1.
Genetic Technology
Aastha Pandey
2011/04/12

3. ONE WORLD ESSAY
GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD – Good or bad?
Genetically modified (GM) food. What may seem like a sensation may just be
slow poison. Genetically modified is the modification or improvement of an individual
genotype. The aim of GM food is to change the phenotype, or physical features of a
crop. GM food is basically inserting “better” nutrition into the foods, and making it
“healthier” for people. All this may seem satisfying and great and first, but there is much
to be known about the disadvantages of changing the phenotype of what you are
eating. GM food may easily cause environmental and social issues.
How do people genetically modify food? There are different techniques in which
you can genetically modify food. One most obvious one would be “Transferring the
gene.” This is basically taking a gene from one organism and inserting it into another. It
is a process of copying the gene that codes for the trait of another organism and pasting
the gene into the genome of the receiving crop. (Chaudry, 2011)
For example, inserting thuringiensis genes into
corn, to cut out the gene that is needed in the
bacteria, its DNA is isolated. Afterwards, special
enzymes, restriction endonucleases, receive the
desired gene. These enzymes are sensitive to the
DNA, so they will only receive specific parts of the
DNA. (Chaudry, 2011) Once the gene is copied,
scientists must make an “expression cassette.”
(Chaudry 2011) The expression cassette consists of
further DNA surrounding the gene so that the corn
cell knows where the received gene begins and ends.
Figure 1: Procedure of transferring The beginning is called the promoter and the end is
gene (Chaudry, 2011)
called the terminator. (Chaudry, 2011) When the
expression cassette is created it is inserted into a plasmid. The plasmid is a part of the
DNA that is present in bacteria. This then makes millions of copies of the cassette.

4. (Chaudry, 2011) After all of the process, it is inserted into the receiving cell genome.
Cells that successfully receive the gene then are expanded in cell culture and used to
work new plants. (Chaudry, 2011)
(The diagram above shows the procedure of the gene transfer.)
Until now, genetically modified foods may seem like a brilliant thing. Not only
can it make crops grow faster and add more nutrition, but also the changed may be
passed onto other crops. This may seem perfect, but the development of the crop will
only turn out perfect if all steps are done accurately. Even a small stumble may cause a
disorder on the crop, and cause the malfunction of surrounding cells. The things that
could go wrong are dangerous. When looking at genetically modified foods we think
about crops growing in places that they don’t usually grow, nutritious and healthier
foods and a world with healthy crops. Moreover, humans think about crops that are
cold tolerant, that have antifreeze gene from cold‐water fish (Whitman, 2000).
However, changing natural resources will always have disadvantages. For example,
potential human health impacts, such as allergies or antibiotic resistance (Oak Ridge,
2008), also, GM foods don’t taste as good as natural crop (Csanad, 2011).
GM food has environmental benefits, for example it saves the use of toxic
chemicals. Crops can be wasted from pests that stagger around them, resulting in
catastrophic financial loss for farmers and starvation in countries. (Whitman, 2000)
Farmers tend to use many tons of chemical pesticides yearly. (Whitman, 2000) People
do not tend to like to eat foods that are treated with pesticides because of potential
health risks. (Whitman, 2000) Growing GM foods such as B.t. corn (genetically modified)
can help eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and decreases the cost of
bringing them in market. However, it may also be harm to the environment. For
example, gene transfers to non‐target species. The concern is that crop plants
engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds will crossbreed, resulting in the transfer
of the herbicide resistance genes from the crops into the weeds. (Whitman, 2000) This
can be a hazard for farmers, because their unmodified crops would be cross‐pollinated

5. from someone else’s GM crops. (Whitman, 2000) All in all, GM foods may be
environmentally fit, and at the same time delicate.
GM foods also have social benefits, for example Nutrition. Malnutrition is common in
this world. People rely on single crop such as rice, however rice does not contain perfect
amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. (Whitman, 2000) For
example, blindness due to deficiency of vitamin A is a common problem that can be
increasing. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant
Sciences have created a type of “golden” rice. (Whitman, 2000) This rice had an
unusually high amount of beta‐carotene (vitamin A). This way it could help people who
don’t have enough vitamin A, can prevent them from blindness. Anyhow, GM foods can
cause allergenicity. Many children in the Unites States of America and Europe have
developed life‐threatening allergies to peanuts, and other foods. There is a high
possibility that introducing a new gene
into a crop can create a new allergen,
or cause allergic reactions in people.
(Whitman, 2000) Hence, in Brazil nuts
into soybeans was abandoned because
of the fear of causing allergic
reactions. (Whitman, 2000) On the
whole GM foods may be healthy
and/or unhealthy for people.
(The diagram on the left shows the
growth of genetically modified food
during the 1996‐1999)
Figure 2: Growth of GM food during 1996­1999 (Food In conclusion, GM food may be
Woo, 2011)
very beneficial to people in the sense
that gene transfer can be environmentally friendly and healthier for humans. GM food
has a lot of potential in doing great things, but is withheld, as there are too many
unexpected results that may be risk‐full. It may not only harm people or the

6. environment, but it may also harm other crops. Up until now, GM foods have started as
a great resolution for loss of food, but if not used correctly it can become the reason
that kills you. If the growth of amounts of GM food has been growing so fast and by a lot
of numbers then the number of GM foods will be higher in the future. This can cause
the future generation a disadvantage. GM food wasn’t created to harm people, but the
results are out of our reach, so it would be best to stop Genetically modifying food for
the safety of our lives and for the future generation.
Bibliography:
Chaudry, Arshad. "The Science Creative Quarterly » GENETICALLY MODIFIED
FOODS."The Science Creative Quarterly. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.
http://www.scq.ubc.ca/genetically‐modified‐foods/
Csanad. "Advantages and Disadvantages of Genetically Modified Crops
(GMOS)." HubPages. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
http://hubpages.com/hub/GMO‐advantages‐and‐disadvantages
"Genetically Modified Foods and Organisms ‐‐HGP Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues." Oak
Ridge National Laboratory. 5 Nov. 2008. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/gmfood.shtml
"The Advantages and Threats of Genetically Modified Food." Food Woo. Web. 11 Apr.
2011.
http://www.foodwoo.com/the‐advantages‐and‐threats‐of‐genetically‐
modified‐food.html
Whitman, Deborah B. "Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?" CSA. ProQuest,
Apr. 2000. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php