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Gmos : What You Don 't Know Won 't Hurt You, Right?

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GMOs: What You Don’t Know Won’t Hurt You, Right?
A GMO, or genetically modified organism, is a plant, animal, microorganism or other organism whose genetic makeup has been altered using recombinant DNA methods (also called gene splicing), gene modification or transgenic technology. You may have heard of food being called bioengineered and/or “Frankenfood”. Genetic modification affects many of the products we consume on a daily basis. The most common products are corn, soybeans, tomatoes, potatoes, salmon, tobacco and cotton. The knowledge and research of GMOs with importance of labeling genetically modified (GMO) foods is pure common sense, and consumers should be informed just like we have the calorie and nutritional information.
Research in the first form of genetic engineering began in the late nineteenth century with a pea plant, by a man named Mendel. But there have been many others after him that have found better methods. In 1968, a key discovery was made by a Swiss microbiologist named Werner Arber, when he found restriction enzymes (naturally occurring enzymes that cut DNA into fragments during replication). In 1973, the” true fathers of genetic engineering were American biochemists Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer, who were the first scientists to use restriction enzymes to produce a genetically modified organism.” (Chawla 1) After all of these discoveries, the research and progress of GMO’s grew larger and populated into the new age of biotechnology.
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