Genetically Modified Foods Essay -- GMOs, Genetically Modified Crops

Genetically Modified FoodsWith an ever-growing population and the problems of world hunger, in that respect has been a high demand for an increased food supply and a separate food supply. Technology has been called upon to meet this challenge. The advent of genetically engineered foods, sometimes called transgenic crops or genetically modified foods, is not a newfangled concept, and the controversy over it is. Can these frankenfoods be harmful to humans? What ar their effects on the environment? The following paper will stress on such questions as well as providing a better understanding of what genetically modified foods are and how they should be regulated.What are genetically modified foods?Although traditional plant breeding has been around for ages, the development of recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid techniques have offered a wide range of valuable genes and methods of inserting them into the plant genomes. deuce major advances in molecular biology have resulted in new p lant breeding technologyThe construction of genetic maps saturated with deoxyribonucleic acid markers, and the subsequent design of relatively simple PCR-based assays to facilitate the selection of in demand(p) alleles at closely linked loci and the resulting development of plant lines with desired combinations of traitsThe copy and DNA sequencing of specific genes, the reassembly of specific DNA fragments into functional chimeral genes, and the transfer of such genes to single plant cells from which complete plants can be regenerated via cell and tissue culture.(Conner et. al, 1999)It is the second method of breeding that has come into the some light recently and offers the opportunity to develop a wide smorgasbord of new crop cultivars. Transgenic plants are usually made up of a gene... ...ally engineered crops. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. Vol. 10, 1999. Pp. 298-302.OCDE (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Consensus document on widely distributed information concerning the genes and their enzymes that confer tolerance to glyphosphate herbicide.1999.http//www.oecd.org/ehs/ehsmono/BIOSnow, Allison and Pedro Moran Palma. Commercialization of transgenic plants potential ecological risks. BioScience. Vol. 47, Feb. 1997. Pp. 86-96.Steinbrecher, Ricarda A. From colour to gene evolution the environmental risks of genetically engineered crops. The Ecologist. Vol. 26, Nov./Dec., 1996. Pp. 273-281.14. Traynor, Patricia and James H. Westwood, Eds. Proceedings of a workshop on ecological effects of pest resistance genes in managed ecosystems (Jan. 31-Feb. 3, 1999). Information Systems for Biotechnology. http//www.isb.vt.edu