Genetically Modified Crops

Basic questions about the issue

1. What are Genetically Modified Crops?

   Genetically Modified Crops are foods that have had a gene extracted from a living thing, which has been placed into a different food by a scientist. This creates plants that Nature never could.

2. What is the purpose for Genetic Modification?

   Genetically Modified Crops are made for many different purposes, the main one being to create a food able to survive being sprayed with harmful chemicals like pesticides and herbicides.
   Other purposes are to make food stay fresher for longer, to kill pests, to produce more of the crop and to experiment with taste and quality.

3. What is Gene Technology?

   Gene Technology is one type of modern Biotechnology. It is the use of living things to make or change products, such as the foods we eat.

   Here are interactive explanations of DNA, a gene probe and gene splicing.

4. What crops are produced through Genetic Modification?

   The first genetically modified crops to be sold in the USA were tomatoes, which were modified so they wouldn't go soft so quickly, then soya beans and oilseed rape, which gives margarine and oils. They were modified to survive certain herbicides and weed-killers, then maize and cotton were modified to carry a poison that kills pests and protects crops against damage. Potatoes were also some of the earliest vegetables to be modified.

5. What are the benefits of Genetic Modification?

   • The agricultural process is kinder to the environment, by using less pesticides, fertilizers and water.
   • Without gene technology, Australia would not be able to maintain its role as an agricultural producer. There would therefore be a loss of jobs and food prices, imports and interest rates would go up.
   • Gene technology is one of the best solutions to the problem of world hunger. It can increase production and lower the cost of food.
   • Gene modification can boost immunity and develop inbuilt vaccines for livestock and poultry.
   • Gene technology can remove lactose, so that lactose-intolerant people can eat dairy products.
   • Crops could be grown in areas suffering from drought and salt.
   • GM crops are faster and cheaper.
   • Many vegetarians may fid they are now able to consume products which have synthetic, rather than animal-based, origins.
   • G M Foods are sometimes thought as being more nutritious, tasting better and they keep longer.
   • Many people rely on genetically modified foods for medicines, for example insulin for diabetics.
   • Proven by research, GM Foods are safe.

6. What are the disadvantages of Genetic Modification?

   • Most food manafacturers are unable (or unwilling to provide information on whether or not their products contain GM ingredients. This means you rarely know what you are eating.
   • GM crops can contaminate other crops simply by pollen being blown by wind from one field to another.
   • World starvation has more to do with wealth distribution rather than the inadequate production of foods.
   • Sometimes GM crops have allergenic effects.
   • Loss of nutritional value.
   • Reduction of the efficiency of antibiotics.
   • New viruses could evolve from the mass production of GM crops.
   • The more that gene technology is used, the worse the environment will become.
   • Pests may develop resistance to GM crops that have been designed to kill them.
   • Humans do not have the right to genetically alter nature for their own convienience and profit.
   • GM crops produce religious complications.
   • Vegetarians and Vegans may find it offensive to put animal genes into plants.
   • GM crops may cause harm to the wealth and welfare of animals.
   • Some countries will not be able to afford GM foods.
   • GM crops may produce ecological side effects (Monarch butterfiles).
   • Too much money spent on Gene Technology could have been spent on other things.
   • No assurances of public liability for Farmers of GM crops.

7. How does it affect society today and in the future?

   Genetic modification is an issue which arises every day, although people are not always aware of it. At the moment there is a lot of debate whether GM foods are good or bad. GM Crops are affecting society in many of the foods that we buy. The most common foods are maize, cotton, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, canola, soybean and sugar beet. These food items can be found in bread, pasta, chips etc. There are laws which enforce the clear labelling of GM food on the ingredients list which is helping the consumers of our society choose what they buy.

References for the answers above

1. Hawkes, Nigel. 2000, Saving Our World: Genetically Modified Food, Aladdin Books, London.
2. Healey, Justin (ed.). 2000, Issues in Society: Genetically Modified Food, The Spinney Press, Balmain, NSW, Australia.
3. Schibeci, Renato (ed.). 2001,Genetically Modified Foods: What's all the fuss about?,Murdoch Press, Murdoch, WA, Australia.
4. http://www.biotechnology.gov.au/biotechnologyOnline/Site_map/Site_biotek.htm
5. http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/life/ingeneious/index.html
6. http://www.pbs.org/now/classroom/genes.html