The following is a paper I wrote in 2005, so please excuse the corny intro... I think I was still a bit naive at the time, but I hope to write an update soon assessing current GMO technologies and their implications. Image from mosdef.com.
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What's more, genetic engineered plants aren’t limited to just borer-resistant corn. With the advent of effective gene technology, the possibilities of plant engineering stretch far past the horizon. Geneticists unveiled he first “pomato,” a hybrid consisting of both potato and tomato DNA, as early as 1978. Ten years later, a line of natural herbicide-containing crops were sent out into the agricultural market. In the laboratories right now, researchers working with plant tissue culture, so that only the part of the plant needed for dyes, flavors, and medicines can be grown. Cloning plants may also help reforest areas in the desert and tundra. Even the everyday foods we eat are often genetically modified, from apples and oranges to Coca-Cola and peanut butter: they are bigger, juicer, seedless, fortified, or tastier…the list goes on and on. In fact, nowadays, it is almost impossible to separate genetically altered foods and traditionally produced foods: GM products have become part of our staple diet. This is the era of plant genomics.
There is no doubt that GM crops have helped farmers: with the invention of Bt gene-containing corn, agriculturalists are now able to pass up a plethora of insecticides, used in the past to kill the plague of corn borers. Millions, even billions of dollars can be saved from preventing crop damage. Farmers are also able to use more effective doses of herbicide without killing the crops, and providers in developing countries may be able to use fewer resources to yield more grain. Supermarkets can keep vegetables on the shelf for longer periods of time and still have the tomatoes look like they were freshly picked. Companies advertise their GM crops with complete confidence: these agricultural innovations are miracles; nothing can go wrong.
Or can it? A look at a world map from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications will reveal that GM crops are only grown in a few countries; large farming areas around the world, especially in Europe, are strangely blank. If GM crops are such a breakthrough, if genetically engineered agriculture is such a miracle, then why has 75% of the farming world chosen not to grow them? As it turns out, plant genomics may have a dark side to them. Many Europeans can attest to the potential dangers of these crops; their media calls them “Frankenfoods.” As the saying goes, “we are what we eat.” Critics of GM foods argue that these unnatural products may have unintended consequences on the health of consumers. Furthermore, there are environmental risks to be considered: there is the possibility of repellant-resistant weeds and pests, as well as the hidden effects of tampering with nature.
Since the 1980s, the United States Food and Drug Administration department has been reviewing GM crops by using the "substantial equivalence” method: GM foods are approved by their characteristics and quantifiable difference from traditionally-produced foods, instead of by the method of production. From the 1996 until now, the FDA has tested thousands of transgenic organisms. Almost all succeed in receiving the approving seal, and according to the genetically modified organisms (GMO) expert Dr. Charles Benbrooks, “Few, if any, applications have been turned down because of concern over risk.”
Europe, on the other hand, maintains a firm ban on transgenic crop production. Although the European Union lifted the GM food ban on sweet corn for ten years starting in 2004, GM crops still cannot be grown within the twenty-five countries of the EU; Europeans are still very hesitant to allow a “plague” into their protected nations. Many other GMO imports are still prohibited.
With both pros and cons of plant genomics in mind, national governments around the world must make a decision about plant genomics. They must decide if they are going to allow GM crops, and if allowed, how they are to be regulated.
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When it comes to plant genomics, countless are at stake. Besides the producers of GM crops, the consumers consist of the world population, making the issue of GM foods affect the entire human race. Specifically, there are several groups of stakeholders: makers of GM strains, commercial farmers, farmers and residents in developing countries, and the ordinary consumers.
Scientists and researchers constantly find new ways to combine DNA to produce new organisms. Although some are motivated by the idea to increase the population’s standard of living, underlying motives include profit, patent rights, and fame. The scientific community is notorious for discovery races—the first to discover or produce a new GMO retains the rights to produce it, and thus, greater monetary gain. With such a rush to produce GM crops for commercial use, there are concerns about the safety of these innovations. Although lightly field tested by the FDA, there may not be enough long-term studies to determine all possible effects of the geneticists’ creations. Many GMO-producing companies exaggerate in their advertising, promising that gene technology can solve all farmers’ problems.
Commercial farmers and agricultural businesses view GM crops as a source of profit. Recombinant DNA techniques have already expanded production and effectiveness; it has potential for better business and more economic gain. Genetically altered plants are easier to grow and yield better harvests than traditional varieties. They can be produced with less growing time, larger grain return, and even with better taste. With GM crops resistant to various plants, herbicides, and even disease, millions of dollars can be saved on agricultural care. From the extra profit, more crops can even be grown. Benefits overflowing, it is no wonder that American farmers have so embraced GM crops with little question over the last couple decades.
However, as farmers and agriculturalists become more educated, they are becoming more aware of the risks and shortcomings GM crops possess. The harvest results, although good, often fall short of promises of the GMO companies. Studies have revealed proof of holes in these assurances: pest resistance, erratic performance, and sometimes even poor economic returns to farmers. Critics in America are rising.
Farmers in developing countries are especially interested in GM crops. For them and the people they feed, GM foods may be a survival issue. Hunger and malnutrition vex these nations in need: GM crops can help increase harvest yields as well as bring more nutrients into staple crops. For example, farmers in Southeast Asia are growing a transgenic rice crop that has been engineered to contain iron and other minerals. Other GM crops for these farmers are resistant to harsh weather and diseases, such as an African yam resistant to a harmful virus. These new crops can prevent famine, and the number of farmers growing GM crops in these developing countries is rising. If these farmers don’t accept GM crops, they may fall further and further behind in the advancing agricultural world and suffer economic and human loss. However, if farmers of developing countries do begin planting GM crops, they may become dependent on industrialized nations.
As for the ordinary consumers of the world, GM foods possess a potential health benefit or risk. Health of the individual being the main issue, consumers debate over whether GM crops are good for you because they have better quality and potentially have less herbicides, or if they are a health risk because of possible allergies, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers. Since the field is so novel, long-term health effects of modified crops are little known. Although Americans eating the food appear to be fine, many others are afraid of the unknown, and prefer to stay at status quo. However, in countries where GM crops are not allowed, some wonder why they should be eating smaller apples and less fortified vegetables when the rest of the world are enjoying the benefits of GM food.
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In my opinion, the benefits of genetically modified crops far outweigh the risks. Advantages of transgenic crops include improved production, agricultural industry expansion, food of better quality, reduction of world hunger and malnutrition, environmental protection from crop chemical treatment, and countless more possibilities yet to be discovered. The potential dangers, other than ethical issues of combining the DNA of two different species, include mainly the dangers of the unknown. Better farming and better public policy can solve resistance and economic dependence. Nothing can be gained from denial and rejection of a new technology from fear of the unknown: with so many individuals GM foods could be helping, there is no reason to ignore such a bright opportunity to increase the standard of living for everyone.
Farmers should not be afraid of GM crops. As with all new technologies, there will be flaws and setbacks, but the opportunity presented by GM foods is a source of great gain combined with good farming. For example, too much reliance on Roundup (glyphosate) Ready soybeans produced glyphosate resistance in some weeds. This resulted in production reduction in the South, caused not by GM foods but by poor farming decisions. Also, science is producing better and more efficient genetically modified organisms: the pesticide Industry recently unvield a safe, selective, and effective new pesticide from the bacteria Spinosad, called the “reduced risk” pesticide. As technology advances and works in conjunction with agriculture, methods and production can be even more effective.
Developing countries should embrace the fruits of gene technology. A multitude of people in these nations do not have enough food to eat nor enough nutrition to survive; there is no better way to make us of gene technology than to use it to produce more food for those in need. The farmers in these countries need the income also; droughts and diseases ravaged these crops, a situation which can be overcome with gene technology.
Everyday consumers should not turn a blind eye to the developments in genetic engineering. GM foods are unavoidable; with so many different uses for raw materials like soybeans and corn, genetically altered food is literally everywhere in what we eat. Furthermore, humans have been crossbreeding plants since the advent of agricultural civilization, creating new varieties of crops and plants. GM crops are not so much different from this; after all, they are still organic compounds.
Technology is what we make of it. In the case of plant genomics, positive uses for genetically modified foods overcome the potential controversies. When more countries approve of transgenic crops, more will benefit from its implications; the future of plant genomics is bright ahead.
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