The Pros And Cons Of Transgenic Cont Corn

Can harm agriculture because bt plants get their name they incorporate a transgene that makes a protein based toxin alled the cry toxin from the bacterium bacillus thuringiensis.can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable.A lack of biological diversity not only reduces natural habitats, but may lead to higher risks of crop failure this was a major factor to the.

| Monsanto continues to grow with future acquisitions of other companies in the industry (i.e. Asgrow Agronomics, Holden’s Foundation Seeds, Corn States Hybrid Service, and DeKalb Genetics Corp.).- Monsanto expands its production of genetically modified seed products which are herbicide tolerant. These include, “Roundup Ready Canola,” “Roundup Ready Cotton,” and “Roundup Ready Corn.”- Monsanto is also the first company to introduce a dual genetically engineered seed with protection from both insects and herbicides (cotton and corn seeds).

They did so by adding a strand of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into the cotton’s deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)(Genetically Engineered). Monsanto’s most valuable consumer of Bt cotton is China. Even though Bt cotton is expensive, it still has lowered China’s cotton production fees by 14%. Before Bt cotton, Bollworms were capable of eating entire cotton crops, which also affected China’s textile industry. (“Genetically Engineered”). This is only one example of how GMOs can reduce pesticide use, and make crops available to countries who struggle with pests and do not have the monetary capability to purchase pesticide and herbicide.

When the United States regulators approved Monsanto’s Bt’s corn, which is genetically modified, they were aware that it would add deadly poisons to our food supply according to Jeffrey Smith. He claims that was what it was designed to do. The DNA of this corn was rigged with a gene derived from a soil bacteria called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) which creates the Bt-toxin which is hazardous to humans and animals alike. This Bt is a pesticide, which literally makes the bugs stomachs bust open which kills them. Monsanto and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ensured its consumers that only insects would be hurt. The Bt-toxin would be entirely destroyed in human’s digestive systems and have completely no impact whatsoever on anyone who consumes it, but later studies show this information was false (Smith, 1). In fact the toxin appeared in a majority of the blood tests.

Genetically modified foods are altered so that there are genes within them which are not normally found in their organic counterpart. These crops have benefits such as reducing the need to use pesticides which differ from normal organic crops which highly depend on them. For example, a GMO's called BT-Corn has built in bacteria called Bacillus Thuringeinsis (BT) which produces a crystal protein that acts as a pesticide within the crop's cells. The protein is selective and is toxic to harmful pests but to many beneficial species such as bees and butterflies, are harmless. When the protein is produced, as soon as a pest ingests a sector of the plant containing it, the pest will die within hours.

1) First, the scientists need to find an organism that contains the trait they would like their corn to have. In our example, they've identified a protein in Bt soil bacteria that can kill pests like rootworm but isn't harmful to mammals. (Farmers have been spraying their fields with Bt for decades, but it can wash away

Genetically modified crops are being developed to produce their own pesticide. This will bring the rapid appearance of resistant insects. Even worse, these pesticide producing plants have killed some beneficial insects and pests that many farmers use in their crops. For example, inserting a gene from a snowdrop, a perennial herb found in Europe and Asia into a potato, made the potato resistant to the green fly, but killed lady bugs that feed on green flies.

The idea of changing natural processes to produce an “ideal” crop raises concern amongst environmentalists. Extracting bacteria from soil and inserting it into an entirely different species may appear unethical because of the changing of natural processes. Genetic engineering promotes producing a type of crop that is not susceptible to pests, but carries the risk of decreasing genetic variation (Green Peace). Once a crop is perfected, farmers then mass produce that specific crop, and the different variations of the crop are lost (Green Peace). Another concern regarding the use of the Bt protein is the increased risk of allergies (Smith). The transgenic protein comes from bacteria in the soil, and thus raises the concern of allergic reactions to the corn. Consumers are worried that the cry protein injected into Bt corn could have allergies unknown to them because of the cry protein’s characteristic of an extended digestion time. Consumers are also skeptical that genes of this antibiotic resistance could somehow be introduced to other bacteria in the soil, and possibly infect consumers with this bacteria. A major ethical concern of genetically modified crops, specifically Bt corn, is the lack of knowledge of the long term effects these crops have on humans and other organisms. Consumers are uninformed about the

Plant biologist Jonathan R. Latham believes that genetically modified organisms should have never left the lab because it's bringing concerns to him and the public of its potential risks. He mentions may concern or risk, one concern that he brings up is plants that contain their own insecticides. Which will include crops like “maize, cotton and soybeans” (Latham. Par. 9), which are called Bt plants. Bt plants are bug-fighting plants that were spread by moving some genes “from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis” (Latham. Par. 9). The people who make Bt believe that its toxins are inserted specific and safe, but there's a reason why people are doubtful about the safety and specificity. Another concern that the public has is insecticides,

The genetically modified corn, also known as BT corn has been washing into rivers and Streams and is producing byproducts and other harmful things. The BT corn was mainly planted to kill off some of the Corn Borer bugs, but in the process, it also started to kill Caddisfly’s. It started to kill them because it got clogged in the rivers and either polluted it or it destroyed the eggs. The adult Caddisfly’s died from eating the GT corn pollen that had a lot of different kinds of bug poisons. The Gt corn was later removed and tested for thoughts on better use and safety in the future.

There are two types of GMO; herbicide tolerant and self-generating insecticide. “The herbicide tolerant variety are designed to survive high doses of toxic weed killers” (Must-Avoid Foods: Linking GMO to Toxicity and Disease, 2012). When the toxic weed killers get used on these crops, some of the toxins end up in the weed in the food. What is alarming is that the toxic weed killers are actually linked to birth defects, cancer, and hormone disruption (Must-Avoid Foods: Linking GMO to Toxicity and Disease, 2012). The self-generating insecticide such as corn, produces their own insecticide in each and every cell (Swanson, Genetically Modified Organisms and the deterioration of health in the United States, 2013). When insects eats the corn or any other food with the insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) toxin, the insecticide breaks open the stomach of insects in order to kill them. Although this supposedly applies only to insects, studies have shown that the BT-toxin can also break the wall of

As long as Bt and non-Bt are crops are segregated and planted adequate distances away from each other, they will pollinate themselves well before Bt pollen arrives via wind or insects. The same EPA report concludes that, in the United States, the transfer of genes to wild species is also quite low. For Bt corn and potatoes the risk is essentially zero since wild varieties do not exist here. Bt cotton is also grown in the U.S., and in Southern Florida and Hawaii where wild varieties exist the EPA has banned Bt cotton cultivation. Thus, limiting the planting of Bt crops to areas where they have no native relatives negates the problem.

Modern technology is already being used in agriculture. The best example is the use of gene technology or what’s popularly known as agricultural biotechnology in developing drought and herbicide resistant crops. Through genetic engineering, scientists have been able to introduce traits into existing genes to make crops resistant to drought and herbicides. One good example is the use of Bacillus Thuringiensis, commonly known as Bt. Bacillus Thuringiensis, is a bacterium that dwells in soil. It acts as a reservoir “of cry toxins and cry genes for production of biological insecticides and insect-resistant genetically modified crops.”

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).

Bt cotton is a transgenic variety of cotton which was produced by the agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto. It was developed in order to reduce the heavy usage of pesticides in crops. This cotton has been genetically modified to produce a natural insecticide, preventing pests from feeding on the plant by killing them. The gene coding for the toxin produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis has been isolated and inserted into the cotton plant using transcription vectors (biological matter used to transfer genetic material between organisms). Recombinant DNA technology is heavily involved in this process; in bacterium, and in this case, B.thuringiensis, isolation of the beneficial gene is achieved by utilising restriction enzymes. Restriction enzymes can be described as ‘DNA-cutting’ enzymes found in bacteria; they cut DNA at specific bases sequences (recognition sites). The restriction enzymes creates (in this case), sticky ends so the base sequence coding for the Bt toxin gene is now isolated from the bacterium. After this, the gene is inserted into a plasmid of E.coli in order to create many identical copies in a process called transformation. This process happens since the same restriction enzyme used to isolate the gene is used to cut the plasmid; this creates resultant fragments of plasmid and DNA with sticky ends. The enzyme DNA ligase join the fragments together as complementary ends are paired together in a process called ligation.