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- In cases where the unintended causes of bioengineering are somewhat predictable, they are easy to test for
- In the scenario where the change is unknown, the only effective testing is that of the entire food. This proves to be extremely difficult because testing must be done on an extremely small scale
- There have been multiple reports that have shown that conventional breeding and genetic altercation have relatively close probabilities of causing unintended changes to the plant. Thus GMOs are considered to be as safe as conventionally bred plants

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- All living organisms have DNA in their cells, a ubiquitous molecular structure that codes for traits in the form of genes

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- Gene carrying desired trait is isolated
- The gene is inserted into a vector (something that allows the gene to pass into the target plant cell)
- The vector carrying the gene is inserted into the target plant cell
- The cell is nurtured into a plant with the ability to reproduce

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- 2 millennia after the beginning of agriculture 12000 years ago, humans started to genetically modify organisms by crossbreeding or selectively breeding to achieve desired traits, with one example being corn

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-  In 1973, Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen developed the process of genetically engineering
- they moved DNA from one bacterium to another, giving a bacterium antibiotic resistance

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Implications of Modern Genetic Modification

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Implications of Modern Genetic Modification

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- Due to the huge leap in science, academics began worrying about the possibilities of this new technology
- A worldwide conference was convened, at which it was decided that GM experiments could continue under certain guidelines
- Roughly 30 years after the development of the technology, commercial crops using it started to become available in the US, with examples being tomatoes, soybeans and potatoes

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- Overseen by the FDA, which considers GM food “generally recognized as safe” and not needing extensive regulation unless the new gene produces proteins that greatly differ from those found in wild plants.
- This rule protects a large portion of new GM crops similar to existing GM crops

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- All GM foods must go through a long process of regulation since they are all made with different processes
- Countries less accepting of GM foods tend to look at possible downsides rather than benefits, or have lots of traditional agriculture practice. One example is Norway

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- Most discussed risk is how the process of bioengineering could result in the production of toxins and allergens
- These toxins and allergens have been also found to be produced as a result of conventional breeding. There have been cases where conventionally bred crops had to be removed from the market for this reason

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- Common GMO uses are for reducing the need of pesticides, increasing production of food, or giving foods more nutrition. This increases availability of food, and gives better nutrition

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- The WHO estimates that 250 million people suffer from vitamin A deficiency worldwide. UNICEF says that 1 to 2 million yearly deaths could be prevented if poor families added more vitamin A to their diets
- Golden Rice is a genetically engineered crop recently developed with the purpose of supplying nutrition to areas with a shortage of vitamin A. It has since been approved in multiple countries

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- Although there are no specific culprits, many smaller groups advocate about the danger of GMOs for the use of marketing "natural" and organic foods.
- Academic and government sources tend to use the terms bioengineered and genetically modified much more often than GMO. Because of this, people who only know about the topic from GMO labels on food will see less credible sources when searching for information online

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- A common belief is that GMOs are a threat to small farmers because they cause industrialization of food. But studies have shown that they are mostly beneficial to farmers, from increasing their profits, to allowing them to use less pesticides and herbicides.
- When imagining how their food is grown, most people’s minds will think of an ideal farm with lots of grass, crops, and animals. To the contrary, most people’s idea of genetic modification includes a heavily industrial lab setting, exactly the opposite of their ideal imagination of a food source. It is important to understand that while modifying plant genes may not sound like something nature could ever do on its own, plant cross-pollination achieves almost exactly the same effect.

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Although there are many shared viewpoints about GMOs, a couple things that are certain. GMO food will not be going away for a range of reasons from the increasing need of nutrition to the economic value it provides. It is certain that the extremely small implications GMO crops could have on human health are heavily outweighed by their advantages. The scientific consensus is that they are safe as conventionally bred crops!