FOOD

BIOTECHNOLOGY

Q1- What is the best reason for genetically modified food?

Ans1- Biotechnology has diverse applications. One of its major accomplishments
include production of GMOs i.e. genetically modified organism. There are many reasons
for the production of GMOs like:
Using biotechnology food having greater nutritional value can be produced. For
example rice having high vitamin A content and tomato with high anthocyanin
level are produced. This will not just help to overcome nutritional deficiencies in
human but also prevents diseases.
GMOs having vaccines incorporated in them are being manufactured. This means
by eating GMOs one does not only get nutritional benefits but it also helps to fight
infections.
Now pests resistant genes are being incorporated into plant genome. Though
previously objections were made regarding this due to the misconception that the
proteins produced by these genes maybe toxic for humans as well, but now its
been made clear that the toxins produced by these genes such as the Bt toxin only
kills pests and is harmless to humans. This makes these naturally produced
pesticides more effective than the traditional pesticides which had no effect on
these pests or bugs as they were applied externally. This is especially beneficial for
the farmers as they need to invest less on pesticides and thus, can save money.
Before being introduced in the market GMOs are strictly tested for any type of
allergens or other substances that might prove dangerous for human health.
Through protein analysis tests the proteins in GMOs are tested. This is done to
verify that the GMO does not contain any type of new protein that may later cause
allergic reactions in its consumers.
GMOs may help to reduce greenhouse effect. This is because they do not require
as much plowing as other crops which means that less fossil fuel are used.
GMOs are easier to grow and provide a better yield than normal plants under the
very same conditions. There maturation time is shorter meaning they grow more
quickly. This is advantageous for people in third world countries as they can be
saved from starving.

 Looking at the rate at which the world population is booming and the changing
global climate there is an urgent need for increased agricultural production as well
as production of such plant varieties which are more adaptive to these changing
conditions. GMOs are beneficial in this matter are they are able to withstand
severe weather conditions such as floods and drought and bad soil so they can be
grown in places like Africa where bad soil and weather conditions persist. This
will allow increased production and will help to face the challenges of tomorrow.

Q2- What is the potential problem that you feel should be studied before
further advancing into food biotechnology?
Ans2- Even though GMOs have many benefits still one cannot ignore the numerous
problems regarding its use these are:

One of the biggest argument is that not enough is known about DNA. In fact
knowledge about genes is far from complete and as GMOs are produced by
manipulating genes so it is not safe to work or modify them as this might lead to
drastic changes which may be damaging for humans. Thus it is important that
before any gene is manipulated scientist should know that the gene will not
interfere which the plant genome and will not break and mix with other genes
producing harmful proteins.
Even though scientists claim to know all about the potential health hazards
associated with GMOs a lot is still not known. It is believed that inserting a new
gene in to the plant genome may cause complications that did not exist previously.
To resolve this problem it is important to test every aspect related to food
engineering. But here another problem is that the substances that may arise due to
these modifications may act slowly and so do not immediately show their effect.
For this purpose tests would have to be performed on humans which may even
take years to come to some conclusion making the entire process very time
consuming and expensive.
It is important to know that the new gene inserted for nutritional improvement
does not upset the nutrient level by down regulating the activity of other gene as it
was seen in the case GM tomato varieties in which new gene for mechanical
harvesting was inserted which lead to lesser expression of gene responsible for
vitamin C production.
Very less is known about the potential environmental hazards caused by GMOs.
As it is difficult and expensive to test for the environmental risks posed by GMOs
one cannot conclude them to be safe. Thus it is important to study the effects of
GMOs on the environment.

 Not much is known about how GM food may effect liver function, kidney
function, immune or endocrine system, blood composition, potential to cause
cancer and allergic responses. Not many experiments have been performed
regarding this matters and so it is important to study in what way GM food might
affect all of these.
Much of the genetically engineered food consumed by humans is not labeled as a
result it is difficult to blame it for any disease that may be actually caused due to
its ingestion. So the government and the food safety authority should play its role
and make sure that any sort of GM food that is entering the market should be
properly labeled.
Even though it is said that the Bt toxin produced to kill pests by the genetically
modified corn varieties does not harm humans still concerns are raised if this is
actually true. It is believed if the Bt toxin enters into human gut it might affect the
gut bacteria and may lead to pesticide production in human bodies which would
prove to be very dangerous hence tests should be carried out regarding this matter
to ensure such engineered varieties do not harm human health.
It is important to make sure that no mutation has occurred while incorporation of
new gene. This is because for engineering GMOs the genes are first isolated in a
tissue culture during which the DNA may get disrupted and mutation may occur
leading to expression of incorrect gene and subsequent production of an incorrect
protein.
For incorporating a new gene promoters are added but concerns are shown on this
matter as it is believed that this process may lead to expression or over expression
of genes coding for toxins, carcinogens, allergens, RNA that silences genes and
etc.