Modified Foods

Genetically modified foods consist of combining genes from different organisms. Food is most likely altered because of insects and farmers want to have "insect resistance" on their plants. Would genetically engineered food be good for humans? Would the food cause human allergies? Many questions are still waiting to be answered. Many cancers could evolve from these genetically engineered foods. Even animals are becoming engineered to reproduce faster and produce meat differently.

Most importantly, the ecosystem. Genetically engineering animals and foods changes the outcome of the environment around them. Genes can cause an uncontrollable side effect that can wipe them of the face of the earth. Some forms of pollution can be contained but for gene pollution it cannot be contained. Cross-pollination can carry genetically changed organisms to other places and can cause harmful species.

GM Products: Benefits and Controversies

Benefits

• Crops
  • Enhanced taste and quality
  • Reduced maturation time
  • Increased nutrients, yields, and stress tolerance
  • Improved resistance to disease, pests, and herbicides
  • New products and growing techniques
• Animals
  • Increased resistance, productivity, hardiness, and feed efficiency
  • Better yields of meat, eggs, and milk
  • Improved animal health and diagnostic methods
• Environment
  • "Friendly" bioherbicides and bioinsecticides
  • Conservation of soil, water, and energy
  • Bioprocessing for forestry products
  • Better natural waste management
  • More efficient processing
• Society
  • Increased food security for growing populations

Controversies

• Safety
  • Potential human health impacts, including allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers, unknown effects
  • Potential environmental impacts, including: unintended transfer of transgenes through cross-pollination, unknown effects on other organisms (e.g., soil microbes), and loss of flora and fauna biodiversity
• Access and Intellectual Property
  • Domination of world food production by a few companies
  • Increasing dependence on industrialized nations by developing countries
  • Biopiracy, or foreign exploitation of natural resources
• Ethics
  • Violation of natural organisms' intrinsic values
  • Tampering with nature by mixing genes among species
  • Objections to consuming animal genes in plants and vice versa
  • Stress for animal
• Labeling
  • Not mandatory in some countries (e.g., United States)
  • Mixing GM crops with non-GM products confounds labeling attempts
• Society
  • New advances may be skewed to interests of rich countries

Chart:

[Genetically modified foods and organisms. (2008, November 05). Retrieved from http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/gmfood.shtml]


Pollack, A. (2001). Rice genome called a crop breakthrough. NYTimes, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/27/science/27RICE.html

Human Characteristics

Have you as a person, ever seen a person that you really wanted to look like? Those certain characteristics on their body that you would want. Their glamorous eye color, or their fit body tone. Or maybe you just wanted to be an athlete and go pro. Well, as the scientific field expands, so does the research on the human genes. Scientists are beginning to test certain characteristics such as eye color, addictive behavior, nutritional background, and athleticism. 


A couple years ago, scientists tested volunteers for genetic muscle traits. The tests looked for single-nucleotide polymorphism to actually tell whether an individual had a predisposition for muscle strength, size, and performance. If a volunteer tested positive, the scientists would credit the program to their own abilities. If a person tested negative, then they would be able to view the technological changes they could make to their genetic makeup. It is a scary thought. What if the scientists made an error while inserting the proper genes, would they be fixable? Would you want to have genes inserted into your body to better improve your genetic makeup, thinking again how positive traits can cause a negative-self image? 


 Simmons, D. (2008). Genetic inequality: human genetic engineering . Retrieved from     
 http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/genetic-inequality-human-genetic-engineering-768

Human Diseases

The most appealing thing about genetic engineering to me is about human diseases and how they are treated by being cloned. How is the disease formed? or maybe How is the disease fixed? However, I never expected a scientist to manually removed someone's disease by cloning.


Better yet, genetic engineering helps scientists provide people with certain genes that they lack. For example, in 1990 a young girl had a disease to the lack of ONE single gene. Easily fixable, the scientist withdrew some blood from the girl, copied the gene she was missing and inserted it into her white blood cells. Click here for a quick video on gene therapy. To learn more about Genetic Engineering, click here.

 Association of Reproductive Health Proffessionals, ARHP. (n.d.). Human cloning and genetic modification. Retrieved from http://www.arhp.org/publications-and-resources/patient-resources/printed-materials/cloning 


  Levine, L. (2011). Genetic Engineering. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from Grolier Online http://gme.grolier.com/article?assetid=0117820-0

An Interest in the Human Body

I've always wondered what the world would be like if scientists knew every step your brain takes to help you survive throughout the world or if you were cloned and had someone that acted the same way you did. For the past couple of weeks, I have exploring what DNA is and how it takes effect on the human body.


I've been thinking about how to brain thinks and how the brain comes up with the decisions it does to tell the body what to do. However, everybody has their own type of DNA, sort of like fingerprints. A person can be identified by their certain DNA that roams their body. DNA, also known as deoxribonucleic acid, is constructed as a double helix like a ladder. DNA can also be used for cloning, which leads to my second question stated above.


Would cloning help our society, or will it just make it worse by putting more stress on the atmosphere? That question along with others will help me pave my way into finding more about the human genome. I hope you will enjoy learning about the structure of the human body.