Benefits Of Genetically Modified Crops

The term GM food are most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. Genetically modified plants have been widely publicised as the future in agriculture. Many believe that it may help improve crop harvests and farm productivity by developing genetically modified crops that can either resist pests or chemicals. But despite the promise that GM crops may offer, there are still doubts that linger among a number of people as well.

In this unit, the two periods of biology studied and learned more about GMO’s. We looked into things such as breeding and eugenics and how exactly it relates to the overall action of genetically modifying organisms. A genetically modified organism is the result of a gene from one organism, purposefully being changed to improve another organism. According to americanradioworks, organisms were being manipulated dating all the way back to prehistoric times to the 1900s. Farmers and naturalists began to notice “hybrid” plants, being produced through natural breeding. In 1900, European plant scientist began using Gregor Mendel's genetic theory to manipulate plants to produce a more desirable outcome. This means that Organisms have been getting genetically modified for years. Although the event of this action dates back for years, controversies are still shared in classrooms and homes, about whether GMOs are a necessary part of today’s life.

The origin of GMOs started in 1982 by an experiment done by the United States Department of Agriculture, in which they changed the genes of a tomato plant. Commercial use of Genetically Engineered crops began in 1996 (Fernandez-Cornejo et al. pg 7). While developing Genetically Modified Organisms, scientists and researchers characterized the types of Genetically Engineered crop traits into

Genetically modified crops are an incredibly important issue that everyone should be aware of since it is something we are exposed to at a daily basis. Genetically modified crops also known as GM crops or Biotech crops has been one of the most heated debates of issues within our society. The debate about the safety, concerns and disadvantages of GM crops have raged since the mid 1990 's but this is due to the lack of knowledge of the general public. Many people are unaware of what the GM crops actually are and what they offer. Genetically modified crops are plants that are used in the agriculture and have been modified to initiate a new trait to plants that does not happen naturally in the species. These plants are modified using genetic engineering techniques to enhance desired traits. GM crops are made when genes of commercial interest are transferred from one organism to another.() There are many methods used for the production of GM crops but the two primary used for plant insertion are gene guns and agrobacterium tumefaciens. There are also three types of modifications which are transgenic, cisgenic, and subgenic plants. However, there are a number of issues that surround this controversial topic such as environmental, health, and economic concerns. Even though there are some worrying facts about GM crops people don 't realize the advantages or the ways it has helped humans as well as animals. There are many reasons why GM crops are proven

“The history of GMOs started in the 1840s in Czechoslovakia with the study of pea plants once it was discovered that plants could be altered to take on the characteristics of one another experiments were performed to see if a better pea plant could be produced with the dominant characteristics of other pea plants and this gave way to the idea of heredity” (Pitman 2002). Working from these first discovery molecular biologists has produced GMOs that have proven to be both useful and dangerous.

Genetic modification of organisms is something the human race has been doing for thousands of years, starting with the first domestication of animals around 10,000 years ago. (Root, 2) Many of these genetic alterations were at a basic level, an example of this being the cross breeding of dogs to achieve desirable traits. Additionally, importation of new plants or animals into areas they didn’t historically come form, forced adaptations from these organism to survive. More recently, scientists have begun to understand genetic engineering at the DNA level, and expand its use into the altering of plants genetic code. (Goldbas) Scientists are now gaining insight into

Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop useful products and is a technological application that uses living organisms or systems. There is much controversy in the use of these systems because of possible health and environmental effects. One of the most widely used products of biotechnology is genetically modified (GM) crops. These are crops that have a specific combination of genetic material that is acquired through certain biotechnological processes or genetic engineering. Many crops have been subject to these genetic modifications such as: alfalfa, cotton, flax, rice, tobacco, tomatoes, and wheat. Many people are on various sides of the spectrum of being for the alteration of these crops or strongly against it.

Since 1994, GMOs have started to become more prevalent in our fruits and vegetables. According to Shireen, the FDA to start the production and manufacturization of Flavr Savr, a tomato that has a longer shelf life than the conventional tomatoes, became approved as a GMO patent. When a farmer puts genetically modified seeds into the soil, the crops start to develop differently. The process of genetic

This finding became the foundation of the genetic modification process. In 1983, the first transgenic plant was created. Scientists were able to create a tobacco plant that could resist anti-biotic. Shortly after this creation, genetically engineered cotton was effectively field tested in 1990. Five years later, Monsanto the leading biotech company, released herbicide-immune soybeans. Finally, the promising science of genetic modifications was improved even further in 2000 with the discovery that the modification process could be used to bring vitamins and nutrients to enhance foods.

Created by splicing genes, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are organisms formed from biotechnology techniques (Millis, 2006). Many people have recently become concerned by the rising popularity of the GMO products. The central debate which has attracted controversy is whether the GMOs are beneficial or rather harmful to humankind. The embracement of GMOs as part of us has attracted as much support as criticisms (Marris, 2001). This paper, therefore, seeks to put into perspective, the both sides of the debate and come to a conclusion regarding the issue.

Farming is one of the oldest professions known to mankind. Since time immemorial, man has harvested crops and built civilizations around farms. Agriculture has been a building block for many of the world’s greatest civilizations and continues to be the backbone of many countries across the globe today. In earlier days, farms and agricultural practices were limited to a small size due to the lack of greater need however as the world’s population has continued to grow exponentially, farms have dramatically increased in size and agricultural production has increased owing to the use of newer scientific techniques and more refined catalysts for growth such as re-engineered fertilizers and richer soil. However, despite all this crops are still vulnerable to diseases that pose a great threat and jeopardize the output of a farm; along with this there exists a natural limit that can be achieved in terms of productivity due to constraints such as depletion of minerals in the soil and natural make-up of the plants. To overcome these obstacles, a new practice by the name of genetic modification is rapidly becoming popular and taking the world by storm. Genetically modified organisms are those whose natural genetic makeup has been

Around the world Monsanto’s GMO seed has helped to build up plants’ resistance to insects, fungi, bacteria, and weeds. Which in turn has helped to save and give proper nutrition to many developing countries. GMOs are defined as organisms that have been altered with new DNA that is not normally found there. With today’s genetic modification technology there have been many significant improvements including the yield and quality in agriculture and the medical benefits.

For millennia, humans have implemented the process of selective breeding to produce desired traits in their crops and livestock. The process was simple: if a larger crop was preferred, larger plants were selected to be bred. Despite their limited knowledge of genetics, early humans possessed the ability to shape the genetic makeup of the plants and animals around them to precisely fit their nutritional needs. Most modern fruits and vegetables such as corn, bananas, wheat, and rice were developed through generations of selective breeding of their much smaller, mostly unrecognizable, predecessors. Twelve thousand years after the dawn of agriculture, modern technology has enabled a new way of improving such

Farmers, gardeners, and scientists have been genetically modifying crops since the beginning of civilization. Early societies learned how to manipulate crops and food for predetermined growth in their harvest. The practice of genetic modification has ranged from fermentation-the breakdown of sugar to produce alcohol- to hybridization, the process of interbreeding between individuals of different species.

Genetic engineering, also known as genetic modification, is an import, yet sometimes controversial, field of biology. The applications of genetic engineering can be found in use in numerous aspects of society, especially agriculture and medicine. Humans have been genetically modifying plants and animals for thousands of years through selective breeding, however the direct manipulation of DNA has only existed since the 1970s. One such manipulation of DNA is