Artificial Selection And Its Effects On Our Health

Genetic manipulation is a powerful tool that allows humans to selectively modify organisms. It provides the ability for humans to deliberately manipulate an organism 's’ genes in order to produce desirable traits. Genetic manipulation provides the ability for humans to decide which phenotypes to express, and which to eliminate. This typically starts with an individual organism, then goes onto eventually effect and entire species or breed.

Artificial selection – a breeder that selects desired traits for a species and then breeds that species to have those traits.

Many people are familiar with the words natural selection, an idea that was popularized by Darwin in the 19th century; to simply define it, natural selection is nature’s editing mechanism that results in the favoring of some individuals over others when exposed to certain environmental factors. Artificial selection parallels the process of natural selection but with an added twist: the involvement of human beings. Artificial selection is “a process in which humans consciously select for or against particular features in organisms” allowing “only organisms with the desired feature to reproduce or may provide more resources to the organisms with the desired feature” (Artificial Selection, n.d.).

To begin, natural selection and artificial selection are drastically different. Natural selection is the process by which varied traits that increase survival and enable reproduction are passed down from one generation to another generation. Natural selection is where all species have some sort of involvement with the environment that they live in. An example of this would be in a habitat where there are red bugs and green bugs. In the article “Natural Selection

However, the use of the GM seeds for food production can quickly render a harmful impact to the user. Lee & Burrell (2002) stated, “Intense concerns about the uncertain health and environmental of GM farming have been the subject of high profile debate. The effects of GM farming on existing forms of agriculture, raised by the prospect of cross-pollination by GM seed, provoke similarly polarized views” It is common that genetic engineering process often takes place by joining different genes of plants together to come up with a whole species of the plant. Unfortunately, this process can easily result in coming up with plants with genes that are harmful to the consumers. Most of the genetically modified food staffs can

Artificial selection is the process in which you take two animals with desired traits and breed them to get offspring with all the desired traits, selective

Most public concern has been focused on human health and safety regarding the use and consumption of these foods, but potential environmental impacts are important to consider as well. Many varieties of genetically engineered crops are intended to decrease the need for chemical pesticides and fertilizers, but the scope of environmental impacts does not stop at chemical usage. Common concerns about GM crops include the effects of cross-pollination, so-called “genetic contamination,” and the escape of GM crops from cultivation and their interactions with native species. Conversely, the environmental benefits of GM crops range from reducing dependence on chemical pesticides to the ability to treat polluted soils with bioremediating plants (Ford, 2004).

Artificial selection and natural selection are different forms of the same practice that Charles Darwin observed. Artificial selection is when man controls the breeding for a specific trait just like genetic engineering where scientists alter and clone genes to produce a new trait in an organism. At the same time, natural selection is based on environmental conditions. Natural selection is Darwin’s famous theory stating evolutionary changes that occur through the production of variation in each generation. Organisms that are best suited to their environment

Many people today are often amazed by the amount of nutrition and health information required for humans. The constant stream of genetic modification of food can be confusing. Genetically modified (GM) foods are plants and animals that have had their genetic makeup artificially altered by scientists to make them grow faster, taste better, last longer and to provide more nutrients. Scientists make these alternations by transferring genes from one organism into another in order to change the condition or character of the receiving organism. This process is known as biotechnology or genetic engineering (GE), and it has revolutionized the way that agriculture is practiced in many parts of the world. Researchers are now able to use GE

      In the past three decades, scientists have learned how to mix and match characteristics among unrelated creatures by moving genes from one creature to another. This is called “genetic engineering.” Genetic Engineering is prematurely applied to food production. There are estimates that food output must increase by 60 percent over the next 25 years to keep up with demand. Thus, the result of scientist genetically altering plants for more consumption. The two most common methods for gene transfer are biological and electromechanical. “Early experiments all involved changing DNA using bacterial vectors”(Randerson, 2001). Through other advances scientists proclaim how they can improve the human gene pool. All humans have

With only a 20-year history, genetic engineering is only a young science with much uncertainly relativity compared to other fields. Much of the elements bioengineering studies and experiments, the DNA genome and sequence, are still unknown to the scientific community. Changes in genes greatly transform the condition, structure, and essence of an organism, giving us an entirely different and unnatural creation. Even when the physical effects are barely noticeable or deemed safe and ethical, these modified creations’ effects on the environment are impossible to predict and will only emerge when the damage done becomes evident to the human population. Though a large unknown looms over modifying genes, bioengineering industries insist upon dismissing the scare over genetic foods with the vast potential “miracle” foods can benefit upon human society.

Technology has been getting more and more advanced meaning that scientists have access to more advanced equipment and can conduct more complicated experiments. Scientists have found ways of enhancing and changing the genetic makeup of organisms when they are forming making it possible to customize and choose different traits and features about an organism’s physical appearance. This is very useful for farmers as they can breed their animals to have a certain trait or characteristic. For example, a farmer may want a muscly cow so with today’s studies it is possible to collect the semen from their muscliest bull and choose the strongest sperm then artificially inseminate an egg from their muscliest cow to produce a muscly calf. They can then repeat this procedure once the calf grows up and eventually over a couple of generations of this they will end up with a very muscly cow. This is called artificial

Genetically modified organisms are not a new concept. The process of altering crops in order to develop more desirable plants is not foreign to the human race. Since prehistoric times, people have been altering plant genetics, but in an alternative method. Instead of splicing DNA, our ancestors utilized a process called “artificial selection”. This method involved selecting and breeding certain crops to develop new, more beneficial, ones (3). Over 10,000 years ago, humans began to apply this method to a plant called teosinte (wild grass).

As scientists are experimenting with these genetic properties they are opening up the world to brand new advances that are capable of making life safer. Many advantages come from the genetic engineering of agriculture, food and crops. “Historically, famers bred plants and animals for thousands of year to produce desired traits” (Heit 1), but recent discoveries, with genetic engineering, will speed up these processes. Fairly new in the science field, genetic engineering is opening up the eyes and ears of many farmers and civilians. This new technology has allowed scientists and researchers to discover new ways of making plants more nutritious and healthier, and safer crops with less herbicides and “pesticide-free” plants. Starting out as a goal to add nutrients to plants and foods and have the ability to resist pests and weeds, genetic engineering is turning into a world-wide phenomenon. Beginning in the 1990s genetically engineered food made its first preview in stores, and “In 2006, 252 million acres of transgenic crops were planted in 22 countries by 10.3 million farmers” (Human Genome Project 1) the demand for such beneficial research is exploding. Between 1997 and 2009, the transgenic crop industry increased by a growth factor of 80. This means crops grew from 4.2 million acres to 331 million acres in just 12 years.

Over the years, new innovations, ideas, and emerging technologies have transformed our society and our daily lives. These new discoveries have not only been developed to help make our lives easier, but to also help us live longer and stronger lives. Living in a world that continues to evolve, creates opportunities for new innovations and breakthroughs to arise within our society. Genetic engineering is just one of many examples of the advancements that young, intelligent minds have developed throughout the years. Genetic engineering is defined as “isolating a desirable gene” and injecting it into a plant or organism to produce “a desired characteristic” (Nutrition & Weight Control for Longevity, 2005). This biological technology has provided many advancement opportunities “for several industrial sectors such as agriculture, food manufacture and pharmaceuticals” (Rastall, 2002). Along with everything else in life, genetic engineering has some upsides and downsides. Today I am going to discuss the positive and negative outcomes that genetic engineering is recognized for in the agricultural industry.