions. We really need to think before we act and try to see what consequences our actions bring. Our goal is to live in a world with a lot of happy and healthy people but also a healthy environment. GMO really is not the answer.
Genetic engineering is something that is new and exciting and we all have different views on it. GMO stands for a genetically modified organism. A genetically modified organism is an organism whose DNA has been altered in a way that would not appeared naturally without help from genetic engineering. Genetic engineering also allows individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another. GM foods are foods that are produced from using GM organisms. We use this technique because it can make plants resistant to insects and it also gives us greater benefits in terms of durability or nutritional value. Examples of GM foods are corn, canola and soya products. GM food is also used to feed animals. In addition to the GM food, some biological differences were found in the animals.
-We first started using GMO in the late 1980s. This is how the process looks like when we create an insect resistant tomato plant,
-We cut the gene and insert it into a vector with a selective antibiotic resistance marker gene
-We copy the vector into bacteria
-We put coat tungsten or gold particles with DNA vectors into a gene gun
-Shooting the gene gun releases the particles at a high velocity penetrating the plant cells
-The vectors enter the cell and the genes are incorporated into the genome of the plant
-The cells are plated on selective antibiotic media
-These cells are transferred to petri dishes where they can grow
GMO in food is not the way to go! It is difficult to see the benefits of it when there are so many risks with it. A lot of people mean that this is something great that can help us prevent the starvation in different parts in the world. Should we really be risking our own and our children’s health? Is it really worth it? I think that we need to take a serious look at the bigger picture.
First of all, we don’t know how introduction of the non-native gene would affect the wild population. We need to learn more about what impacts the genetically modified plants have on the environment before we mass produce them. The new plants may for example contain something toxic that could completely destroy all the other plants. We don’t really know how the animals are going to react either. It has been proved that when the insecticidal toxins in corns leaked into nearby streams it caused mortality and reduced growth of caddisflies. The toxins in the caddisflies were later spread further in the ecosystem, and it was too late for us to do something about it. This is just one example but it shows that we really need to think before we act. I’m pretty sure that most of us know that insecticidal toxins aren’t that great for us and we need to remember that we are at the top of the ecological pyramid.
Secondly, the producing of GM foods is not cheap. The farmers that have decided that the right way to help the population is with GM food has to pay royalty fees, licensing fees, and trade fees. We also have to remember that this only additions to the already high price of the GM seeds. GM seeds are not something that you can take from this year’s crop and plant again next year, because it’s regarded illegal by the contract that the farmers have to sign. It’s pretty obvious that only some of the farmers can afford the GM seeds and the problem with that is that the gap between the wealthy and poor farmers will be widening. This is something that can cause jealousy and fights. The more GM food that we buy the richer the farmers who produce it will get but at the same time we will buy less of the “normal food” and the poor farmers will get even poorer.
Some people mean that GMO is great and can help us prevent world starvation. Something that you may have heard about is the golden rice. Golden rice has been developed to eliminate malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency. The rice contains beta-carotene which transfers into vitamin A when it’s consumed. The lack of vitamin A and malnutrition are big problems in poor parts of the world today so the rice was invented to prevent them both.
A lot of people do mean that GM food is the only way to end starvation. However they haven’t considered the consequences in depth, as with the golden rice. People mean that the golden rice can prevent nine thousand causes of blindness and nine hundred and fifty deaths per year in the Philippines, which of course would be great if the rice wouldn’t come with so many negative consequences. The rice might be full of nutritions and that’s great, but the fact is that all the nutritions actually can cause a lack of nutrients and make malnutrition worse if it’s consumed at a too large amount at one time. Another risk with it is that it isn’t that great to get all of your nutritions from just one industrial staple food. The golden rice is also going to cost a pretty big amount of money to produce and who’s going to pay for that? It hasn’t either been proved that it can help us in the long run, we don’t know what’s going to happen to our bodies after two years of daily consuming this rice. Is it really worth the risks? We should of course try eliminate starvation but we can’t do it with the golden rice. The theory that only GM foods can help us to end world hunger is just a big lie. My opinion, like what many scientists in the nutrition field proclaim, is that it would be much better to eat a balanced diet with a lot of vitamins and high nutritional foods, that already exist and are a lot cheaper than the GM food. The money problem will still be there but we can actually save a lot of money if we were to stop experimenting with GM products.
Finally, a lot of people are allergic to different things today. It has been proven that protein from genetically modified food can be toxic or cause allergic reactions to certain people. GM soy may even make you allergic to normal food because it can drastically change the digestive enzymes which can be really dangerous. The number of people that comes to the emergency room because of allergic reactions has risen drastically over the last ten years. 1 out of 17 children in the U.S. has developed a food allergy since the late 1990s. The amount of people with peanut allergies has doubled since the 1970s. The worst part of all of this is that some of the plants have not even been tested to see if they could harm any of the allergic customers. To develop an allergic reaction is not something that’s funny and it could have some really dangerous consequences. People die every year because of food allergies.
In conclusion, we are today in desperate need of holding this world together and a lot of people die every year because of nutrient shortage. We have experimented with GM products even if we don’t really know much about them. The production and use of GM products can affect the nature and the animals in a negative way, it’s also very expensive and can cause allergic reactions. We really need to think before we act and try to see what consequences our actions bring. Our goal is to live in a world with a lot of happy and healthy people but also a healthy environment. GMO really is not the answer.