Genetically Modified Organisms, Research Paper Example

Throughout history, humans have attempted to manipulate the objects in their natural environment in a manner that would allow these objects to confer some degree of benefit to them. When humans began to cease living a nomadic lifestyle, they learned that they would be able to raise crops and animals near their settlements, growing them and breeding them in a way that would allow them to have a continuous access to a food supply. Agriculture was one of the major milestones in human history, because learning how to make food allowed these early groups to go on to make many great discoveries. One such of these discoveries was that only growing crops or breeding animals with ideal traits would cause their offspring to exhibit these traits consistently after several generations. Through this method, the technique of selective breeding was born (Kingsbury, 2009). This allowed humans, for the first time, to allow the plants and animals that they grew to exhibit favorable qualities.

One of the most well-known examples of selective breeding describes how corn has changed over time. When Native American groups first began to use corn as a food source, the vegetable that grew on corn stalks was very small and a lot of it needed to be gathered to feed large amounts of people. When these groups settled on particular plots of land, they chose to breed the biggest corn that they found. Over time, they noted that the corn became larger and larger until it was comparable to the size of the corn that grows today. Furthermore, natural corn has kernels of many different shapes and colors. Modern humans bred these colors out of the plant by choosing to breed only the corn crops that were yellow. While many people debate over the purpose of this breeding choice, many believe that farmers did so purely to make the corn look more appealing. Modern corn is larger and differently colored than ancient corn and now dominates this type of crop. However, many professionals believe that this choice of selective breeding has decreased the nutritional value of the corn that we eat today, contributing to many of the health problems that we see such as obesity and diabetes.

While the first manner in which food was genetically modified was by choosing a particular trait of a crop to enhance through repeated breeding, modern scientists have developed techniques that allow them to insert a gene that belongs to one organism into another, providing an organism with a new trait. This is the main way that genetically modified crops are created today. In many cases, scientists perform this technique by isolating the gene of a choice organism by first extracting the DNA of this organism then cutting the gene with restriction enzymes that are meant to serve as a natural defense against bacteria. In this manner the scientists are able to completely remove a single gene from a full set of DNA. Next, the scientists put this gene inside of a virus that is designed to infect a cell, but not get it sick. Often, researchers use these viruses to infect embryonic plants or animals to introduce the new gene into their cells. This must be done during early development to ensure that the gene is present in all cells, which enables the trait to be conferred. A lot of virus is needed to ensure that the gene is successful transferred, and many attempts must be made to ensure that at least one recipient organism has successfully incorporated the gene into its DNA. However, once this process is complete and the scientist double checks to make sure the gene is present, the genetically modified plant or animal can then be used in breeding to create more plants or animals with this gene.

The most common genetically modified organism we eat is the corn products that are in much of the food we consume. A majority of snack foods and related products list these products on the ingredients, and there is often no labelling that indicates that this ingredient is genetically modified. As a whole, it’s challenging for a consumer to determine whether the food they’re eating is natural or genetically modified. While determining if a corn product is present in a food item is an obvious way of checking this, there are unfortunately many genetically modified compounds in many different foods that are difficult to understand when reading the ingredients of a particular product. Many health organizations are upset by the fact that there is no easy way to tell which food items are natural and which are genetically modified, but there is no legal requirement on either the state or the federal level that requires food companies to put this type of labelling on food packages. Because using genetically modified organisms as ingredients in their products is relatively inexpensive, a majority of food companies are unwilling to provide this kind of labelling on their own.

Many companies are profiting because they are beginning to advertise themselves as genetically modified organism free by stating this on their packaging. Furthermore, many health activists are protesting to require this type of labelling on all food packages so that consumers will have a better understanding of the food they are eating. Despite these concerns, there is not a wealth of evidence that indicates that genetically modified food is unhealthy. Many health care professionals that are against the consumption of genetically modified organisms state that they have this claim because they are worried that consuming these products can lead to long-term health impacts. While there is no direct impact between health and consumption of these foods that has been uncovered by science, there is a link between consumption and increased risk for obesity and related diseases. Ultimately, however, it appears that genetically modified organisms are safe for human consumption because in many cases, food companies combine genes from several different food products that humans already eat. Furthermore, it is important to consider that this practice is potentially beneficial; the use of genetically modified organisms leads to less expensive food, which can be used to feed the hungry. In addition, genes could be added to organisms in a manner that supports human health (Goldenberg, 2013). There are currently a lot of aspects of genetically modified organisms that have yet to be explored and scientists should therefore continue conducting studies on this topic to gain an understanding of the full extent of benefits and potential harms that could come from use of this technology. It is therefore important to approach this topic with an open mind because we do not currently understand its impact.

References

Goldenberg S. (2013). Canada approves production of GM salmon eggs on commercial scale. The Guardian. Retrieved from             http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/25/canada-genetically-modified-salmon-commercial

Kingsbury N. (2009). Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding University of Chicago Press.