It stands for Genetically Modified Organism. It is something whose genetic material has been altered in some way using genetic techniques. It gives an organism modified genes.
If I told you some genetically modified products were:
1. A fishy tomato. It is a tomato that is frost resistant. It is created by adding an antifreeze gene from cold-water fish to it. The tomatoes can now grow in cold, frosty conditions and they proved to be successful. This way, tomatoes stay good in harsher conditions and helps farmers gain more profit.
2. Tearless Onion. In Japan they discovered the enzyme that causes tears when an onion is cut. The gene was isolated which controls the production and now can be switched on and off.
3. Blue Strawberries. Dr. Elizabeth Davies and colleagues identified the gene that makes blueberries blue and injected it into the strawberry. The taste is still exactly the same except the berry is now blue.
Which one is the fake GMO?
The fake one turns out to be the blue strawberries. Nothing has been done with those; however, that does mean the fishy tomatoes and the tearless onions are real GMOs that have been created.
Most people will say there really isn’t a need for GMOs. Everything is the best in their natural state without any genes transferred.
•One of the GMOs that I studied more in depth in my class was the BT toxin genes. BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a soil bacterium which produces Cry (a protein that is toxic to insects). The toxins are meant to reduce crop losses to plant-eating bugs.
•Corn and cotton carry the Bt Cry gene. There has been a version in potatoes but it is not used anymore because restaurants and other people do not want to purchase transgenic potatoes.
•Risks involved with the GMO are with people who have fragile immune systems and acknowledging that the BT toxin can increase deterioration in the body.
No comments:
Post a Comment