By: Tony Wang
I’m sure that most, if not all of us, have pondered how the delicious dishes we’ve eaten at restaurants were cooked. However, have you ever taken the time to consider how they were genetically modified? Those roasted carrots with rosemary and garlic? The grilled corn, browned to perfection? Even that glass of bubbly orange juice? Well, there is a good chance that all of those foods were GMOs. Now, you may be wondering, what exactly is a GMO? To put it simply, GMO stands for genetically modified organism, which refers to living organisms that were genetically modified in a lab via the insertion of genes into the organism’s nucleus.
While this may sound foreign and, in some ways, frightening, it’s not as crazy as it may seem. In fact, the genetic modifications that are done to these living organisms—which, in this case, are simply plants—are done to make them more efficient, as well as more environmentally friendly. A typical crop GMO would be more resistant to insects, weeds, and the weather, all of which are common obstacles that farmers are forced to deal with. Scientists are able to develop GMOs that are more resistant to these hindrances by altering their DNA, thereby providing them with methods to naturally deal with these obstacles. For instance, a new variety of GMO corn could be designed to produce a bacteria that makes it toxic to certain harmful pests, while still being completely harmless to friendlier insects, such as ladybugs and butterflies. This is extremely beneficial, as conventional methods of killing pests, such as spraying pesticides, are not only expensive, but can also be harmful to the other wildlife in the area.
Interestingly, GMOs are not only useful for agricultural purposes—they have also played a role in revolutionizing medicine. Insulin is one of the most important proteins the human body creates, and when the body is unable to produce enough of it, there can be drastic consequences, the most notable one being type 1 diabetes. When medicinal insulin was first developed in 1922, it was extracted from pig and cow pancreases. However, as the supply of available pancreases began to decline, fear of insulin shortages grew. Thankfully, the introduction of recombinant DNA technology opened up new opportunities to replicate insulin. Years of research, combined with the usage of GMO-centered technology, resulted in the creation of replica insulin. Because of this, as of 2015, six million Americans use insulin made in labs.
To some, GMOs may seem like a foreign concept. Many may shun them out of fear of the unknown. Others may even claim that GMOs are toxic, promote monocultures (when one type of crop is grown in a field at a time), and are drenched in pesticides. However, not only are many of these arguments made without sufficient evidence to support them, but several have even been disproved. It is important that we do not shun or fear new developments in the technological and medicinal fields, as doing so will only hinder the human race’s progress. After all, GMOS alone revolutionized the world of agriculture as we knew it a few decades ago. One can only imagine what will be accomplished in the future with the usage of GMOs.
Citations:
No changes were made, https://flic.kr/p/5Gc5h4, License: Creative Commons Legal Code
No changes were made, https://flic.kr/p/zqrSS8, License: Creative Commons Legal Code
What Did You Learn?
Questions:
1. What are genes composed of?
Genes are composed of DNA, which is a clear, stringy substance that determines how a living organism will look and function. DNA is composed of nucleotides in a double helix shape.
2. Do science organizations support GMOs?
The National Academy of Sciences, along with several other health associations worldwide, agree that most GMOs are as safe as plants created from conventional breeding methods. In the two decades they have been on shelves, there has been no recorded evidence of any health issues linked to consumption of GMOs. In addition, monocultures are not unique to GMO crops alone. Monocultures are commonplace in both traditional crops and GMO crops. They can lead to crop-resistant pests, so all farmers are advised to rotate their crops yearly.