Gmo : A Better Version Of An Animal Or A Food Plant?

1304 Words6 Pages
What is GMO? The GMO is a genetically animal or plant that has been genetically altered in a lab by scientist who are trying improve a plant ability to grow in non-native environments, to resist pest, to tolerate the extreme weather conditions, and to improve the production of more food such as milk in cows. Which basically means that GMO is a better version of an animal or a food plant that is created by several scientist through genetic engineering techniques. There are several GMO’s that the consumers may not even know about such as: corn, soy, cotton, canola, corn, sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya, alfalfa, and squash such as yellow and zucchini.

Soy is one of the major GMO products that is found in tofu, soybean oil, vegetarian…show more content…
The state plans to plant over 1 million acres of canola just for this year. About 90 percent of the canola plants are genetically modified resisting two types of herbicides glufosinate and glyphosate. The first strain, Roundup Ready canola, was developed by Monsanto for tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the commonly used herbicide Roundup. Bayer CropSciences developed the Invigor canola for tolerance to the herbicide glufosinate.

Corn is one of the most commonly genetically modified crops, currently, up to 92% of U.S. corn is genetically engineered or genetically modified (Center for Food Safety). Corn can be considered a grain or a vegetable depending on when it is harvested. If it is harvested when it is fully mature and dry it is considered a grain and is commonly milled into corn meal, if it is harvested when it is soft and fresh it is considered a starchy vegetable. Corn is often modified with the bacteria species, Bacillus thuringiensis. Bacillus thuringiensis commonly found in soil, is a bacterium that produces protein toxins that destroy the gut of pests. Adding this bacteria to the corn allows it to have greater protection from pests, tolerance to pesticides, or improve quality of the product (Bessin, n.d). A disadvantage of adding this bacteria to the corn is that the pest can gradually build resistance to any pesticide. An advantage of Bt-corn is that it contains lower levels of mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are toxins that are derived from molds
Show More
Related
Open Document