GARDENPlants and seeds

Genetically Modified food?

So my applied genetics class is doing a research project on genetically modified food. This means that your corn, could have the anti-freeze genes of a flounder, your soybeans, could have Bt (a pesticide produced naturally in soil bacterium, harmful to insects but not in mammalians) injected into them so they produce it naturally. There are many people who have strong feelings about this technology and I personally am not sure whether I am for or against it. If a plant is injected with genes from an animal, does that mean you are still eating part of an animal? GMO (genetically modified organisms) seeds are sterile and cannot reproduce. Also, about 90% of soybeans, 80% of cotton, and 60% of corn sold in our markets are genetically modified. The FDA does not require labels for GMO products either. What are your opinions?

Well, one thing that is not taken into account is food allergies. If the gene of a species is spliced into another, and a person is already allergic to the protein in the gene being spliced, then they are likely to develop an allergy to the newly modified food as well. In my case, I became highly allergic to many food, where as I was only allergic to wheat in my childhood. The wheat gene is now present in most commercially produced fruits and vegetables, making them entirely off limits to people like me. The whole idea of modifying foods is creepy anyway. Rats are resistant to many diseased that humans are not, but you wouldn’t even consider splicing the DNA of a rat into a human, so why do it with our food supply?!?! Foods should be eaten as nature intended. Its not mans place to alter what was provided for us. Sadly, MOST food in the US and UK has already been modified to the point that it is no longer natural, and you can’t go backwards-once its done, its done. Birds pick up the seeds, and pollinate other areas, so its likely that even most organics are now contaminated. It sure makes life difficult for some of us! I also find it disturbing that the DNA of things that HARM humans have been introduced into foods, such as scorpion venom to make the crops more pest resistant. Yuck! Its bad enough that “food” is grown with growth hormones, pesiticides, germicides, etc, but to permanantly alter the basic make up of natural things is a BAD idea, all the way around, in my opinion.

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