StemCell Therapy

Edited human embryos. Image: OHSYU

This week, news of a major scientific breakthrough brought a debate over genetically engineering humans front and center. For the first time ever, scientists genetically engineered a human embryo on American soil in order to remove a disease-causing mutation. It was the fourth time ever that such a feat has been published on, and with the most success to date. It may still be a long way off, but it seems likely that one day we will indeed have to grapple with the sticky, complicated philosophical mess of whether, and in which cases, genetically engineering a human being is morally permissible.

On the heels of this news, on Thursday a group of 11 genetics groups released policy recommendations for whats known as germline editingor altering the human genome in such a way that those changes could be passed down to future generations. The statement, from groups including the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said that doctors should not yet entertain implanting an altered embryo in a human womb, a step which would be against the law in the United States. But they also argued that there is no reason not to use public money to fund basic research on human germline editing, contrary to a National Institutes of Health policy that has banned funding research involving editing human embryo DNA.

Currently, there is no reason to prohibit in vitro germline genome editing on human embryos and gametes, with appropriate oversight and consent from donors, to facilitate research on the possible future clinical applications of gene editing, they wrote. There should be no prohibition on making public funds available to support this research.

Safety, ethical concerns and the impact germline editing might have on societal inequality, they wrote, would all have to be worked out before such technology is ready for the clinic.

Genetic disease, once a universal common denominator, could instead become an artifact of class, geographic location, and culture, they wrote. In turn, reduced incidence and reduced sense of shared risk could affect the resources available to individuals and families dealing with genetic conditions.

If and when embryo editing is ready for primetime, the group concluded that there would need to be a good medical reason to use such technology, as well as a transparent public debate. Some have questioned the medical necessity of embryo editing, arguing that genetic screening combined with in vitro fertilization could allow doctors to simply pick disease-free eggs to implant, achieving the same results via a method that is less morally-fraught.

In February, the National Academy of Sciences released a 261-page report that also gave a cautious green light to human gene-editing, endorsing the practice for purposes of curing disease and for basic research, but determining that uses such as creating designer babies are unethical. Other nations, like China and the UK, have forged ahead with human embryo editing for basic research, though there have been no published accounts of research past the first few days of early embryo development.

Given the way the culture, religion and regional custom impact attitudes toward genetically-engineering human life, its safe to say that this debate will not be an easy one to settle. As the policy recommendations point out, views on the matter vary drastically not just across the US, but around the world, and yet one nation making the decision to go ahead with implanting edited embryos will create a world in which that technology exists for everyone.

In the meantime, though, there are still more than a few kinks to work out in the science before were faced with these questions in the real world.

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Experts Call on US to Start Funding Scientists to Genetically Engineer Human Embryos - Gizmodo

Adult diamondback moth. Photo by Lyle Buss

The diamondback moth (DBM) is a pest of epic proportions to farmers worldwide. Growers of cabbage and collard crops know this all too well. Controlling the notorious DBM has become more difficult in recent times with incidence of pesticide resistance increasing. With that, the search for viable management continues to expand. For the last two years, Cornell scientists have been working with British-based biotech company Oxitec and testing its self-limiting gene capabilities on DBM in a protected environment. The team at Cornell has been waiting for a go-aheadfrom USDA to take the experiment out from behind closed doors and into one if its cabbage fields in Upstate New York. It looks like the wait is over.

USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has officially announced the availability of a final environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact and will concurrently issue a permit for the field release of a genetically engineered DBM.

The pest moths are genetically engineered for repressible female lethality and to express red fluorescence as a marker. The purpose of the field release is to assess the feasibility and efficacy of these moths in reducing populations of DBM. Based on the finding of no significant impact, APHIS has determined that an environmental impact statement need not be prepared.

Notice of these actions will be published in theFederal Register.

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY) has since released a statement denouncing USDAs decision. A portion of the statement reads as follows: NOFA-NY considers the release of a novel genetically engineered organism to be a major activity with potentially significant and heretofore unknown health and environmental effects, said NOFA-NY Policy Advisor Liana Hoodes. It is now up to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to ensure the safety of its citizens before granting the necessary state permit. We call on the NYS DEC to require a full environmental impact statement and public hearings during a complete review under State Environmental Quality Review Act.

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Can Genetic Engineering Put an End to Diamondback Moth Plague ... - Growing Produce

CHINA, July 12, 2017 - Purple rice developed by Chinese scientists. A new genetic engineering technique developed by Chinese scientists has been used to develop purple rice packed with antioxidant-boosting pigments called anthocyanins.

A study published in Molecular Plantshows how the scientists created the technique, which is capable of delivering many genes at once, and used it to make rice endosperm seed tissue that provides nutrients to the developing plant embryo. Although anthocyanins are naturally abundant in some black and red rice varieties, they are absent in polished rice grains because the husk, bran, and germ have been removed, leaving only the endosperm.

Previous attempts to engineer anthocyanin production in rice have failed because the underlying biosynthesis pathway is highly complex, and it has been difficult to efficiently transfer many genes into plants. Genetic engineering approaches have previously been used to develop rice enriched in beta-carotene and folate, but not anthocyanins.

We have developed a highly efficient, easy-to-use transgene stacking system called TransGene Stacking II that enables the assembly of a large number of genes in single vectors for plant transformation, says senior study author Yao-Guang Liu of the South China Agricultural University. We envisage that this vector system will have many potential applications in this era of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. The researchers plan to evaluate the safety of purple endosperm rice as biofortified food and will try to engineer the biosynthesis of anthocyanins in other crops to produce more purple endosperm cereals.

Continued here:
Purple rice developed by Chinese scientists - Agri-Pulse

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On a hill above the cold waters around Prince Edward Island, technicians painstakingly create fertilized Atlantic salmon eggs that include growth-enhancing DNA from two other fish species. The eggs will be shipped to tanks in the high rainforest of Panama, where they will produce fish that mature far more quickly than normal farmed salmon.

More than 20 years after first seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, AquaBounty Technologies of Maynard, Massachusetts, plans to bring these "AquAdvantage" fish to the U.S. and Canadian markets next year. And in the small town of Albany, Indiana, workers will soon begin converting a land-based aquaculture facility to produce about 1,300 U.S. tons of these salmon annually, in the first U.S. facility to generate GE animals for human consumption.

The company also plans to open a second aquaculture facility at Prince Edward Island if it can rise above its latest round of legal battles and persuade grocery stores and restaurants to snap up the genetically engineered fish. Before the FDA cleared the salmon for consumption in 2015, in its first approval of GE animal protein as human food, it received 1.8 million messages opposing these fish. Perhaps more substantively, many outside researchers remain concerned about AquaBounty's plans.

Safety and nutrition

Aquaculture specialists generally aren't skeptical about whether the fish will be healthy to eat, although that's one issue hinted at in a lawsuit multiple organizations, including Friends of the Earth, have filed against the FDA. Dana Perls, senior food and technology campaigner with Friends of the Earth in Berkeley, California, says the FDA didn't fully examine questions about eating the salmon initially raised by Health Canada, that country's public health department including susceptibility to disease and potential allergic reactions.

"This is a poorly studied, risky, and unlabeled genetically engineered fish," she says, adding that more than 80 U.S. grocery chains have committed not to buy it. However, Health Canada eventually concluded that fillets derived from AquAdvantage salmon "are as safe and nutritious as fillets from current available farmed Atlantic salmon," and approved the fish for consumption in 2016.

"There's no reason to suspect these fish from a food safety perspective," says Cyr Couturier, chair of aquaculture programs at Memorial University's Marine Institute in St. John's, Newfoundland. "They have no unnatural products that humans wouldn't otherwise consume."

Similar transgenic salmon created by a decades-long Fisheries and Oceans Canada research program tested well within normal salmon variations, adds Robert Devlin, engineering research scientist at the agency in North Vancouver, British Columbia. But critics do raise two other main concerns about AquaBounty's quest: the economic sustainability of the land-based approach, and the environmental risk to ecosystems if the fish escape.

Fish on land

AquaBounty will raise its GE fish in land-based recirculating aquaculture systems, known as RAS basically huge aquaria designed to minimize water use, maximize resources and accommodate high stocking densities. "While farming salmon in sea cages is less expensive and less technologically complex than a land-based farm," the company's website points out, "sea cages are susceptible to a number of hazards such as violent storms, predators, harmful algal blooms, jellyfish attacks, fish escapes, and the transmission of pathogens and parasites from wild fish populations."

Given the potential opportunity to achieve greater production control and avoid some of the environmental concerns of sea farms, many RAS projects have launched around the world in the past decade. However, most of these projects are small, and many have failed or are struggling.

The big problem is cost. RAS facilities need much more capital than ocean farms with similar production rates, and they're expensive to operate.

"Land-based systems use a lot of freshwater, even though it's recirculated, and a lot of electricity," notes Couturier. Such systems "operate at an economic disadvantage because much of their cost goes toward creating growing conditions occurring naturally within the ocean," summed up one 2014 report that found producing Atlantic salmon in Nova Scotia would not be economically feasible.

AquaBounty, which is buying its Indiana plant from a collapsed RAS venture, expects to beat these odds mainly because its GE salmon reach market size in about half the time of normal farmed salmon in 1618 months rather than 2836 months, the company says. Ravenous as they are, with their growth hormones continually wired on, the fish still require about a quarter less feed than normal fish. (Although farmed salmon are very efficient at converting food to flesh a pound of feed converts close to a pound of flesh feed remains a major expense.)

The company also says that salmon in its RAS facilities won't need vaccines or antibiotics because it will tightly control conditions. However, "they will have some disease issues of course, as will any animal that's reared in high densities," Couturier predicts.

If AquaBounty can compete on cost, there will be some justification for promoting its product as "the world's most sustainable salmon." In addition to requiring less feed, growing fish in Indiana or Prince Edward Island can slash the high carbon costs of flying fish from Norway or Chile, two leading suppliers of farmed salmon in the U.S.

Still, says Couturier, "I wish them all the best, but I think it will be a small-scale niche for at least a decade."

Losing GE fish

Many aquaculture scientists remain uneasy about the environmental risk to wild ecosystems if transgenic fish slip out of their farms. Although other agencies will presumably be involved in assessing risk as the projects advance, "the FDA has no in-house capacity to evaluate or understand the ecological consequences of transgenics in an aquatic ecosystem," says Conner Bailey, professor emeritus of rural sociology at Auburn University in Alabama. "And once you get anything into an aquatic ecosystem, it's really hard to control."

AquaBounty's protection scheme begins with multiple levels of physical barriers in its RAS facilities. Additionally, the salmon are all female and "triploid" (their DNA is in three rather than two sets of chromosomes) so they can't reproduce. However, scientists say neither of these measures can be 100 percent effective at preventing transgenic fish from escaping, disrupting local ecosystems, and potentially breeding in the wild.

More generally, while AquaBounty is committed to land-based systems, there are concerns that it's also creating far more GE eggs than it needs for its own production. Other industry groups, such as the Atlantic Salmon Federation, worry that other producers AquaBounty sells to might not be so careful, or that other companies around the world might move ahead with similar projects but without the same precautions. And all bets on risk are off if GE fish are raised in the ocean, where fish routinely escape, sometimes in large numbers.

Devlin's group has extensively modeled the results of accidental releases, studying groups of transgenic and non-transgenic fish in "naturalized" aquatic test beds that are exposed to variations in conditions, such as food supply. Transgenic fish often behave quite differently, and the results have varied from peaceful coexistence to one experiment in which fully transgenic fish killed off all their competitors.

"In the multitude of different environments that exist in nature, the uncertainty is too great to make a reliable prediction of what the impact would be," he says.

GE or selective breeding?

Does the fast growth of AquAdvantage salmon justify taking on these unknown risks? Scientists point out that today's selective breeding research programs, built on genomics and other tools of modern biology, also have turbocharged fish development. "Some strains of rainbow trout, which have been selected for fast growth for 150 years, grow incredibly fast compared to wild-type fish," Devlin says. In fact, he says, his lab work across various species suggests that "the absolute fastest growth you can achieve either by domestication or by transgenesis seems to be very similar."

"Today's farmed salmon have had more than 10 generations of selection applied to them, and they are growing at more than double the rate compared to the 1970s," says Bjarne Gjerde, senior scientist at Nofima in Troms, Norway.

Farmed fish also must excel in many traits besides growth, such as disease resistance and food quality, he emphasizes. "Most of the traits we are breeding for are governed by many, many genes with small effects," he says. "That's a real challenge if you just want to take short cuts with genetic engineering."

When and if AquaBounty rises above all its challenges into a groundbreaking success in North America, the firm will send a signal around the world to unleash efforts for commercializing GE fish, observers say. Friends of the Earth's Perls remains hopeful that legal barriers and consumer boycotts will stop AquaBounty in its tracks. If not, "GE salmon could set a precedent to the approval of other GE animals in the pipeline, from fish to chickens, pigs, and cows," she says. "It is critical that we don't approve other GE animals without robust regulations and full environmental reviews to ensure that we're prioritizing human and environmental safety over profit."

"Fish are probably where transgenic animals will emerge, because it's much cheaper to maintain a herd of catfish or salmon than cattle or sheep or pigs," says Bailey.

This story was first published by Ensia, an environmental news magazine from the University of Minnesota.

This article originally appeared at PRI's The World.

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Genetically engineered salmon is coming to America - The Week Magazine

In BriefThe age of gene editing and creation will be upon us in the next few decades, with the first lifeform having already been printed. Stanford University questions the ethics of prospective students by asking a question we should all be thinking about.

When bioengineering students sit down to take their final exams for Stanford University,they are faced with a moral dilemma, as well as a series of grueling technical questions that are designed to sort the intellectual wheat from the less competent chaff:

If you and your future partner are planning to have kids, would you start saving money for college tuition, or for printing the genome of your offspring?

The question is a follow up to At what point will the cost of printing DNA to create a human equal the cost of teaching a student in Stanford? Both questions refer to the very real possibility that it may soon be in the realm of affordability to print off whatever stretch of DNA you so desire, using genetic sequencing and a machine capable of synthesizing the four building blocks of DNA A, C, G, and T into whatever order you desire.

The answer to the time question, by the way, is 19 years, given that the cost of tuition at Stanford remains at $50,000 and the price of genetic printing continues the 200-fold decrease that has occurred over the last 14 years. Precursory work has already been performed; a team lead by Craig Venter created the simplest life form ever known last year.

Stanfords moral question, though, is a little trickier. The question is part of a larger conundrum concerning humans interfering with their own biology; since the technology is developing so quickly, the issue is no longer whether we can or cant,but whether we should or shouldnt. The debate has two prongs: gene editing and life printing.

With the explosion of CRISPR technology many studies are due to start this year the ability to edit our genetic makeup will arrive soon. But how much should we manipulate our own genes? Should the technology be a reparative one, reserved for making sick humans healthy again, or should it be used to augment our current physical restrictions, making us bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter?

The question of printing life is similar in some respects; rather than altering organisms to have the desired genetic characteristics, we could print and culture them instead billions have already been invested. However, there is theadditional issue of playing God by sidestepping the methods of our reproduction that have existed since the beginning of life. Even if the ethical issue of creation was answered adequately, there are the further questions ofwho has the right to design life, what the regulations would be, and the potential restrictions on the technology based on cost; if its too pricey, gene editing could be reserved only for the rich.

It is vital to discuss the ethics of gene editing in order to ensure that the technology is not abused in the future. Stanfords question is praiseworthy because it makes todays students, who will most likely be spearheading the technologys developments, think about the consequences of their work.

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Stanford's Final Exams Pose Question About the Ethics of Genetic Engineering - Futurism

Last month, researchers announced some astonishing findings in Nature Genetics: Theyd found 40 genes that play a role in shaping human intelligence, bringing the total number of known intelligence genes up to 52.

This study was a big deal because while weve known intelligence is largely heritable, we havent understood the specifics of the biology of IQ why it can be so different between people, and why we can lose it near the end of life.

The Nature Genetics study was a key early step toward understanding this, hailed as an enormous success in the New York Times.

And there are many more insights like this to come. The researchers used a design called a genome-wide association study. In it, computers comb through enormous data sets of human genomes to find variations among them that point to disease or traits like intelligence. As more people have their genomes sequenced, and as computers become more sophisticated at seeking out patterns in data, these types of studies will proliferate.

But theres also a deep uneasiness at the heart of this research it is easily misused by people who want to make claims about racial superiority and differences between groups. Such concerns prompted Nature to run an editorial stressing that the new science of genetics and intelligence comes to no such conclusions. Environment is crucial, too, Nature emphasized. The existence of genes for intelligence would not imply that education is wasted on people without those genes. Geneticists burned down that straw man long ago.

Also, nothing in this work suggests there are genetic difference in intelligence when comparing people of different ancestries. If anything, it suggests that the genetics that give rise to IQ are more subtle and intricate than we can ever really understand.

Were going to keep getting better at mapping the genes that make us smart, make us sick, or even make us lose our hair. But old fears and myths about genetics and determinism will rear their heads. So will fears about mapping ideal human genes that will lead to designer babies, where parents can pick traits for their children la carte.

To walk through the science, and to bust its myths, I spoke to Danielle Posthuma, a statistical geneticist at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, who was the senior author on the latest Nature study.

Theres a simple understanding of genetics were all taught in high school. We learn, as Gregor Mendel discovered with pea plants, that we can inherit multiple forms of the same gene. One variation of the gene makes wrinkled peas; the other makes for round peas. Its true, but its hardly the whole story.

In humans, a few traits and illnesses work like this. Whether the bottom of your earlobes stick to the side of your face or hang free is the result of one gene. Huntingtons disease which deteriorates nerve cells in the brain is the result of a single gene.

But most of the traits that make you you your height, your personality, your intellect arise out of a complex constellation of genes. There might be 1,000 genes that influence intelligence, for example. Same goes for the genes that lead to certain disorders. Theres no one gene for schizophrenia, for obesity, for depression.

A single gene for one of these things also wont have an appreciable impact on behavior. If you have the bad variant of one gene for IQ, maybe your IQ score ... is 0.001 percent lower than it would have been, Posthuma says.

But if you have 100 bad variants, or 1,000, then that might make a meaningful difference.

Genome-wide association studies allow scientists to start to see how combinations of many, many genes interact in complicated ways. And it takes huge data sets to sort through all the genetic noise and find variants that truly make a difference on traits like intelligence.

The researchers had one: the UK Biobank, a library that contains genetic, health, and behavioral information on 500,000 Britons. For the study, they pulled complete genome information on 78,000 individuals who had also undergone intelligence testing. Then a computer program combed through millions of sites on the gene code where people tend to variate from one another, and singled out the areas that correlated with smarts.

The computer processing power needed for this kind of research this study had to crunch 9.3 million DNA letters from 78,000 people hasnt been available very long. But now that it is, researchers have been starting to piece together the puzzle that links genes to behaviors.

A recent genome-wide analysis effort identified 250 gene sites that predicted male pattern baldness in a sample of 52,000 men. (Would you really want to know if you had them?) And theres been progress identifying genes that signal risk for diabetes, schizophrenia, and depression.

And these studies dont just look at traits, diseases, and behavior. Theyre also starting to analyze genetic associations to life outcomes. A 2016 paper in Nature reported on 74 gene sites that correlate with educational attainment. (These genes, the study authors note, seem to have something to do with the formation of neurons.) Again, these associations are tiny the study found that these 74 gene variants could only explain 3 percent of the difference between any two people on what level of education they achieve. Its hardly set in stone that youll flunk school if you dont have these gene variants.

But still, they make a small significant difference once you start looking at huge numbers of people.

Its important to note that Posthumas study was only on people of European ancestry. Whatever we find for Europeans doesnt necessarily [extrapolate] for Asians or South Americans, [or any other group] she says. Those things are often misused.

Which is to say: The gene variations that produce the differences between Europeans arent necessarily the same variations that produce differences among groups of different ancestry. So if you were to test the DNA of someone of African origin, and saw they lacked these genes, it would be incredibly irresponsible to conclude they had a lower capacity for intelligence. (Again, there are also likely hundreds of more genetic sites that have something to do with intellect that have yet to be discovered.)

Posthumas work identifying genes associated with intelligence isnt about making predictions about how smart a baby might grow up to be. She doesnt think you can reliably predict educational or intelligence outcomes from DNA alone. This is all really about reverse-engineering the biology of intelligence.

Genes code for proteins. Proteins then interact with other proteins. Researchers can trace this pathway all the way up to the level of behavior. And somewhere along that path, there just might be a place where we can intervene and stop age-related cognitive decline, for instance, and Alzheimers.

We're finally starting to see robust reliable associations from genes with their behavior, she says. The next step is how do we prove that this gene is actually evolved in a disorder, and how does it work?

Understanding the biology of intelligence could also lead the way for personalized approaches to treating neurodegenerative diseases. Its possible that two people with Alzheimers may have different underlying genetic causes. Knowing which genes are causing the disease, then, you might be able to tailor the treatment, Posthuma says.

As more and more genome-wide studies are conducted, the more researchers will be able to assign people polygenic risk scores for how susceptible they might be for certain traits and diseases. That can lead to early interventions. (Or, perhaps in the wrong hands, a cruel and unfair sorting of society. Have you seen the movie Gattaca?)

And there are some worries about abusing this data, especially as more and more people get their genomes analyzed by commercial companies like 23&Me.

Many people are concerned that insurance companies will use it, she says. That they will look into people's DNA and say, Well, you have a very high risk of being a nicotine addict. So we want you to pay more. Or, You have a high risk of dying early from cancer. So you have to pay more early in life. And of course, that's all nonsense. Its still too complicated to make such precise predictions.

We now have powerful tools to edit genes. CRISPR/Cas9 makes it possible to cut out any specific gene and replace it with another. Genetic engineering has advanced to the point where scientists are building whole organisms from the ground up with custom DNA.

Its easy to indulge our imaginations here: Genome-wide studies are going to make it easier to predict what set of genes leads to certain life outcomes. Genetic engineering is making it easier to assemble whatever genes we want in an individual. Is this the perfect recipe for designer babies?

Posthuma urges caution here, and says this conclusion is far afield from the actual state of the research.

Lets say you wanted to design a human with superior intelligence. Could you just select the right variants of the 52 intelligence genes, and wham-o, we have our next Einstein?

No. Genetics is so, so much more complicated than that.

For one, there could be thousands of genes that influence intelligence that have yet to be discovered. And they interact with each other in unpredictable ways. A gene that increases your smarts could also increase your risk for schizophrenia. Or change some other trait slightly. There are trade-offs and feedback loops everywhere you look in the genome.

If you would have to start constructing a human being from scratch, and you would have to build in all these little effects, I think we wouldn't be able to do that, Posthuma says. It's very difficult to understand the dynamics.

There are about 20,000 human genes, made up of around 3 billion base pairs. We will never be able to fully predict how a person will turn out based on the DNA, she says. Its just too intricate, too complicated, and also influenced heavily by our environment.

So you could have a very high liability for depression, but it will only happen if you go through a divorce, she says. And who can predict that?

And, Posthuma cautions, there are some things that genome-wide studies cant do. They cant, for instance, find very, very rare gene variations. (Think about it: If one person in 50,000 has a gene that causes a disease, its just going to look like noise.) For schizophrenia, she says, we know that there's some [gene] variants that decrease or increase your risk of schizophrenia 20-fold, but they're very rare in the population.

And they cant be used to make generalizations about differences between large groups of people.

Last year, I interviewed Paul Glimcher, a New York University social scientist whose research floored me. Glimcher plans to recruit 10,000 New Yorkers and track everything about them for decades. Everything: full genome data, medical records, diet, credit card transactions, physical activity, personality test scores, you name it. The idea, he says, is to create a dense, longitudinal database of human life that machine learning programs can mine for insights. Its possible this approach will elucidate the complex interactions of genetics, behavior, and environment that put us at risk for diseases like Alzheimers.

Computer science and biology are converging to make these audacious projects easier. And to some degree, the results of these projects may help us align our genes and our environments for optimal well-being.

Again, Posthuma cautions: Not all the predictions this research makes will be meaningful.

Do we care if we find a gene that only increases our height or our BMI or our intelligence with less than 0.0001 percent? she asks. It doesn't have any clinical relevance. But it will aid our scientific understanding of how intellect arises nonetheless.

And thats the bottom line. The scientists doing this work arent in it to become fortune tellers. Theyre in it to understand basic science.

What most people focus on, when they hear about genes for IQ, they say: Oh, no. You can look at my DNA. You can tell me what my IQ score will be, Posthuma says. They probably dont know its much better if you just take the IQ test. Much faster.

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Scientists are finding more genes linked to IQ. This doesn't mean we can predict intelligence. - Vox

Gene therapy and a range of biological research rely on the efficient delivery of nucleic acids into cells through the process known as transfection. Most widely-used transfection approaches for mammalian cells rely on electrostatic forces, usually taking advantage of cationic reagents to bind to negatively-charged nucleic acids and form strong ionic complexes. Cells then grab these complexes and internalize them through a process called endocytosis. However, the concentration of positive charge in the reagents can kill cells, and some cellssuch as embryonic cells, neurons, or cells directly isolated from tissuedont incorporate the nucleic acids successfully.

Now researchers report a novel transfection technique, SnapFect, that relies on bio-orthogonal moleculesa class of chemically-reactive molecules that dont interfere with biological systems (ACS Cent. Sci. 2017, DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.7b00132). The team designed nanoparticle liposomes carrying a bio-orthogonal ligand. When they add those fatty particles to cell culture, they fuse into the cell membrane within seconds, leaving the ketone ligand exposed on the surface. The team then packages the nucleic acids to be delivered in complementary lipid complexes decorated with oxyamines. When the oxyamine particles are added to the cells, these functional groups react quickly with the cell surface ketones. The membrane-bound nucleic-acid complex is then pulled into the cell via endocytosis, and the nucleic acid can be expressed. Its not based on electrostatics but on click chemistry, says Muhammad N. Yousaf, a chemical biologist at York University. Thats why basically every cell is transfected with the nucleic acid.

Commercial transfection reagents already bring in about $1.5 billion per year. Yousafs team compared SnapFect to two widely-used kits: Lipofectamine (Life Technologies) and ViaFect (Promega). SnapFect transfected cells with a 68% overall efficiency while the other two transfected 19% and 29%, respectively.

Yousaf launched a company called OrganoLinX that this month began selling SnapFect ($350 for 20-25 transfections). We focused on making [the kit] just as easy to use as other commercial products out there, he says.

Besides improving efficiency, researchers could also pre-treat one batch of cells to decorate them with ketones and then mix them with other cell types before adding nucleic acids. Just the pre-treated ones will be transfected, Yousaf explains. Its like precision transfection. Because the team can create a variety of complexes using the oxyamine particles, the technique can also deliver other molecules such as proteins into cells.

I think its an interesting step forward, says James H. Eberwine, a molecular neurobiologist at the University of Pennsylvaniaparticularly the techniques universal applicability to DNA, RNA, and proteins, as well as the specificity conferred by the click chemistry approach.

Eberwine adds that while the study compares SnapFect to two widely-used techniques, researchers often optimize those techniques for their particular applications and achieve much higher efficiencies than those noted in this study. I would certainly try it, he says, and if it really does have the higher efficiency then I could see value in doing this.

Currently cell surface modification with ketones must occur shortly before addition of the oxyamine-bundled cargo. But SnapFect would be especially powerful if the ketone modification was more permanent, Eberwine says. That way, researchers could pre-engineer the surface of immature cells, then allow those cells to develop, migrate, and find their place in the local microenvironment of an experimental system before they get transfected. This would be a real boon, he says.

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Genetic engineering through click chemistry - The Biological SCENE

The 20th century veggie burger was a beige patty packed with whole grains and carrot chunks, sold in a brown paper wrapper. The 21st century version? Its bloody-pink and fleshy, thanks to heme, an ingredient created via genetic engineering.

To those steeped in the natural-food movement, the acronym GMO for genetically modified organisms has traditionally been almost as taboo as a plate of braised veal. However, that view could be changing as a new generation of Bay Area entrepreneurs upends the alternative meat and dairy industry, using biotechnology to create vegetarian foods that taste more like meat and promise ecological advantages to boot.

As somebody who has my entire life been a hard-core environmentalist I went vegan for a large part for that reason genetic engineering is one of the most important tools we can use in terms of environmental conservation, said Mike Selden, co-founder and CEO of Finless Foods in San Francisco, which is replicating fish fillets out of stem cells, though not currently with genetic engineering.

Not everyone agrees, and as these products hit the market including the aforementioned veggie burger that bleeds from Impossible Foods consumer and environmental groups have called for greater oversight and testing than whats currently required by the federal government.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:Meatless, tasty and genetically modified: a healthy debate

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21st century veggie burger: 'Bloody-pink and fleshy' thanks to genetic engineering - Genetic Literacy Project

The environment ministry in India will make the final call after the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee recently gave a positive recommendation for the commercial cultivation of GM mustard. Whether the crop is commercially cultivated could depend on the Supreme Court, which is hearing a case seeking a moratorium on its commercial release. The government has stated it will abide by the courts decision (although that remains to be seen and some question the courts impartiality). The final hearing will probably take place in July. The casebefore the Supreme Court was brought by Aruna Rodrigues who accuses various officials and the regulatory authorities of unremitting fraud and regulatory delinquency.

The importance of GM mustard should not be underestimated. It is central to the whole debate about the future of agriculture in India and the wider development paradigm. GM mustard is a Trojan horse that would help pave the way for ripping up the economic and social fabric of India and recast for the benefit of powerful Western corporations, not least Bayer-Monsanto (seeGM Mustard in Indiato read my numerous articles on this issue).

GM mustard is being promoted on the basis of the lie that it will increase yield. However, the government itself admits theres no evidence that it will do so.In aletterto Anil Dave, Indias environment minister, presented below, advocate Prashant Bhushan says that conclusions were drawn and disseminated to mean that GM Mustard DMH 11 is a superior hybrid-making technology that will out-yield Indias best non-GMO hybrids and varieties. But he adds that non-GMO hybrids and varieties out-yield HT DMH 11 hands down.

Bhushan reminds the Indian government that it has admitted that there is no evidence that GM mustard out-yields non-GM. In an affidavit to the Supreme Court, the government stated,

No such claim has been made in any of the submitted documents that DMH 11 out-performs Non-GMO hybrids.

ANNEX

Resi. Office. Chamber

B-16,Sector-14,Noida C-67, Sector-14, Noida 301, New Lawyers Chamber

Dist. Gautam BudhNagar Dist. Gautam BudhNagar SupremeCourt Of India

(U.P.) 201 301 (U.P.) 201 301, fax: 0120-4512694 New Delhi

Ph : 0120-2512632, 2512693 Ph: 0120-2512523, 2512695 Ph: 011- 23070301,23070645.

Dated: May 13, 2017

Shri Anil DaveThe Honble Minister of MoEF and Climate Change Paryavaran Bhavan Lodhi Road New Delhi

COMMERCIAL APPROVAL BY THE GEAC OF HT MUSTARD HYBRID DMH 11ON 11 MAY 2017

Dear Shri Dave

I express a deep disquiet and anxiety at the opaque and unscientific regulatory oversight of this GM mustard, which is also an herbicide tolerant (GM) crop. It has resulted yesterday, in its undoubtedly flawed approval for Commercialisation by the GEAC. I write to request you to please withhold your approval of such a move on three grounds.

The firstis that the CJ, based on the assurance given by the AG Mukul Rohatgi that the Union of India will not release DMH 11without the prior approval of the Supreme Court,accordingly, gave a verbal Order of an interim injunction till the case is heard comprehensively and the issue of HT mustard in substance. This was widely reported in the newspapers, two examples of which are referenced ().

The secondis the grave matter of the independence, surety and rigourof the oversight of the biosafety of HT Mustard DMH 11, which is critical for Indias agriculture in mustard, its food safety (both as a vegetable and seed oil), and furthermore, and of outstanding importance, the certain contamination that will occur of Indias mustard germplasm. These matters are of course, of central concern to your Ministrys regulating function and mandate for India.

The thirdis the requirement and my personal plea to you, to take note of the lessons of history of GMO regulation in India, embedded as it is in the most serious conflicts of interest and lack of expertise, where regulation has become farcical. For this reason,self-assessed safety dossiersby crop developers are kept secret by our Regulators and governing Ministries. Four official reports attest to the prevailing, utterly dismal state of regulation.

May any government treat its citizens with such willful disregard, despite Constitutional provisions?

The Bt brinjal Biosafety-Dossier remained unpublished for 16 months despite a SC order, but eventually, the Regulators had to comply with its full publication (with the raw data), which then revealed its fraudulence when examined and appraised by independent scientists of international stature. Studies said to be done were not done, as many as 36 of 37 environmental studies, leaving aside other risk assessment protocols. The moratorium which followed was also in large part influenced by the fact thatIndia is the worlds Centre of brinjal diversitywith 2500 varieties and wild species, which would certainly be contaminated. This is what the 37thPSC of 2012 (on GMOs) had to say on Bt brinjal and regulation. I quote very briefly. I would urge you to read the full recommendations of just 3 pages:

-Convinced that these developments are not merely slippages due to oversight or human error but indicative of collusion of a worst kind,they have recommended a THOROUGH PROBE INTO THE BT. BRINJALmatter from the beginning up to the imposing of moratorium on its commercialization by the then Minister of Environment and Forests (I/C) on 9 February, 2010 by a team of independent scientists and environmentalists.(Recommendation Para No. 2.79).

The Committee after critically analyzingthe evidence the gross inadequacy of the regulatory mechanism, the absence of chronic toxicology studies and long term environment impact assessment of transgenic agricultural crops; the virtual non-existent nature of the oversight bodies like National Biodiversity Authority, Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Right Authority, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, etc., recommended that till all the concerns voiced in their Report are fully addressed -, to put in place all regulatory, monitoring, oversight, surveillance and other structures,further research and development on transgenics in agricultural crops should only be done in strict containment and FIELD TRIALS UNDER ANY GARB SHOULD BE DISCONTINUED FORTHWITH.(Recommendation Para Nos. 8.116, 8.121 & 8.125)

Noting with concern the grossly inadequate and antiquated regulatory mechanism for assessment and approval of transgenics in food crops; the serious conflict of interest of various stakeholders involved in the regulatory mechanism; the total lack of post commercialization, monitoring and surveillance, the Committee have felt thatin such a situation what the Country needs is not a bio-technology regulatory legislationbut anall-encompassing umbrella legislation on bio-safety-The Committee have also cautioned the Government that in their tearing hurry to open the economy to private prospectors, they should NOT MAKE THE SAME FATE BEFALL ON THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR, as has happened to the communications, pharma, mineral wealth and several other sectors in which the Governmentsfacilitative benevolence preceded setting up of sufficient checks and balances and regulatory mechanisms,thereby, leading to colossal, unfettered loot and plunder of national wealth in some form or the other, incalculable damage to environment, bio-diversity, flora and fauna and unimaginable suffering to the common man.(Recommendation Para No. 3.47 & 3.48)

But till date, the GM mustard dossier remains unpublished in willful Contempt of Court. Prof Pental is the Chair of the DBTs Agricultural Biotechnology Task Force. SR Rao, Member GEAC is over-all in-charge of the DBTs Agri Biotech programmes.The DBT also funds Pentals GM mustard.

Does anything more need to be said to underscore the implications of thiscosyarrangement of partnership in the Regulatory oversight of HT mustard DMH 11 and GMOs in general?

Data that has leaked around the edges demonstrate that we have ample reason to be greatly concerned of gross cover-up and misconduct. Furthermore, this HT mustard DMH 11 and its two HT variants are doubly barred by the unanimous 5-member TEC recommendations: ie this is an HT crop and a crop in a Centre of genetic diversity.

The further contents of this letter below, make clear in the simplest possible way, from, and it has to be said, curious admissions of your Apex Regulator and the Union of India in their Reply Affidavit submitted to the SC, which effectively demolish wholesale, any sound basis for the release of HT DMH 11 for commercial cultivation. I make 3 short points, to alert you to the veracity of this statement, as you will not be briefed correctly on these matters by your Regulators and indeed by the Ministries of S & T and Agriculture, both of which promote HT DMH 11 and even fund it (DBT) as stated above:

(a) HT hybrid mustard DMH 11 has failed the first criteria of a test risk protocol of a GM crop:Is the GM Crop required in the first place?The answer inNobased on the admission of the Union of India itself in their Reply Affidavit in the SC.They said:

No such claim has been made in any of the submitted documents that DMH 11 out-performs Non-GMO hybrids. The comparison has only been made between hybrid DMH 11, NC (national Check) Varuna and the appropriate ZC (zonal checks) MSY of 2670 Kg/ha has been recorded over three years of BRL trials which is 28% and 37% more than the NC & ZC respectively (At 88, pg.56).

Unfortunately, the whole truth uncovered, is that no valid comparators were used and the field trials themselves stand voided on the basis of serious anomalies and violations in field testing, inconclusive results and even statistical fraud.Yet, conclusions were drawn and disseminated to mean that DMH 11 is a superiorhybrid-making technologythat will out-yield Indias best Non-GMO hybrids and varieties. The fact is, Non-GMO hybrids and varieties out-yield HT DMH 11 hands down.

(b) We know, based on the AGs assertion in Court that the Union of India holds that this GM mustard will displace imported edible oil-seeds in a significant way (reduce our oilseeds bill). However, such an assertion in the light of the above submission is to say the least ludicrous, entirely lacking any semblance of logic. Moreover, the nearest equivalent to Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) is rape-seed oil (Canola), imported from Canada (which is essentially GMO) and represents just 2% of Indias edible oil imports! Rs 68,000 Cr is the total import oil-seeds bill,not Canolaalone, as the AG mistakenly stated in Court. Can this be the basis for the Commercialisation of HT mustard DMH 11?

It gets murkier still when the U of I also admits that:

Heterosis is due to the careful selection of parents and not due to the three transgenes The developers have nowhere claimed that the yield increase is due to the three transgenes(At 65, page 45)

This is exactly the issue that there is no trait for yield in HT DMH 11. It is good indeed that on this point we are all in agreement. Yet, somehow, the opposite story prevails, the story to the media, and the PMO. The stand of the Niti Aayog is particularly curious in that their National Agri policy requires GMOs in agriculture to meet Indias food security as they are better yielding! Where in this statement is the basic science governing the trait for yield in GMOs and Mustard in particular? It is very troubling that the Niti Aayog has failed to do some basichomework.

(c) Therefore, we draw the conclusion that the stated regulatory intent is toderegulate HT DMH 11 as a policy agenda based on no science,and to convert Indias mustard agriculture, in a massive and dangerous experiment, to (GM) HThybridmustard, (variants of DMH 11). Imagine our consternation when your Regulator admitted to precisely this:

Once the GE mustard events Varuna bn 3.6 and EH2 modbs 2.99 are approved and deregulated, these would be immediately used by the National net-work programme Once a robust pollination control mechanism is in place,yield of hybrids can be further improved by breeding betterparental lines(at 63, pg. 43).

The statement is pure spin, dissimulation. Unless deconstructed, it conveys that HT Hybrid DMH11 is a superior hybrid-making technology (which it is not); that will (alone) provide 25 to 30% higher yield and even better, (not true, as admitted), because on the contrary, Indias best Non-GMO hybrids and varieties are already significantly outperforming HT DMH 11. Unfortunately and regrettably, the plain truth is that decades of good work already being done by our agri institutions and the DRMRin Non-GM hybrid technology and superior-yielding varieties will be laid waste in this dangerous plan for the country via HT Hybrid DMH 11 and its variants.

AND OUR GERMPLASM WILL BE THOROUGHLY CONTAMINATED AND IN A CENTRE OF MUSTARD DIVERSITY.

India is a centre of diversity in mustard with9720 Accessionsin our gene banks(The NBPGR). With a commercialised GM crop, contamination of non-GMO is certain. That is the evidence.

In closing, Id like to emphasise that GMO contamination is neither remediable nor reversible and is the outstanding concern. The genes in HT hybrid DMH 11 are toxic genes: being an HT crop also means that DMH 11 is a pesticidal crop. Its nationality doesnt change the science. It stays this way whether foreign or Indian! How do we get carried away on such a band-wagon?

The issue also is that with GMO contamination, our mustard will be changed at the molecular level. Any toxicity that there is will remain in perpetuity. Are we prepared to be the agents for such monumental risk and put India and its people in jeopardy without any recourse and remedy?

For these reasons among others, and there are decidedly others, I would urge you on behalf of our Nation not to endorse this outrageous and anti-national approval, but reject it in the public interest. You will be doing India a noble service in posterity.

Thank you, Yours sincerely,

Signed/

Prashant Bhushan

* * *

Notes

LiveLaw News Network: No GM Mustard Without SC Approval October 24, 2016;

http://www.dnaindia.comreport-will-not-release-gm-mustard-crop-commercially-without-supreme-court-s-permission-centre-

Directorate of Rape-Seed Mustard

Continued here:
India: Genetic Engineering, the Commercialization of GM Mustard and the Future of Agriculture - Center for Research on Globalization

Diamondback moths. (Credit: Oxitec)

Though genetically modified crops may steal the spotlight, similarly reprogrammed insects may have just as big an effect on the agricultural industry.

Biotechnology company Oxitec is moving forward withplans to develop genetically engineered diamondback moths in an attempt to reduce populations of the invasive crop pest. Their plan is to release males that will pass on a gene preventing female offspring from reaching maturity and reproducing, which they say will eventually eradicate the moths in North America. Tests have so far been positive, although there are still worries about the prospect of releasing genetically modified organisms into the wild.

Currently, pesticides are used to control the moths, which are responsible for an estimated $5 billion worth of damage every year in the U.S. An invasive species, the diamondback moth originated in Europe, but has proved difficult to control since appearing the U.S. due to short gestation times and the large numbers of eggs females lay at once. Oxitec says that their technique is preferable to pesticides, as the moths have proven capable of evolving resistance to the compounds in the past, and most carry some risk to the environment and human health.

Oxitec cites a USDAanalysis that found no risk of significant impact in an earlier test of the GM moths as evidence that their technique is safe, but the prospect of GM insects raisesfears that the moths may proliferate beyond targeted areasand cause impacts on the broader ecology. Similar techniques have been applied before, reaching as far back as the 1950s when sterile screwworm flies were released in Florida, effectively eliminating the parasitic species there. Impotent mosquitos, also manufactured by Oxitec, have been used to combat Zika in South America, andplans to implement the same procedure in Florida are underway.

The successful screwworm campaign relied on blasts of radiation to sterilize the males. Oxitecs technique uses gene editing engineering to implant males with modified DNA that ensures female caterpillars dont survive to adulthood. In the case of the moths, males need not be targeted because it is only the female caterpillars who are responsible for damaging the crops.

They say that tests of the moths, including feeding them to various animals and releasing them in greenhouses, have revealed no ill effects as a result of the genetic modification. Along with the caterpillar-killing gene, the moths are also implanted with a gene that causes them to fluoresce red under UV light, the better to identify them in the wild.

The FDA found no issues preventing the company from moving forward, but because the moths are an agricultural pest, the USDA must weigh in as well.Oxitec is currently waiting on USDA approval to conduct expanded tests at a site in New York in conjunction with Cornell University. They hope to release the moths in a contained cabbage field to see how effective their modifications are.

Most opposition to genetically modified insects is based on the prospect of altered organisms spreading beyond the areas they are released. In the case of the diamondback moth, Oxitec says that the nature of the modification, which precludes breeding, should serve to limit the spread of the GM moths, and pesticides and freezing winter conditions should take care of the rest. While there is a precedent for this kind of technique in screwworms, those insects were uniquely suited to sterilization-based population control because of their life-cycles. Moths may present additional challenges.

Kevin Esvelt, a professor at MIT and leader of the Sculpting Evolution Lab agrees that the general concept is sound: The wholepoint is to harm the next generation of organisms. And since they carry the relevant genetic construct, its necessarily going to decrease, he says. It will not persistin the environment over time as long as the genetic construct is doing what its supposed to do.

This marks a crucial difference from a gene drive, a technique often associated with genetically modifying populations. The hallmark of a gene drive is tweaking genes to increase the chances that a particular trait will be passed on to offspring. The odds are normally 50/50, but a gene drive can tilt them in favor of a particular set of genes,causing a trait to spread through a population. This is helpful when a trait is detrimental to an organisms survival and would normally be weeded out by natural selection. Gene drives havent yet been applied in the wild, though, and likely wont be for many years.

Oxitecs moths possess nosuch scale-tipping modifications that could cause the modified genes to spread across the globe, they merely pass on genetic material in the normal way. Part of this genetic material, however, has been changed to ensure that female caterpillars with the gene dont survive.

From a technical perspective its a perfectly sound approach, it probably offers fewer risks than current approaches using pesticides. In general I am a fan of usingbiology to solve ecological problems as opposed to chemistry, Esvelt says.

Still, he says that field trials are an important step in testing the efficacy and safety of any genetically modified organism. Along with careful tests, Esvelt advocates for more community involvement in the decision making process, as well attempts to reach out and communicate with critics. Although both the FDA and USDA have a period in place during which the public can comment, Esvelt says more communication should be done earlier.

Excerpt from:
After Mosquitos, Moths Are the Next Target For Genetic Engineering - Discover Magazine (blog)

[Dr Swati Puranik, of the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University in the UK] and her collaborators in Kenya and India aim to use conventional genomics-based breeding to come up with varieties of finger millet that contain higher levels of calcium and vitamins, without using genetic engineering.

Professor Paul Christou, from the Department of Crop and Forest Science and Agrotecnico Centre at the University of Lleida in Spain, has genetically engineered maize and rice to boost vitamin A, folic acid and vitamin C, along with a wide spectrum of essential micronutrients.

He sees value in conventional breeding to develop fortified crop varieties, but believes genetic engineering is the only current way to deliver a staple crop that meets the recommended daily amounts of vitamins and minerals simultaneously.

To my mind, in order to be successful in biofortification programmes, you need to address the micronutrient deficiencies in as complete a manner as possible,saidProf. Christou.

Genetically modified (GM) cereal varieties could have a major impact if they are accepted. But Prof. Christou recognises that not everyone is receptive to GM foods, even where they can improve nutrition for hundreds of millions of people.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post:New strains of staple crops serve up essential vitamins

See original here:
If biofortified crops are goal, both genetic engineering and conventional breeding necessary - Genetic Literacy Project

Across channels like PBS Idea Channel, Blank On Blank, and Its Okay To Be Smart, PBS Digital Studios has produced engaging videos about science, philosophy, pop culture, and many other topics in between. Most of those videos run between two and 15 minutes, but now, for the first time, PBSDS is releasing a project that is well outside that range. Its BrainCraft channel is home to Mutant Menu, a 37-minute short film that discusses advancements in genetic engineering.

On BrainCraft, which has more than 350,000 subscribers and over 18 million total views, creator Vanessa Hill leads viewers on an exploration of topics like psychology, neuroscience and why we act the way we do. In Mutant Menu, Hills particular focus is on CRISPR, a tool that allows humans to modify their own genes. The film examines the pros and cons of the technology at its center while also considering the ethical questions CRISPR raises.

Genetic engineering and CRISPR have the potential to save lives and cure disease, but it also comes with risk, said Hill in a press release. My goal with Mutant Menu was to explore all sides of the issue and let viewers come to their own conclusions about this technology.

Mutant Menu was made possible thanks to the support of Google and Screen Australia, who teamed up to fund the film (and Hill, its Aussie creator, in particular) through a joint venture called Skip Ahead. Other channels that have received assistance through that program include The Racka Racka and How To Cook That.

With Mutant Menu out in the open, BrainCraft will return to its regularly scheduled programming. Hill posts new videos to the channel each Thursday.

Read the rest here:
PBS Digital Studios Explores Genetic Engineering In Its First-Ever ... - Tubefilter

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Go here to read the rest:
Genetic Engineering - News - Science - The New York Times

Genetically modified foods or GM foods, also known as genetically engineered foods, are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering techniques allow for the introduction of new traits as well as greater control over traits than previous methods such as selective breeding and mutation breeding.[1]

Commercial sale of genetically modified foods began in 1994, when Calgene first marketed its unsuccessful Flavr Savr delayed-ripening tomato.[2][3] Most food modifications have primarily focused on cash crops in high demand by farmers such as soybean, corn, canola, and cotton. Genetically modified crops have been engineered for resistance to pathogens and herbicides and for better nutrient profiles. GM livestock have been developed, although as of November 2013 none were on the market.[4]

There is a scientific consensus[5][6][7][8] that currently available food derived from GM crops poses no greater risk to human health than conventional food,[9][10][11][12][13] but that each GM food needs to be tested on a case-by-case basis before introduction.[14][15][16] Nonetheless, members of the public are much less likely than scientists to perceive GM foods as safe.[17][18][19][20] The legal and regulatory status of GM foods varies by country, with some nations banning or restricting them, and others permitting them with widely differing degrees of regulation.[21][22][23][24]

However, there are ongoing public concerns related to food safety, regulation, labelling, environmental impact, research methods, and the fact that some GM seeds are subject to intellectual property rights owned by corporations.[25]

Genetically modified foods, GM foods or genetically engineered foods, are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering as opposed to traditional cross breeding.[26][27] In the US, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) favor the use of "genetic engineering" over "genetic modification" as the more precise term; the USDA defines genetic modification to include "genetic engineering or other more traditional methods."[28][29]

According to the World Health Organization, "Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. The technology is often called 'modern biotechnology' or 'gene technology', sometimes also 'recombinant DNA technology' or 'genetic engineering'. ... Foods produced from or using GM organisms are often referred to as GM foods."[26]

Human-directed genetic manipulation of food began with the domestication of plants and animals through artificial selection at about 10,500 to 10,100 BC.[30]:1 The process of selective breeding, in which organisms with desired traits (and thus with the desired genes) are used to breed the next generation and organisms lacking the trait are not bred, is a precursor to the modern concept of genetic modification (GM).[30]:1[31]:1 With the discovery of DNA in the early 1900s and various advancements in genetic techniques through the 1970s[32] it became possible to directly alter the DNA and genes within food.

The first genetically modified plant was produced in 1983, using an antibiotic-resistant tobacco plant.[33] Genetically modified microbial enzymes were the first application of genetically modified organisms in food production and were approved in 1988 by the US Food and Drug Administration.[34] In the early 1990s, recombinant chymosin was approved for use in several countries.[34][35] Cheese had typically been made using the enzyme complex rennet that had been extracted from cows' stomach lining. Scientists modified bacteria to produce chymosin, which was also able to clot milk, resulting in cheese curds.[36]

The first genetically modified food approved for release was the Flavr Savr tomato in 1994.[2] Developed by Calgene, it was engineered to have a longer shelf life by inserting an antisense gene that delayed ripening.[37] China was the first country to commercialize a transgenic crop in 1993 with the introduction of virus-resistant tobacco.[38] In 1995, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Potato was approved for cultivation, making it the first pesticide producing crop to be approved in the USA.[39] Other genetically modified crops receiving marketing approval in 1995 were: canola with modified oil composition, Bt maize, cotton resistant to the herbicide bromoxynil, Bt cotton, glyphosate-tolerant soybeans, virus-resistant squash, and another delayed ripening tomato.[2]

With the creation of golden rice in 2000, scientists had genetically modified food to increase its nutrient value for the first time.[40]

By 2010, 29 countries had planted commercialized biotech crops and a further 31 countries had granted regulatory approval for transgenic crops to be imported.[41] The US was the leading country in the production of GM foods in 2011, with twenty-five GM crops having received regulatory approval.[42] In 2015, 92% of corn, 94% of soybeans, and 94% of cotton produced in the US were genetically modified strains.[43]

The first genetically modified animal to be approved for food use was AquAdvantage salmon in 2015.[44] The salmon were transformed with a growth hormone-regulating gene from a Pacific Chinook salmon and a promoter from an ocean pout enabling it to grow year-round instead of only during spring and summer.[45]

In April 2016, a white button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) modified using the CRISPR technique received de facto approval in the United States, after the USDA said it would not have to go through the agency's regulatory process. The agency considers the mushroom exempt because the editing process did not involve the introduction of foreign DNA.[46]

The most widely planted GMOs are designed to tolerate herbicides. By 2006 some weed populations had evolved to tolerate some of the same herbicides. Palmer amaranth is a weed that competes with cotton. A native of the southwestern US, it traveled east and was first found resistant to glyphosate in 2006, less than 10 years after GM cotton was introduced.[47][48][49]

Genetically engineered organisms are generated and tested in the laboratory for desired qualities. The most common modification is to add one or more genes to an organism's genome. Less commonly, genes are removed or their expression is increased or silenced or the number of copies of a gene is increased or decreased.

Once satisfactory strains are produced, the producer applies for regulatory approval to field-test them, called a "field release." Field-testing involves cultivating the plants on farm fields or growing animals in a controlled environment. If these field tests are successful, the producer applies for regulatory approval to grow and market the crop. Once approved, specimens (seeds, cuttings, breeding pairs, etc.) are cultivated and sold to farmers. The farmers cultivate and market the new strain. In some cases, the approval covers marketing but not cultivation.

According to the USDA, the number of field releases for genetically engineered organisms has grown from four in 1985 to an average of about 800 per year. Cumulatively, more than 17,000 releases had been approved through September 2013.[50]

Papaya was genetically modified to resist the ringspot virus. 'SunUp' is a transgenic red-fleshed Sunset papaya cultivar that is homozygous for the coat protein gene PRSV; 'Rainbow' is a yellow-fleshed F1 hybrid developed by crossing 'SunUp' and nontransgenic yellow-fleshed 'Kapoho'.[51] The New York Times stated, "in the early 1990s, Hawaiis papaya industry was facing disaster because of the deadly papaya ringspot virus. Its single-handed savior was a breed engineered to be resistant to the virus. Without it, the states papaya industry would have collapsed. Today, 80% of Hawaiian papaya is genetically engineered, and there is still no conventional or organic method to control ringspot virus."[52] The GM cultivar was approved in 1998.[53] In China, a transgenic PRSV-resistant papaya was developed by South China Agricultural University and was first approved for commercial planting in 2006; as of 2012 95% of the papaya grown in Guangdong province and 40% of the papaya grown in Hainan province was genetically modified.[54]

The New Leaf potato, a GM food developed using naturally occurring bacteria found in the soil known as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), was made to provide in-plant protection from the yield-robbing Colorado potato beetle.[55] The New Leaf potato, brought to market by Monsanto in the late 1990s, was developed for the fast food market. It was withdrawn in 2001 after retailers rejected it and food processors ran into export problems.[56]

As of 2005, about 13% of the Zucchini (a form of squash) grown in the US was genetically modified to resist three viruses; that strain is also grown in Canada.[57][58]

In 2011, BASF requested the European Food Safety Authority's approval for cultivation and marketing of its Fortuna potato as feed and food. The potato was made resistant to late blight by adding resistant genes blb1 and blb2 that originate from the Mexican wild potato Solanum bulbocastanum.[59][60] In February 2013, BASF withdrew its application.[61]

In 2013, the USDA approved the import of a GM pineapple that is pink in color and that "overexpresses" a gene derived from tangerines and suppress other genes, increasing production of lycopene. The plant's flowering cycle was changed to provide for more uniform growth and quality. The fruit "does not have the ability to propagate and persist in the environment once they have been harvested," according to USDA APHIS. According to Del Monte's submission, the pineapples are commercially grown in a "monoculture" that prevents seed production, as the plant's flowers aren't exposed to compatible pollen sources. Importation into Hawaii is banned for "plant sanitation" reasons.[62]

In 2014, the USDA approved a genetically modified potato developed by J.R. Simplot Company that contained ten genetic modifications that prevent bruising and produce less acrylamide when fried. The modifications eliminate specific proteins from the potatoes, via RNA interference, rather than introducing novel proteins.[63][64]

In February 2015 Arctic Apples were approved by the USDA,[65] becoming the first genetically modified apple approved for sale in the US.[66]Gene silencing is used to reduce the expression of polyphenol oxidase (PPO), thus preventing the fruit from browning.[67]

Corn used for food and ethanol has been genetically modified to tolerate various herbicides and to express a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that kills certain insects.[68] About 90% of the corn grown in the U.S. was genetically modified in 2010.[69] In the US in 2015, 81% of corn acreage contained the Bt trait and 89% of corn acreage contained the glyphosate-tolerant trait.[43] Corn can be processed into grits, meal and flour as an ingredient in pancakes, muffins, doughnuts, breadings and batters, as well as baby foods, meat products, cereals and some fermented products. Corn-based masa flour and masa dough are used in the production of taco shells, corn chips and tortillas.[70]

Genetically modified soybean has been modified to tolerate herbicides and produce healthier oils.[71] In 2015, 94% of soybean acreage in the U.S. was genetically modified to be glyphosate-tolerant.[43]

Starch or amylum is a polysaccharide produced by all green plants as an energy store. Pure starch is a white, tasteless and odourless powder. It consists of two types of molecules: the linear and helical amylose and the branched amylopectin. Depending on the plant, starch generally contains 20 to 25% amylose and 75 to 80% amylopectin by weight.[72]

Starch can be further modified to create modified starch for specific purposes,[73] including creation of many of the sugars in processed foods. They include:

Lecithin is a naturally occurring lipid. It can be found in egg yolks and oil-producing plants. it is an emulsifier and thus is used in many foods. Corn, soy and safflower oil are sources of lecithin, though the majority of lecithin commercially available is derived from soy.[74][75][76][pageneeded] Sufficiently processed lecithin is often undetectable with standard testing practices.[72][not in citation given] According to the FDA, no evidence shows or suggests hazard to the public when lecithin is used at common levels. Lecithin added to foods amounts to only 2 to 10 percent of the 1 to 5 g of phosphoglycerides consumed daily on average.[74][75] Nonetheless, consumer concerns about GM food extend to such products.[77][bettersourceneeded] This concern led to policy and regulatory changes in Europe in 2000,[citation needed] when Regulation (EC) 50/2000 was passed[78] which required labelling of food containing additives derived from GMOs, including lecithin.[citation needed] Because of the difficulty of detecting the origin of derivatives like lecithin with current testing practices, European regulations require those who wish to sell lecithin in Europe to employ a comprehensive system of Identity preservation (IP).[79][verification needed][80][pageneeded]

The US imports 10% of its sugar, while the remaining 90% is extracted from sugar beet and sugarcane. After deregulation in 2005, glyphosate-resistant sugar beet was extensively adopted in the United States. 95% of beet acres in the US were planted with glyphosate-resistant seed in 2011.[81] GM sugar beets are approved for cultivation in the US, Canada and Japan; the vast majority are grown in the US. GM beets are approved for import and consumption in Australia, Canada, Colombia, EU, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Russian Federation and Singapore.[82] Pulp from the refining process is used as animal feed. The sugar produced from GM sugarbeets contains no DNA or proteinit is just sucrose that is chemically indistinguishable from sugar produced from non-GM sugarbeets.[72][83] Independent analyses conducted by internationally recognized laboratories found that sugar from Roundup Ready sugar beets is identical to the sugar from comparably grown conventional (non-Roundup Ready) sugar beets. And, like all sugar, sugar from Roundup Ready sugar beets contains no genetic material or detectable protein (including the protein that provides glyphosate tolerance).[84]

Most vegetable oil used in the US is produced from GM crops canola,[85]corn,[86][87]cotton[88] and soybeans.[89] Vegetable oil is sold directly to consumers as cooking oil, shortening and margarine[90] and is used in prepared foods. There is a vanishingly small amount of protein or DNA from the original crop in vegetable oil.[72][91] Vegetable oil is made of triglycerides extracted from plants or seeds and then refined and may be further processed via hydrogenation to turn liquid oils into solids. The refining process[92] removes all, or nearly all non-triglyceride ingredients.[93] Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) offer an alternative to conventional fats and oils. The length of a fatty acid influences its fat absorption during the digestive process. Fatty acids in the middle position on the glycerol molecules appear to be absorbed more easily and influence metabolism more than fatty acids on the end positions. Unlike ordinary fats, MCTs are metabolized like carbohydrates. They have exceptional oxidative stability, and prevent foods from turning rancid readily.[94]

Livestock and poultry are raised on animal feed, much of which is composed of the leftovers from processing crops, including GM crops. For example, approximately 43% of a canola seed is oil. What remains after oil extraction is a meal that becomes an ingredient in animal feed and contains canola protein.[95] Likewise, the bulk of the soybean crop is grown for oil and meal. The high-protein defatted and toasted soy meal becomes livestock feed and dog food. 98% of the US soybean crop goes for livestock feed.[96][97] In 2011, 49% of the US maize harvest was used for livestock feed (including the percentage of waste from distillers grains).[98] "Despite methods that are becoming more and more sensitive, tests have not yet been able to establish a difference in the meat, milk, or eggs of animals depending on the type of feed they are fed. It is impossible to tell if an animal was fed GM soy just by looking at the resulting meat, dairy, or egg products. The only way to verify the presence of GMOs in animal feed is to analyze the origin of the feed itself."[99]

A 2012 literature review of studies evaluating the effect of GM feed on the health of animals did not find evidence that animals were adversely affected, although small biological differences were occasionally found. The studies included in the review ranged from 90 days to two years, with several of the longer studies considering reproductive and intergenerational effects.[100]

Rennet is a mixture of enzymes used to coagulate milk into cheese. Originally it was available only from the fourth stomach of calves, and was scarce and expensive, or was available from microbial sources, which often produced unpleasant tastes. Genetic engineering made it possible to extract rennet-producing genes from animal stomachs and insert them into bacteria, fungi or yeasts to make them produce chymosin, the key enzyme.[101][102] The modified microorganism is killed after fermentation. Chymosin is isolated from the fermentation broth, so that the Fermentation-Produced Chymosin (FPC) used by cheese producers has an amino acid sequence that is identical to bovine rennet.[103] The majority of the applied chymosin is retained in the whey. Trace quantities of chymosin may remain in cheese.[103]

FPC was the first artificially produced enzyme to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.[34][35] FPC products have been on the market since 1990 and as of 2015 had yet to be surpassed in commercial markets.[104] In 1999, about 60% of US hard cheese was made with FPC.[105] Its global market share approached 80%.[106] By 2008, approximately 80% to 90% of commercially made cheeses in the US and Britain were made using FPC.[103]

In some countries, recombinant (GM) bovine somatotropin (also called rBST, or bovine growth hormone or BGH) is approved for administration to increase milk production. rBST may be present in milk from rBST treated cows, but it is destroyed in the digestive system and even if directly injected into the human bloodstream, has no observable effect on humans.[107][108][109] The FDA, World Health Organization, American Medical Association, American Dietetic Association and the National Institutes of Health have independently stated that dairy products and meat from rBST-treated cows are safe for human consumption.[110] However, on 30 September 2010, the United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, analyzing submitted evidence, found a "compositional difference" between milk from rBGH-treated cows and milk from untreated cows.[111][112] The court stated that milk from rBGH-treated cows has: increased levels of the hormone Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1); higher fat content and lower protein content when produced at certain points in the cow's lactation cycle; and more somatic cell counts, which may "make the milk turn sour more quickly."[112]

Genetically modified livestock are organisms from the group of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, birds, horses and fish kept for human consumption, whose genetic material (DNA) has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. In some cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the animals which does not occur naturally in the species, i.e. transgenesis.

A 2003 review published on behalf of Food Standards Australia New Zealand examined transgenic experimentation on terrestrial livestock species as well as aquatic species such as fish and shellfish. The review examined the molecular techniques used for experimentation as well as techniques for tracing the transgenes in animals and products as well as issues regarding transgene stability.[113]

Some mammals typically used for food production have been modified to produce non-food products, a practice sometimes called Pharming.

A GM salmon, awaiting regulatory approval[114][115][116] since 1997,[117] was approved for human consumption by the American FDA in November 2015, to be raised in specific land-based hatcheries in Canada and Panama.[118]

The use of genetically modified food-grade organisms as recombinant vaccine expression hosts and delivery vehicles can open new avenues for vaccinology. Considering that oral immunization is a beneficial approach in terms of costs, patient comfort, and protection of mucosal tissues, the use of food-grade organisms can lead to highly advantageous vaccines in terms of costs, easy administration, and safety. The organisms currently used for this purpose are bacteria (Lactobacillus and Bacillus), yeasts, algae, plants, and insect species. Several such organisms are under clinical evaluation, and the current adoption of this technology by the industry indicates a potential to benefit global healthcare systems.[119]

There is a scientific consensus[120][121][122][123] that currently available food derived from GM crops poses no greater risk to human health than conventional food,[124][125][126][127][128] but that each GM food needs to be tested on a case-by-case basis before introduction.[129][130][131] Nonetheless, members of the public are much less likely than scientists to perceive GM foods as safe.[132][133][134][135]

Opponents claim that long-term health risks have not been adequately assessed and propose various combinations of additional testing, labeling[136] or removal from the market.[137][138][139][140] The advocacy group European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER), disputes the claim that "science" supports the safety of current GM foods, proposing that each GM food must be judged on case-by-case basis.[141] The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment called for removing GM foods from the market pending long term health studies.[137] Multiple disputed studies have claimed health effects relating to GM foods or to the pesticides used with them.[142]

The legal and regulatory status of GM foods varies by country, with some nations banning or restricting them, and others permitting them with widely differing degrees of regulation.[143][144][145][146] Countries such as the United States, Canada, Lebanon and Egypt use substantial equivalence to determine if further testing is required, while many countries such as those in the European Union, Brazil and China only authorize GMO cultivation on a case-by-case basis. In the U.S. the FDA determined that GMO's are "Generally Recognized as Safe" (GRAS) and therefore do not require additional testing if the GMO product is substantially equivalent to the non-modified product.[147] If new substances are found, further testing may be required to satisfy concerns over potential toxicity, allergenicity, possible gene transfer to humans or genetic outcrossing to other organisms.[26]

Government regulation of GMO development and release varies widely between countries. Marked differences separate GMO regulation in the U.S. and GMO regulation in the European Union.[148] Regulation also varies depending on the intended product's use. For example, a crop not intended for food use is generally not reviewed by authorities responsible for food safety.[149]

In the U.S., three government organizations regulate GMOs. The FDA checks the chemical composition of organisms for potential allergens. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) supervises field testing and monitors the distribution of GM seeds. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for monitoring pesticide usage, including plants modified to contain proteins toxic to insects. Like USDA, EPA also oversees field testing and the distribution of crops that have had contact with pesticides to ensure environmental safety.[150][bettersourceneeded] In 2015 the Obama administration announced that it would update the way the government regulated GM crops.[151]

In 1992 FDA published "Statement of Policy: Foods derived from New Plant Varieties." This statement is a clarification of FDA's interpretation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to foods produced from new plant varieties developed using recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) technology. FDA encouraged developers to consult with the FDA regarding any bioengineered foods in development. The FDA says developers routinely do reach out for consultations. In 1996 FDA updated consultation procedures.[152][153]

As of 2015, 64 countries require labeling of GMO products in the marketplace.[154]

US and Canadian national policy is to require a label only given significant composition differences or documented health impacts, although some individual US states (Vermont, Connecticut and Maine) enacted laws requiring them.[155][156][157][158] In July 2016, Public Law 114-214 was enacted to regulate labeling of GMO food on a national basis.

In some jurisdictions, the labeling requirement depends on the relative quantity of GMO in the product. A study that investigated voluntary labeling in South Africa found that 31% of products labeled as GMO-free had a GM content above 1.0%.[159]

In Europe all food (including processed food) or feed that contains greater than 0.9% GMOs must be labelled.[160]

Testing on GMOs in food and feed is routinely done using molecular techniques such as PCR and bioinformatics.[161]

In a January 2010 paper, the extraction and detection of DNA along a complete industrial soybean oil processing chain was described to monitor the presence of Roundup Ready (RR) soybean: "The amplification of soybean lectin gene by end-point polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was successfully achieved in all the steps of extraction and refining processes, until the fully refined soybean oil. The amplification of RR soybean by PCR assays using event-specific primers was also achieved for all the extraction and refining steps, except for the intermediate steps of refining (neutralisation, washing and bleaching) possibly due to sample instability. The real-time PCR assays using specific probes confirmed all the results and proved that it is possible to detect and quantify genetically modified organisms in the fully refined soybean oil. To our knowledge, this has never been reported before and represents an important accomplishment regarding the traceability of genetically modified organisms in refined oils."[162]

According to Thomas Redick, detection and prevention of cross-pollination is possible through the suggestions offered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Suggestions include educating farmers on the importance of coexistence, providing farmers with tools and incentives to promote coexistence, conduct research to understand and monitor gene flow, provide assurance of quality and diversity in crops, provide compensation for actual economic losses for farmers.[163]

The genetically modified foods controversy consists of a set of disputes over the use of food made from genetically modified crops. The disputes involve consumers, farmers, biotechnology companies, governmental regulators, non-governmental organizations, environmental and political activists and scientists. The major disagreements include whether GM foods can be safely consumed, harm the environment and/or are adequately tested and regulated.[138][164] The objectivity of scientific research and publications has been challenged.[137] Farming-related disputes include the use and impact of pesticides, seed production and use, side effects on non-GMO crops/farms,[165] and potential control of the GM food supply by seed companies.[137]

The conflicts have continued since GM foods were invented. They have occupied the media, the courts, local, regional and national governments and international organizations.

The literature about Biodiversity and the GE food/feed consumption has sometimes resulted in animated debate regarding the suitability of the experimental designs, the choice of the statistical methods or the public accessibility of data. Such debate, even if positive and part of the natural process of review by the scientific community, has frequently been distorted by the media and often used politically and inappropriately in anti-GE crops campaigns.

Domingo, Jos L.; Bordonaba, Jordi Gin (2011). "A literature review on the safety assessment of genetically modified plants" (PDF). Environment International. 37: 734742. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2011.01.003. PMID21296423. In spite of this, the number of studies specifically focused on safety assessment of GM plants is still limited. However, it is important to remark that for the first time, a certain equilibrium in the number of research groups suggesting, on the basis of their studies, that a number of varieties of GM products (mainly maize and soybeans) are as safe and nutritious as the respective conventional non-GM plant, and those raising still serious concerns, was observed. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that most of the studies demonstrating that GM foods are as nutritional and safe as those obtained by conventional breeding, have been performed by biotechnology companies or associates, which are also responsible of commercializing these GM plants. Anyhow, this represents a notable advance in comparison with the lack of studies published in recent years in scientific journals by those companies.

Krimsky, Sheldon (2015). "An Illusory Consensus behind GMO Health Assessment" (PDF). Science, Technology, & Human Values. 40: 132. doi:10.1177/0162243915598381. I began this article with the testimonials from respected scientists that there is literally no scientific controversy over the health effects of GMOs. My investigation into the scientific literature tells another story.

And contrast:

Panchin, Alexander Y.; Tuzhikov, Alexander I. (January 14, 2016). "Published GMO studies find no evidence of harm when corrected for multiple comparisons". Critical Reviews in Biotechnology: 15. doi:10.3109/07388551.2015.1130684. ISSN0738-8551. PMID26767435. Here, we show that a number of articles some of which have strongly and negatively influenced the public opinion on GM crops and even provoked political actions, such as GMO embargo, share common flaws in the statistical evaluation of the data. Having accounted for these flaws, we conclude that the data presented in these articles does not provide any substantial evidence of GMO harm.

The presented articles suggesting possible harm of GMOs received high public attention. However, despite their claims, they actually weaken the evidence for the harm and lack of substantial equivalency of studied GMOs. We emphasize that with over 1783 published articles on GMOs over the last 10 years it is expected that some of them should have reported undesired differences between GMOs and conventional crops even if no such differences exist in reality.

and

Yang, Y.T.; Chen, B. (2016). "Governing GMOs in the USA: science, law and public health". Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 96: 18511855. doi:10.1002/jsfa.7523. PMID26536836. It is therefore not surprising that efforts to require labeling and to ban GMOs have been a growing political issue in the USA (citing Domingo and Bordonaba, 2011).

Overall, a broad scientific consensus holds that currently marketed GM food poses no greater risk than conventional food... Major national and international science and medical associations have stated that no adverse human health effects related to GMO food have been reported or substantiated in peer-reviewed literature to date.

Despite various concerns, today, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the World Health Organization, and many independent international science organizations agree that GMOs are just as safe as other foods. Compared with conventional breeding techniques, genetic engineering is far more precise and, in most cases, less likely to create an unexpected outcome.

Pinholster, Ginger (October 25, 2012). "AAAS Board of Directors: Legally Mandating GM Food Labels Could "Mislead and Falsely Alarm Consumers"". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved February 8, 2016.

"REPORT 2 OF THE COUNCIL ON SCIENCE AND PUBLIC HEALTH (A-12): Labeling of Bioengineered Foods" (PDF). American Medical Association. 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2016. Bioengineered foods have been consumed for close to 20 years, and during that time, no overt consequences on human health have been reported and/or substantiated in the peer-reviewed literature.

GM foods currently available on the international market have passed safety assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. In addition, no effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved. Continuous application of safety assessments based on the Codex Alimentarius principles and, where appropriate, adequate post market monitoring, should form the basis for ensuring the safety of GM foods.

"Genetically modified foods and health: a second interim statement" (PDF). British Medical Association. March 2004. Retrieved March 21, 2016. In our view, the potential for GM foods to cause harmful health effects is very small and many of the concerns expressed apply with equal vigour to conventionally derived foods. However, safety concerns cannot, as yet, be dismissed completely on the basis of information currently available.

When seeking to optimise the balance between benefits and risks, it is prudent to err on the side of caution and, above all, learn from accumulating knowledge and experience. Any new technology such as genetic modification must be examined for possible benefits and risks to human health and the environment. As with all novel foods, safety assessments in relation to GM foods must be made on a case-by-case basis.

Members of the GM jury project were briefed on various aspects of genetic modification by a diverse group of acknowledged experts in the relevant subjects. The GM jury reached the conclusion that the sale of GM foods currently available should be halted and the moratorium on commercial growth of GM crops should be continued. These conclusions were based on the precautionary principle and lack of evidence of any benefit. The Jury expressed concern over the impact of GM crops on farming, the environment, food safety and other potential health effects.

The Royal Society review (2002) concluded that the risks to human health associated with the use of specific viral DNA sequences in GM plants are negligible, and while calling for caution in the introduction of potential allergens into food crops, stressed the absence of evidence that commercially available GM foods cause clinical allergic manifestations. The BMA shares the view that that there is no robust evidence to prove that GM foods are unsafe but we endorse the call for further research and surveillance to provide convincing evidence of safety and benefit.

The literature about Biodiversity and the GE food/feed consumption has sometimes resulted in animated debate regarding the suitability of the experimental designs, the choice of the statistical methods or the public accessibility of data. Such debate, even if positive and part of the natural process of review by the scientific community, has frequently been distorted by the media and often used politically and inappropriately in anti-GE crops campaigns.

Domingo, Jos L.; Bordonaba, Jordi Gin (2011). "A literature review on the safety assessment of genetically modified plants" (PDF). Environment International. 37: 734742. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2011.01.003. PMID21296423. In spite of this, the number of studies specifically focused on safety assessment of GM plants is still limited. However, it is important to remark that for the first time, a certain equilibrium in the number of research groups suggesting, on the basis of their studies, that a number of varieties of GM products (mainly maize and soybeans) are as safe and nutritious as the respective conventional non-GM plant, and those raising still serious concerns, was observed. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that most of the studies demonstrating that GM foods are as nutritional and safe as those obtained by conventional breeding, have been performed by biotechnology companies or associates, which are also responsible of commercializing these GM plants. Anyhow, this represents a notable advance in comparison with the lack of studies published in recent years in scientific journals by those companies.

Krimsky, Sheldon (2015). "An Illusory Consensus behind GMO Health Assessment" (PDF). Science, Technology, & Human Values. 40: 132. doi:10.1177/0162243915598381. I began this article with the testimonials from respected scientists that there is literally no scientific controversy over the health effects of GMOs. My investigation into the scientific literature tells another story.

And contrast:

Panchin, Alexander Y.; Tuzhikov, Alexander I. (January 14, 2016). "Published GMO studies find no evidence of harm when corrected for multiple comparisons". Critical Reviews in Biotechnology: 15. doi:10.3109/07388551.2015.1130684. ISSN0738-8551. PMID26767435. Here, we show that a number of articles some of which have strongly and negatively influenced the public opinion on GM crops and even provoked political actions, such as GMO embargo, share common flaws in the statistical evaluation of the data. Having accounted for these flaws, we conclude that the data presented in these articles does not provide any substantial evidence of GMO harm.

The presented articles suggesting possible harm of GMOs received high public attention. However, despite their claims, they actually weaken the evidence for the harm and lack of substantial equivalency of studied GMOs. We emphasize that with over 1783 published articles on GMOs over the last 10 years it is expected that some of them should have reported undesired differences between GMOs and conventional crops even if no such differences exist in reality.

and

Yang, Y.T.; Chen, B. (2016). "Governing GMOs in the USA: science, law and public health". Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 96: 18511855. doi:10.1002/jsfa.7523. PMID26536836. It is therefore not surprising that efforts to require labeling and to ban GMOs have been a growing political issue in the USA (citing Domingo and Bordonaba, 2011).

Overall, a broad scientific consensus holds that currently marketed GM food poses no greater risk than conventional food... Major national and international science and medical associations have stated that no adverse human health effects related to GMO food have been reported or substantiated in peer-reviewed literature to date.

Despite various concerns, today, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the World Health Organization, and many independent international science organizations agree that GMOs are just as safe as other foods. Compared with conventional breeding techniques, genetic engineering is far more precise and, in most cases, less likely to create an unexpected outcome.

Pinholster, Ginger (October 25, 2012). "AAAS Board of Directors: Legally Mandating GM Food Labels Could "Mislead and Falsely Alarm Consumers"". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved February 8, 2016.

"REPORT 2 OF THE COUNCIL ON SCIENCE AND PUBLIC HEALTH (A-12): Labeling of Bioengineered Foods" (PDF). American Medical Association. 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2016. Bioengineered foods have been consumed for close to 20 years, and during that time, no overt consequences on human health have been reported and/or substantiated in the peer-reviewed literature.

GM foods currently available on the international market have passed safety assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. In addition, no effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved. Continuous application of safety assessments based on the Codex Alimentarius principles and, where appropriate, adequate post market monitoring, should form the basis for ensuring the safety of GM foods.

"Genetically modified foods and health: a second interim statement" (PDF). British Medical Association. March 2004. Retrieved March 21, 2016. In our view, the potential for GM foods to cause harmful health effects is very small and many of the concerns expressed apply with equal vigour to conventionally derived foods. However, safety concerns cannot, as yet, be dismissed completely on the basis of information currently available.

When seeking to optimise the balance between benefits and risks, it is prudent to err on the side of caution and, above all, learn from accumulating knowledge and experience. Any new technology such as genetic modification must be examined for possible benefits and risks to human health and the environment. As with all novel foods, safety assessments in relation to GM foods must be made on a case-by-case basis.

Members of the GM jury project were briefed on various aspects of genetic modification by a diverse group of acknowledged experts in the relevant subjects. The GM jury reached the conclusion that the sale of GM foods currently available should be halted and the moratorium on commercial growth of GM crops should be continued. These conclusions were based on the precautionary principle and lack of evidence of any benefit. The Jury expressed concern over the impact of GM crops on farming, the environment, food safety and other potential health effects.

The Royal Society review (2002) concluded that the risks to human health associated with the use of specific viral DNA sequences in GM plants are negligible, and while calling for caution in the introduction of potential allergens into food crops, stressed the absence of evidence that commercially available GM foods cause clinical allergic manifestations. The BMA shares the view that that there is no robust evidence to prove that GM foods are unsafe but we endorse the call for further research and surveillance to provide convincing evidence of safety and benefit.

See the original post:
Genetically modified food - Wikipedia

Title Length Color Rating The Effects of Genetic Engineering on Agriculture - Genetic engineering is a way in which specific genes for an animal or plant can be extracted, and reproduced to form a new animal or plant. These new organisms will express the required trait for that gene. This practice is a very controversial topic within the scientific world. It is being implemented in various areas such as agriculture even though there are many alternatives that can be found for genetic engineered crops, such as organic materials and reducing leeching of the soil. The controversy regarding this practice occurs as it is believed to contribute both negative and positive implications and dangers, not only to oneself but the environment as a whole.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 5 Works Cited 1303 words (3.7 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering - Genetic Engineering is highly controversial since some people believe that genetic engineering is playing God. As this fact there is opposition to the progression of the field by people who do not see the value in genetic engineering, or they fear what genetic engineering may lead to for us as people. There is a history of discover that belongs to genetic engineering, which has led to numerous products that have emerged which have brought numerous applications to the society of the world. Though there are benefits to genetic engineering, there are also drawbacks to genetic engineering including ethical and legal issues that are dealt with in todays society in order to try and regulate the... [tags: Genetic Engineering] :: 8 Works Cited 2049 words (5.9 pages) Term Papers [preview] The Benefits of Genetic Engineering - Almost three decades ago, on July 25, 1978, Louise Brown, the first test tube baby was born (Baird 1). With this birth another controversy broke out, do humans have the right to make life. Most of the concern comes from the fear of control over the production and development of human beings. But, those who are against cloning would most likely look the other way if they needed gene therapy after receiving a grim diagnosis. There are many aspects of genetic engineering and to thoroughly understand it looking into each is absolutely necessary.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 6 Works Cited 1443 words (4.1 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] The Ethics of Genetic Engineering - The Problem Genetic engineering has been around since the 1960s although major experiments have not been really noticed until the 1990s. The science comes in different forms the two major being cloning and genetic reconstruction. Cloning is the duplicating of one organism and making an exact copy. For example in 1996 the creation of the clone sheep named Dolly the first mammal to be cloned which was a great achievement. The other form, genetic reconstruction, is used to replace genes within humans to help or enhance the life of an unborn child for a medical reason or just for the preference of a parent.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 5 Works Cited 1437 words (4.1 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Apocalyptic Visions of Genetic Engineering - Global warming, nuclear winter, microscopic black holessociety views all these as apocalyptic phenomena resulting from the accelerating rate of discovery in the fields of science and technology. Opinions on fields like climate change and atomic weaponry certainly have a basis in scientific evidence, but many other apocalyptic reactions derive from hypothetical situations and thought experiments. To further examine public opinions on scientific fields, we can examine genetic engineering (GE). The possibilities of GE have prompted many ethicists to provide commentary on the topic, opening a dialogue between policy and experimentation in order to address topics such as genetically modified cro... [tags: Genetic Engineering] :: 7 Works Cited 2203 words (6.3 pages) Term Papers [preview] The Genetic Engineering Industry - Ever wish chocolate was healthy and could have the same nutrients and vitamins as fruit and vegetables. Food, one of three necessities of life, affects every living organism on Earth. Although some foods are disliked because of taste or health issues, recent discovery will open up new prosperities and growth in agriculture. Genetic engineering has the capability to make foods taste better, increase nutrient value, and even engineer plants to produce aids for deadly health issues. Every day the progress, understanding, and development of genetic engineering is digging deeper and with this knowledge virtually anything is possible.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 7 Works Cited 1806 words (5.2 pages) Term Papers [preview] Genetic Engineering in Humans - Author Chuck Klosterman said, The simple truth is that were all already cyborgs more or less. Our mouths are filled with silver. Our nearsighted pupils are repaired with surgical lasers. We jam diabetics full of delicious insulin. Almost 40 percent of Americans now have prosthetic limbs. We see to have no qualms about making post-birth improvements to our feeble selves. Why are we so uncomfortable with pre-birth improvement? Despite Klostermans accurate observation, there are reasons people are wearisome toward pre-birth enhancement.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] 859 words (2.5 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: The Impact of Human Manipulation - The scenes of a science fiction movie show presumably unrealistic scientific inventions. In today's world, time travel, cloning, and even light sabers are some of the countless topics that are seemingly unattainable and just ideas of the imagination. Saying that these events are feasible would be completely absurd. However, with recent scientific advancements, science fiction is now becoming more of a reality rather than a fantasy. Nevertheless, only about twenty-five years ago, genetic engineering fell into this same, idealistic category.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 6 Works Cited 1725 words (4.9 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: A Major Advancement for Mankind - As the Biochemist Isaac Asimov once said, "The advancement of Genetic Engineering makes it quite conceivable that we will design our own evolutionary progress. Scientists have always thought about new ways to progress through technology in our era, and in 1946, scientists discover that Genetic material from different viruses can be combined to form a new type of virus. This was a major discovery that trickles down to the modern era of Genetics. Current scientists have pioneered new ways to decode human DNA, beating the $3 billion government-run Genome project to its goal.... [tags: Genetic Engineering] :: 10 Works Cited 973 words (2.8 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: Is the Human Race Ready? - It is incredible to see how far genetic engineering has come. Humans, plants, and any living organism can now be manipulated. Scientists have found ways to change humans before they are even born. They can remove, add, or alter genes in the human genome. Making things possible that humans (even thirty years ago) would have never imagined. Richard Hayes claims in SuperSize Your Child. that genetic engineering needs to have limitations. That genetic engineering should be used for medical purposes, but not for genetic modification that could open the door to high-tech eugenic engineering (188).... [tags: Genetic Engineering] 1455 words (4.2 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] The Dark Side of Genetic Engineering - I never knew what genetic engineering was until I watched a special on the Discovery channel. The special showed scientists forming the first perfect embryo. What was very shocking was that the scientists kept asking each other what traits this embryo should compose of. To me that was disturbing and unethical to make a living human being based on what traits the parents would want them to have. This process goes against nature just as Francis Bacon said if we would control nature, we must first obey her (Fox 193).... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 1104 words (3.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Historical Background Of Genetic Engineering - DNA is the material that gives us our personality, our looks, and our thought processes, good or bad, DNA controls all of this. DNA full name is Deoxyribonucleic Acid. It is called that because it is missing one oxygen atom, and it is located in the nucleus. It is also in the form of an acid. DNA is made up of four subunits: Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine. During the production of RNA, the messenger of DNA, Uracil is used instead of thymine. A small segment of this DNA is called a gene.... [tags: dna, Genetic Engineering, genes] :: 8 Works Cited 1513 words (4.3 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering Is Not Safe - Genetic engineering is the intended modification to an organisms genetic makeup. There have been no continuing studies on this topic or action so there is no telling whether or not it is harmless. Genetic engineering is not safe because scientists have no absolute knowledge about living systems. Given that, they are unable to do DNA surgery without creating mutations. Any interference on an organisms genetic makeup can cause permanent damage, hereditary defects, lack of nutritious food, or a spread of dangerous diseases.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 5 Works Cited 994 words (2.8 pages) Good Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: A Step Forward - Genetic engineering (GE) refers to the technique of modification or manipulation of genes (the biological material or chemical blue print that determines a living organisms traits) from one organism to another thus giving bacteria, plants, and animals, new features. The technique of selecting the best seed or the best traits of plants has been around for centuries. Humans have learned to graft (fuse) and hybridize (cross breed) plants, creating dwarfs and other useful forms since at least 1000 B.C.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 498 words (1.4 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Benefits of Genetic Engineering - Genetic Engineering is an idea that we can ponder on quiet days. The creation of altered DNA is an enticing aspect that can greatly influence the average human life. The research of genetic engineering is an ongoing exploration that may never end. I am a supporter of a genetic engineering. There are three basic beneficial basis of genetic engineering. Those are genetically altered crops, the creation of medicines, and the creation of organs so that many lives could be saved. Genetically altered crops are very beneficial to third world countries.... [tags: Genetic Engineering, DNA, ] :: 3 Works Cited 455 words (1.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Understanding Genetic Engineering - What if cancer could be cured by eating a pear. Or if a crop of wheat could be developed so that it never rotted. These may sound like science fiction but they're not as strange as they first seem to be, and may even be reality in the future. Fifteen years ago who would have thought that plants could be created to be immune to pesticides or that it would be possible to create a sheep that is exactly like its parent in every physical way. And yet both of these currently exist due to genetic engineering.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 13 Works Cited 1820 words (5.2 pages) Term Papers [preview] Genetic Engineering: Annotated Bibliography - Genetic Engineering. The World Book Encyclopedia. 2008 ed. This encyclopedia was extremely helpful. In not knowing all of the exact terms and basic knowledge of genetic engineering, it helped inform any reader of all this and more. The pages that had information on genetics and genetic engineering, had detailed definitions and descriptions for all the terms and ideas. Instead of focusing more towards the future of genetic engineering, it gave numerous facts about the technology and accomplishments of today.... [tags: Annotated Bibliographies, Genetic Engineering] 879 words (2.5 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Is Genetic Engineering Superior or Appalling? - Genetic engineering has changed a lot through the years. It is now possible not to only be able to genetically engineer just plants but also animals and people, plants especially. There are many different kind of plants that have been genetically modified. Genetic engineering is not all good but it is also not all bad. Genetic Engineering will come together the more you read. Plants are not the only thing getting bigger because of genetic engineering modifying the sizes. Animals are starting to become a bigger part of genetic engineering.... [tags: genetic plants,polar tree, genetic engineering] :: 7 Works Cited 1183 words (3.4 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: The Negative Impacts of Human Manipulation - The scenes of a science fiction movie show presumably unrealistic scientific inventions. In today's world, time travel and cloning are only two of the countless topics that are seemingly unattainable ideas of the imagination. Saying that these events are within reach would be completely absurd. However, with recent scientific advancements, science fiction is now becoming more of a reality rather than a fantasy. Nevertheless, only about twenty-five years ago, genetic engineering fell into this same, idealistic category.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 6 Works Cited 1675 words (4.8 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: Major Advancement or Major Setback? - As the Biochemist Isaac Asimov once said, "The advancement of Genetic Engineering makes it quite conceivable that we will design our own evolutionary progress. Scientists have always thought about new ways to progress through technology in this era, and in 1946, scientists discovered that Genetic material from different viruses can be combined to form a new type of virus. This was a major discovery that trickles down to the modern era of Genetics. Current scientists have pioneered new ways to decode human DNA, beating the $3 billion government-run Genome project to its goal.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 10 Works Cited 1335 words (3.8 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Human Genetic Engineering in Beneficial to Society - Even after thousands of years of evolution, the human race is not perfect: it is ravaged by disease and limited by nature. Yet, in recent times, researchers have begun to ascertain an advanced understanding of the underlying genetic code of humanity. The Human Genome Project, now complete, has provided a map of the intricacies in human DNA, allowing researchers to begin looking at the purpose of each gene. When combined with selective embryo implantation, which is used occasionally today to avoid hereditary diseases or to choose gender, genetic discoveries can become a sort of artificial evolution.... [tags: Pro Human Genetic Engineering] :: 8 Works Cited 1484 words (4.2 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering - Just imagine the scene: and newlywed wife and husband are sitting down with a catalog, browsing joyously, pointing and awing at all the different options, fantasizing about all the possibilities that could become of their future. Is this a catalog for new furniture. No. This catalog for all features, phenotype and genotype, for the child they are planning to have. It is basically a database for parents to pick and choose all aspects of their children, from the sex of the child, to looks, and even to personality traits.... [tags: Genetic Engineering] 1131 words (3.2 pages) Good Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering - Genes are, basically, the blueprints of our body which are passed down from generation to generation. Through the exploration of these inherited materials, scientists have ventured into the recent, and rather controversial, field of genetic engineering. It is described as the "artificial modification of the genetic code of a living organism", and involves the "manipulation and alteration of inborn characteristics" by humans (Lanza). Like many other issues, genetic engineering has sparked a heated debate.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 7 Works Cited 1882 words (5.4 pages) Term Papers [preview] Genetic Engineering: The End of Life as We Know It - Prior to 1982, genetic engineering was a relatively new branch of science. Today, scientists have a firm understanding of genetics and its importance to the living world. Genetic engineering allows us to influence the laws of nature in ways favorable to ourselves. Although promising in its achievements, it also has the potential for abuse. If engineering of this caliber were to be used for anything other than the advancement of the human race, the effects could be devastating. If precautions are not implemented on this science, parents might use it solely for eugenic purposes.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 773 words (2.2 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: The Next Technological Leap or a Disruption to the Natural Order of Our Planet? - While walking down the produce aisle at your local grocery store, have you ever questioned where the assortment of goods came from. When asked, perhaps your first thought would likely be from a local farm or orchard. But what if I were to tell you that those very goods could in fact be from a far less obvious third choice. What if someone told you that those pretty peaches on display were meticulously grown in a laboratory to bring forth predetermined traits. As futuristic as it may sound, this type of technology is no longer science fiction but has become a new reality.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 3 Works Cited 936 words (2.7 pages) Better Essays [preview] The Need for Policy Makers to Regulate Human Genetic Engineering - Human genetic engineering (HGE), a prevalent topic for scientists in research, is the process of manipulating genes in the human genome. Potentially, scientists can use the process of HGE to alter many biological and psychological human traits by gene modification. Currently, however, there is a large deficiency in information regarding HGE and its effects to the human body; creating a need for scientists to conduct more research and tests. Because of the many unknowns involving HGE it is necessary for policy makers to regulate HGE for the use by scientists.... [tags: Human Genetic Engineering] :: 2 Works Cited 1249 words (3.6 pages) Strong Essays [preview] The Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering - Genetic engineering is a process in which scientists transfer genes from one species to another totally unrelated species. Usually this is done in order to get one organism to produce proteins, which it would not naturally produce. The genes taken from one species, which code for a particular protein, are put into cells of another species, using a vector. This can result in the cells producing the desired protein. It is used for producing proteins which can be used by humans, such as insulin for diabetics and is also used to make organisms better at surviving, for example genetically modifying a plant so that it can survive in acidic soil.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 1054 words (3 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: The Controversy of Genetic Screening - The Controversy of Genetic Screening Craig Ventor of Celera Genomics, Rockville, MD, and Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health and Wellcome Trust, London, England, simultaneously presented the sequence of human DNA in June of 2000, accomplishing the first major endeavor of the Human Genome Project (HGP) (Ridley 2). As scientists link human characteristics to genes-segments of DNA found on one or more of the 23 human chromosomes-prospects for genetic engineering will increase dramatically.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 4 Works Cited 1609 words (4.6 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] An Enhanced Genotype: Ethical Issues Involved with Genetic Engineering and their Impact as Revealed by Brave New World - An Enhanced Genotype: Ethical Issues Involved with Genetic Engineering and their Impact as Revealed by Brave New World Human society always attempts to better itself through the use of technology. Thus far, as a species, we have already achieved much: mastery of electronics, flight, and space travel. However, the field in which the most progress is currently being made is Biology, specifically Genetic Engineering. In Aldous Huxleys Brave New World, humanity has taken control of reproduction and biology in the same way that we have mastered chemistry and physics.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 6 Works Cited 2288 words (6.5 pages) Term Papers [preview] The Benefits of Genetic Engineering - Outline I. Thesis statement: The benefits of genetic engineering far outweigh its potential for misuse. II. Genetic Engineering A. Definition of Genetic Engineering. (#6) B. Who invented Genetic Engineering Gregor Mendel (Christopher Lampton #7) Thomas Hunt Morgan (Christopher Lampton #7) III. Benefits of Genetic Engineering A. Genetic Screening (Laurence E. Karp #4) B. Gene Therapy (Renato Dulbecco #6) C. Cloning D. Genetic Surgery (Christopher Lampton #7) E. Benefits in Agriculture (David Pimentel and Maurizio G.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Research Papers] :: 15 Works Cited 2500 words (7.1 pages) Strong Essays [preview] The Benefits of Genetic Engineering - The selective Engineering of Genetics is invaluable to the health and happiness of humans. The importance of this issue has played second fiddle to the arguments, for and against genetic engineering. This essay will discuss the impact of genetic engineering on everyday life, for example genetic disorders, disease and how its impact on life in the world today. Although the opinions differ greatly, the benefits are substantial. Firstly, an increasing importance is being placed on the role of genetic engineering in the use of riding the incidence of genetic disorders.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 8 Works Cited 1176 words (3.4 pages) Strong Essays [preview] The Benefits of Genetic Engineering - What exactly is genetic engineering. A simple definition of genetic engineering is the ability to isolate DNA pieces that contain selected genes of other species(Muench 238). Genetic engineering has been the upcoming field of biology since the early nineteen seventies. The prosperous field has benefits for both the medical and also the agricultural field. The diminishing of diseases, especially congenital disorders, reduction of pollution, eradication of world hunger, and increased longevity are just some of the possibilities which scientists foresee.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 1146 words (3.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering Is Not Ethical - For many years, genetic engineering has been a topic in heated debates. Scientists propose that genetic engineering far outweighs its risks in benefits and should be further studied. Politicians argue that genetic engineering is largely unethical, harmful, and needs to have strong limitations. Although genetic engineering may reap benefits to modern civilization, it raises questions of human ethics, morality, and the limitations we need to set to protect humanity. Though there is harsh criticism from politicians, scientists continue to press forward saying that genetic engineering is of utmost importance to help and improve society.... [tags: Genetic Engineering is Immoral ] :: 5 Works Cited 1490 words (4.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Is Genetic Engineering Ethically Correct? - Over the past few years, genetic engineering has come a long way from its roots. What spawned as just a project for understanding has now become quite powerful. An article written by Michael Riess aided me in gaining some knowledge of the ethical dilemmas faced in the field of genetic engineering. Suppose you and your partner both discover that you are carriers of a genetic defect known as cystic fibrosis, and the two of you are expecting a baby. Genetic screening gives you the opportunity to use antenatal diagnosis to see if the baby will have cystic fibrosis or not (Reiss).... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 2 Works Cited 715 words (2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] The Benefits of Genetic Engineering - The engineering of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is entirely new, yet genetics, as a field of science, has fascinated mankind for over 2,000 years. Man has always tried to bend nature around his will through selective breeding and other forms of practical genetics. Today, scientists have a greater understanding of genetics and its role in living organisms. Unfortunately, some people are trying to stop further studies in genetics, but the research being conducted today will serve to better mankind tomorrow.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 1109 words (3.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] The Benefits of Genetic Engineering - Many people are envied or deprecated because of certain traits they are born with. Those that are envied are a select few, which in turn is why they are envied. When one child in a nursery has a toy, he is coveted by all the other children in the nursery. He will be idolized, and nearly every child will want to be his friend. However, there will also those that want the toy for themselves. The children that are jealous will do whatever they can to get the toy. The jealous children often resort to violence, and this is true in all aspects of life.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 975 words (2.8 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering and the Media - Genetic engineering and its related fields have stimulated an extremely controversial scientific debate about cloning for the last decade. With such a wide range of public opinions, it is hard to find any middle ground. Some feel that improving the genes of future children will help mankind make a major evolutionary step forward. Others agree that there could be dangerous unforeseen consequences in our genetic futures if we proceed with such endeavors. A third group warns that the expense of genetic enhancement will further separate the wealthy from the poor and create a super race. Popular magazines and the Internet are two of the major arenas in which this debate has been hotly cont... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 21 Works Cited 1731 words (4.9 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] The FDA Should Prohibit Genetic Engineering - Abstract: Recent developments in genomic research have enabled humans to manipulate the genes of living organisms with genetic engineering. Scientists have used this momentous technology in environmental and most recently, agricultural spheres. However, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require that genetically altered foods be labeled as such. As a result, there is no protection against humans' ability to construct organisms that nature never intended to exist and to threaten nature's carefully balanced environment. Is it ethically responsible for the government to allow scientists to continue with these advances if they do not understand their consequences.... [tags: Genetic Engineering, Genetic Ethics] :: 10 Works Cited 2439 words (7 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering is Immoral - Genetic engineering gives the power to change many aspects of nature and could result in a lot of life-saving and preventative treatments. Today, scientists have a greater understanding of genetics and its role in living organisms. However, if this power is misused, the damage could be very great. Therefore, although genetic engineering is a field that should be explored, it needs to be strictly regulated and tested before being put into widespread use. Genetic engineering has also, opened the door way to biological solutions for world problems, as well as aid for body malfunctions.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 423 words (1.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering is Unethical - Just as the success of a corporate body in making money need not set the human condition ahead, neither does every scientific advance automatically make our lives more meaningful'; (Wald 45). These words were spoken by a Nobel Prize winning biologist and Harvard professor, George Wald, in a lecture given in 1976 on the Dangers of Genetic Engineering. This quotation states that incredible inventions, such as genetic engineering, are not always beneficial to society. Genetic engineering is altering the genetic material of cells and/or organisms in order to make them capable of making new substances or performing new functions'; (Wald 45).... [tags: Genetic Engineering is Immoral] :: 3 Works Cited 1141 words (3.3 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering is Unethical - Genetic engineering is a technology that has been created to alter DNA of different species to try and make them more improved. This essay will discuss the eugenics, the religious point of view about genetic engineering, genetically modified food and the genetic screening of embryos. In this essay it will be said wether genetic engineering is ethical or unethical. During 1924 Hitler said that everyone needs to be blond hair, blue eyes and white. This is known as Eugenics, thanks to a new science known as biotechnology in a few decades.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 492 words (1.4 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: Playing God - Current technology has made what once seemed impossible, mapping the human genome, a reality within the next decade. What began over forty years ago with the discovery of the basic structure of DNA has evolved into the Human Genome Project. This is a fifteen-year, three billion dollar effort to sequence the entire human genetic code. The Project, under the direction of the U.S. National Institute of Health and the department of Energy is ahead of schedule in mapping what makes up an individual's genetic imprint.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 634 words (1.8 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: Playing God - Regenerating extinct species, engineering babies that are born without vital body organs, this is what the use of genetic engineering brings to the world. In Greek myth, an chimera was a part lion, part goat, part dragon that lived in Lycia; in real life, its an animal customized with genes of different species. In reality, it could be a human-animal mixture that could result in horror for the scientific community. In myth the chimera was taken down by the warrior Bellerophon, the biotech version faces platoons of lawyers, bioethicists, and biologists (Hager).... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 8 Works Cited 1804 words (5.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering Research Paper - I. Introduction In the past three decades, scientists have learned how to mix and match characteristics among unrelated creatures by moving genes from one creature to another. This is called genetic engineering. Genetic Engineering is prematurely applied to food production. There are estimates that food output must increase by 60 percent over the next 25 years to keep up with demand. Thus, the result of scientist genetically altering plants for more consumption. The two most common methods for gene transfer are biological and electromechanical.... [tags: Science Biology Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 3 Works Cited 1347 words (3.8 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Human Genetic Engineering: Unnatural Selection - Introduction Technology has a significant influence across the world, as it has become a fast growing field. Modern biotechnology has been in the major forefront of this influence. From the discovery of DNA to the cloning of various animals, the study of genetic engineering has changed the way society views life. However, does genetic engineering have the capacity to influence the world to its best abilities. Products, which are genetically engineered, may cause severe negative effects on our society.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 3 Works Cited 1509 words (4.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering - At the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, Dr. Keith Campbell, director of embryology at PPL therapeutics in Roslin, and his colleague Dr. Ian Wilmut worked together on a project to clone a sheep, Dolly, from adult cells. On February 22, 1997, they finally succeeded. Dolly was the only lamb born from 277 fusions of oocytes with udder cells. Wilmut says there were so many failures because it is difficult to ensure that the empty oocytes and the donor cell are at the same stage of the cell division cycle.To clone Dolly, basically scientists took an unfertilized egg cell, removed the nucleus, replaced it with cells taken from the organism to be cloned, put it into an empty egg cell which... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 1446 words (4.1 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: Our Key to a Better World - What is genetic engineering one might ask and why is there so much moral controversy surrounding the topic. Genetic engineering as defined by Pete Moore, "is the name given to a wide variety of techniques that have one thing in common: they all allow the biologist to take a gene from one cell and insert it into another" (SS1). Such techniques included in genetic engineering (both "good" and "bad") are, genetic screening both during the fetal stage and later in life, gene therapy, sex selection in fetuses, and cloning.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 3 Works Cited 1117 words (3.2 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering and Cryonic Freezing: A Modern Frankenstein? - Genetic Engineering and Cryonic Freezing: A Modern Frankenstein. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a new being was artificially created using the parts of others. That topic thus examines the ethics of "playing God" and, though written in 1818, it is still a relevant issue today. Genetic engineering and cryogenic freezing are two current technologies related to the theme in the novel of science transcending the limits of what humans can and should do. Genetic engineering is widely used today.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essay Examples] :: 5 Works Cited 1507 words (4.3 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: The Tremendous Benefits Outweigh the Risks - Wouldn't it be great to improve health care, improve agriculture, and improve our quality of life. Genetic engineering is already accomplishing those things, and has the potential to accomplish much more. Genetic engineering, also referred to as biotechnology, is a fairly new science where the genes of an organism are modified to change the features of an organism or group of organisms. Genes are found in the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) of an organism, and each gene controls a specific trait of an organism.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essay Examples] :: 7 Works Cited 2253 words (6.4 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering Brings More Harm Than Good - Until the recent demise of the Soviet Union, we lived under the daily threat of nuclear holocaust extinguishing human life and the entire biosphere. Now it looks more likely that total destruction will be averted, and that widespread, but not universally fatal, damage will continue to occur from radiation accidents from power plants, aging nuclear submarines, and perhaps the limited use of tactical nuclear weapons by governments or terrorists. What has gone largely unnoticed is the unprecedented lethal threat of genetic engineering to life on the planet.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 1953 words (5.6 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering New Teeth - The article I read was about some scientists that were able to grow teeth inside rats bodies. This project was led by Pamela C. Yelick, a scientist for Forsyth Institute, and the project was conducted in Massachusetts. Joseph P. Vacanti, a tissue engineer at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Yelick had the idea for the experiment. Vacanti had previously worked with rats and he found that cells will naturally organize themselves into tissues and other complex structures if they are placed in the right environment.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] 736 words (2.1 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Ethics of Human Cloning and Genetic Engineering - INTRODUCTION When the Roslin Institute's first sheep cloning work was announced in March 1996 the papers were full of speculation about its long-term implications. Because of this discovery, the medias attention has focused mainly on discussion of the possibility, of cloning humans. In doing so, it has missed the much more immediate impact of this work on how we use animals. It's not certain this would really lead to flocks of cloned lambs in the fields of rural America, or clinically reproducible cuts of meat on the supermarket shelves.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 9 Works Cited 1845 words (5.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] We Must Educate Ourselves Before Passing Laws Restricting Cloning and Genetic Engineering - Biotechnology and genetic engineering involve the cloning of animal cells and organisms, but they also involve the alteration of an organism in an effort to make it more perfect, whether it is a crop, an animal, or even a human being. Obviously the cloning of humans or the cloning of human cells is much different than the cloning of genetically superior livestock or a better quality, higher yielding food crop, and people throughout the world realize this. The cloning of human beings has become one of the worst fears in our society today and for that reason many laws have been passed throughout European countries and North America in an effort to ban human cloning.... [tags: Genetic Engineering Essays] :: 4 Works Cited 1937 words (5.5 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] The Benefits of Human Genetic Engineering - Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is a revolutionary procedure that utilizes in vitro fertilization to implant a healthy egg cell into the mothers uterus after it is screened for mutations or other abnormalities. That way, only healthy eggs can develop to term and become beautiful, bouncing boys or girls. Designer babies have a bright future in the face of science because they are genetically engineered to be: disease free; viable donors for a sibling or parent; and with optional elimination of any severe cosmetic disorders that might develop,without risk to human diversity in the future.... [tags: Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, PGD] :: 6 Works Cited 1650 words (4.7 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering The Perfect Child - Modern society has an unquestionable preoccupation with perfection. Indulging in our vanities with things such as plastic surgery, veneers, botox, collagen, hair dye, and so on, have become a part of the socially acceptable norm. People do these things, and more, in an attempt to become their ideal selves. However, many are taking these practices to a completely new extreme, and are not stopping at just altering their own physical characteristics. With recent advances in medical science and technology, couples are now able to genetically modify embryos to create their ideal children.... [tags: Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis] :: 2 Works Cited 1022 words (2.9 pages) Strong Essays [preview] The Morals and Ethics of Genetic Engineering - Introduction Widely considered a revolutionary scientific breakthrough, genetic engineering has been on a path toward changing the world since its introduction in 1973 by Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer (What). However, as genetic engineering slowly permeates the lives of humanity, the morals and ethics behind what are now common practices are entering public attention, and as a culture we are left to question whether the change brought on by such a discovery bring benefits and positive change, or damage and destruction.... [tags: genetics, theology, bioethics, DNA, GMOs] :: 13 Works Cited 3322 words (9.5 pages) Research Papers [preview] The Human Genetic Engineering Debate - Science is moving forward at an increasing rate every day. Just in the past decade, there have been numerous new discoveries in astronomy, chemistry, geology, paleontology, and many more scientific fields. However, some of the fastest growing subjects are in the field of biological sciences, more specifically genetics. Over the past twenty years a new genetic science known as genetic engineering has come to prominence. Genetic engineering is the direct manipulation of an organisms genome using biotechnology, including a humans genome.... [tags: Genetics, Science Ethics] :: 9 Works Cited 1838 words (5.3 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering in the Modern World - Advances in biotechnology can be looked at two ways; both, positive and negative. People can also differ in what would qualify as a positive and negative way. Some may think that tinkering with Deoxyribonucleic acid also know as DNA, should not be allowed at all for any reason. Others may believe that manipulating human DNA can have many different beneficial outcomes. Biotechnology and genetic engineering can be looked at in two very different ways; can either be misused or unethical or it can be beneficial, ethical, and used for the better kind.... [tags: biotechnology, DNA, abortion] :: 1 Works Cited 966 words (2.8 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering and the Pursuit of Perfection - Research Paper Rough Draft In the year 2050, a young boy nervously rehearses what hes going to say as he approaches the cheerleader hes been too nervous to approach for the past month. But as he draws near, a jock pushes his books out of his hands. Hes teased, being the school wimp. They call him names like undesirable, god-child, and in-valid. Of course nobody cares for a less-than-perfect child whose genetic makeup was left to fate. With the introduction of genetic engineering into society, people like this young boy simply have no hope for competing against the likes of the genetically reimagined, perfect jock, people engineered to be unflawed.... [tags: Perfection, Body Image, Technology] :: 10 Works Cited 1898 words (5.4 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: Pros and Cons - Our world has finally begun its long-predicted descent into the depths of chaos. We may not yet realize it, but more and more problems plague the very state of our humanity with each passing day, such as cancer, famine, genetic disorders, and social elitism. It seems as though there is little hope, although a new solution has finally emerged, in the form of genetic engineering. It is apparent, however, that currently we cannot proceed, because while there are an abundant amount of advantages to genetic engineering, it is not a utopian process; criticism includes its practicality, theological implications, and changes in modern social structure.... [tags: Eugenics, Ethics] :: 5 Works Cited 1212 words (3.5 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Is Genetic Engineering Ethically Right? - Described at its most simple, ethics can be described as a socially constructed set of behaviours and beliefs deemed either acceptable or unacceptable by the vast majority of people. Ethical beliefs can vary somewhat from person to person and are ever changing and malleable (www.ncbi.nlm.gov/pubmed/15289521). There are three main ethical theories used by present day philosophers; these are Meta-ethics, Normative ethics and Applied ethics. Meta-ethics focuses on the nature of moral judgement and the foundation of ethical principles.... [tags: DNA, gene, diabetis] :: 10 Works Cited 1191 words (3.4 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering and the Public - Genetic Engineering and the Publics Uses of Genetic Engineering Opinions about genetic engineering range from disgust to awe. These opinions may also depend on what type of animal is being genetically manipulated, how such manipulation is being done, and for what reasons. In California, pet fish that have been genetically altered to fluoresce (glofish) have been restricted for sale.[1] Yet, for the rest of the United States these fish are found in several species, varieties and morphs. In California, Commissioner of Californias Fish and Game, Sam Schuchat, felt that there was a difference in genetic modification depending on the use of the product made.[2] The use of genetic engineering f... [tags: Stake Holders, Science, Dialogue] :: 6 Works Cited 877 words (2.5 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering: A Good Thing? - Today there are many definitions of Genetic Engineering, such as Genetic Engineering is a laboratory technique used by scientists to change the DNA of living organisms (Kowalski) and Genetic Engineering refers to the modification or manipulation of a living organisms genes (Genetic). No matter the wording all definitions of genetic engineering refers to somehow changing an organisms genetic identity. Many people today support genetic engineering because it has many potential benefits for today's society; however, it also has many potential threats associated with it.... [tags: argumentative, persuasive, informative] :: 19 Works Cited 1928 words (5.5 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering and its Drawbacks - In the past few years, there have been numerous technological advances, one of them being genetic engineering. Scientists are experimenting with genes and animals to create everything from a Day-Glo pet fish to a pig whose liver could be used in a liver transplant for humans. Scientists argue that genetic engineering can be used to test medicinal products without putting humans at risk, to battle diseases and to make a body with a stronger immune system, amongst many other reasons, which they claim are to improve the outcome of the human race.... [tags: gene, transplant, animal testing] :: 9 Works Cited 911 words (2.6 pages) Better Essays [preview] The Perfect Child: Genetic Engineering - Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could produce the perfect child. You picked their eye color, hair color, body type, even intelligence level. Instead of waiting nine months to see what your child looks like; you will already know because you chose their outer appearance. Improvements in science, has given way to the idea of allowing people to choose their offsprings physical attributes. This new concept is known as designer babies. A designer baby according to the oxford dictionary is a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering, combined with in vitro fertilization to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteris... [tags: Designer Babies, Stem Cells] :: 5 Works Cited 899 words (2.6 pages) Better Essays [preview] Cons of Genetic Modification of Plants - In our everyday lives we have a substantial need for food. Everyone on planet earth needs food to survive from day to day, so engineers have begun mutating plants and crops to create a better source of nutrition to the population. Scientists are pushing the boundaries in order to create the most bountiful crops and, in turn, healthier people. Imagine what could happen if there were larger harvests, more succulent fruits and nutritious vegetables. Our imagination can run wild with the endless possibilities of genetic alteration of food.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 5 Works Cited 1011 words (2.9 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Germline Engineering and Reprogenetic Technologies - Modern technologies are constantly advancing in a multitude of ways to the degree that scientists have gained enough knowledgeable about the human genome to be able to find specific genes during the embryonic stage of reproduction. Scientists have already begun to use this knowledge to allow parents the ability to select the sex of their child and screen for genetic diseases via preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) with in vitro fertilization (IVF). Sex-selection has already created world-wide discussion regarding the ethics of such a situation.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 4 Works Cited 2055 words (5.9 pages) Term Papers [preview] Genetic Engineering and Experimentation - ... However, Ill be using it in the context that it is the experimentation of genetic engineering to see if its safe for the public. While you might think genetic engineering/experimentation is all fun and games while youre having your genes modified to make you smarter, or prettier, or something like that, there are consequences and dangers that can come with that modification. Then again, once perfected, genetic engineering could do a lot of good for humanity and society in general. Eliminate diseases, fix mental and psychological disabilities, maybe even (and semi-hopefully) keep people from being outright stupid.... [tags: Science, Controversy] :: 4 Works Cited 880 words (2.5 pages) Better Essays [preview] The Genetic Engineering Debate - In recent discussions of genetic engineering, a controversial issue has been whether genetic engineering is ethical or not. In The Person, the Soul, and Genetic Engineering, JC Polkinghorne discusses about the moral status of the very early embryo and therapeutic cloning. J. H. Brookes article Commentary on: The Person, the Soul, and Genetic Engineering comments and state opinions that counter Polkinghornes article. On the other hand John Harriss Goodbye Dolly? The Ethics of Human Cloning examines the possible uses and abuses of human cloning and draw out the principal ethical dimensions, both of what might be done and its meaning, and of public and official response (353).... [tags: Ethical Dilemma, Embryos With Dignity] :: 4 Works Cited 1403 words (4 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Ethics of Genetic Modification Technology - Modern society is on the verge of a biotechnological revolution: the foods we eat no longer serve simply to feed us, but to feed entire nations, to withstand natural disasters, and to deliver preventative vaccination. Much of this technology exists due to the rapid development of genetic modification, and todays genetically modified crops are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Says Robert T. Fraley, chief technology officer for biotech giant Monsanto, Its like computers in the 1960s. We are just at the beginning of the explosion of technology we are going to see." Biotechnologys discontents are numerous and furious, declaring the efforts of corporations of Monsanto to be dangerous... [tags: Genetic Engineering] 776 words (2.2 pages) Better Essays [preview] Xerosotmia and genetic engineering - All around the globe, predominantly in the United States and in Europe, there are technological advances in science that affects the way people live. In recent years, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have replaced peoples diet with genetically altered foods, which has affected human health. In a broad view, GMOs are created by splicing genes of different species that are combined through genetic engineering, consequently improving the resulting organism. Large corporations who choose to use Xerosotmia i i make larger profits with less time and effort involved (ABNE).... [tags: biology, genetically modified organisms] :: 4 Works Cited 1309 words (3.7 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] The Dangers of Genetic Engineering - Genetically manipulating genes to create certain traits in a human embryo is impossible at this point. Perhaps it will never happen. It is not inevitable in the long run, as some scientists pragmatically point out. (Embgen). It is, however, something that dominates modern day discussion concerning genetics and therefore must be addressed with care and consideration. There are many ways that gene manipulation could come about. Advances in spermatogenesis as well as the field of assisted reproductive technology, as seen in In Vitro Fertilization clinics, point toward methods that could house the systematic alteration of genetic information in reproductive cells. Transpl... [tags: Genetic Manipulation Essays] :: 5 Works Cited 1033 words (3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Engineering the Perfect Human - For centuries, mankind has been fascinated by the idea of perfection. In recent decades, the issue has been raised regarding the perfect human and whether scientists are able to engineer and create this. Attempts have been made in the past to engineer this said perfect human, through eugenics and scientific racism, but until now, these attempts have been ineffective. Only now, with modern technology, are scientists able to make more significant progress in altering the human genome to the produce desired characteristics of perfection.... [tags: Genetic Engineering ] :: 21 Works Cited 1831 words (5.2 pages) Term Papers [preview] Can Genetic Modification Benefit Humanity? - Throughout the course of human history, new technological advancements have always created opposing views, and conflict between the different groups that hold them. Today, one of the greatest technological controversies is over the morals and practicality of genetically modifying crops and animals. Reasons for doing so vary from making them more nutritious to making plants more bountiful to allowing organisms to benefit humans in ways never before possible. Genetic engineering is a process in which genes within the DNA of one organism are removed and placed into the DNA of another, a reshuffling of genesfrom one species to another (Steinbrecher qtd.... [tags: Genetic Engineering] 1676 words (4.8 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering - In the field of animal and human genetic engineering there is much more speculation, than fact, because very little has actually been tested in the real world. Firstly, theres a big question mark over safety of genetic engineering. In addition, genetic engineering can cause greater problems than that what we have today. Moreover, we can create a injustice world between Designer vs Non-designer children. Furthermore, genetic engineering is a type of murder because of the process of genetically modifying a baby.... [tags: designer babies, perfect baby] :: 5 Works Cited 911 words (2.6 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering - Imagine a world where diseases can be found and prevented before they happen. This would be a future possibility if genetic engineering became more advanced. Genetic engineering is when parts of DNA are spliced into another piece of DNA which give new traits to the organism containing the DNA. Through continued research in the field of genetics, techniques such as mapping genomes and splicing DNA can be used beneficially to improve on existing organisms and their traits. To help understand genetic engineering, it is important to understand its history.... [tags: Cloning] :: 4 Works Cited 894 words (2.6 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering - In the 21st century, times are changing. Everyday objects are becoming perfect with alterations to their system. These alterations are not only occurring on man-made objects, but also on natural organisms, such as newborn babies. Science has come a long way to being able to have the capability to alter pre-born babies to a parents desire. There are four arguments that can be considered when discussing this topic, including nature and three others. While many scientific minds are all for creating perfection in a child, many different groups of minds are arguing this act against nature should be abolished from scientists minds.... [tags: Ethics] 888 words (2.5 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering - I, as a Christian, believe that the traits of a child are a blessing to a parent in one-way or another. Although I hold this true, I actually wouldnt mind being able to design my own baby. I mean, I could root out all of the bad traits, and add the ones I want. I would make my child a girl with olive skin, brown hair, bright green eyes, and to have the dancing feet of Fosse, the facial expressions of Liz Taylor, and the vocal chords of Lea Michelle. I want her to be a star of the screen or stage.... [tags: controversy, genes, physical traits, flaws] :: 3 Works Cited 890 words (2.5 pages) Better Essays [preview] Genetic Engineering - Moore's law, the statement that technologies will double every two years is a very thought-provoking inception for technologist and scientist (Moore's Law par.1). Numerous people are thrilled about this commandment while others are petrified. Why an individual might be troubled by technology one might inquire. Well there are many arguments that claim that technology is contrary to itself, nature, and humans. The unpretentious fact is technology is cohesive within the humanoid existence and will linger as time travels on.... [tags: genetically modified foods] :: 13 Works Cited 1461 words (4.2 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Human Genetic Engineering: Dreams and Nightmares - Technological breakthroughs and advancements have occurred so rapidly since the dawn of the information age, that one often overlooks the great power humanity holds over the building blocks of life itself. While our understanding and mapping of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences has been slow coming since Friedrich Mieschers isolation of the double-helix shaped molecule, efforts in recent decades to map the human genome have opened many doors to the potential manipulation of lifes basic elements.... [tags: human genome, human genetics, cloning] :: 7 Works Cited 1162 words (3.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview]

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Peter Dakota Molof spent a week supporting water protectors at resistance camps set up along Lake Oahe this is what he saw. [_descriptive_paragraph] => field_5539b34c3c3d0 [body] => As I turn off the two-lane highway that courses through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation into Oceti Sakowin Camp (technically an overflow camp from the original Camp of the Sacred Stones that formed in April of this year), I am bursting with feelings. Ive been on the road for three days in Greenpeaces Rolling Sunlight to provide solar power to #NoDAPL resistance efforts. Without strong cell reception, its been hard to know what to expect when I arrive, so Ive spent long days anxiously trying to imagine what it will be like at camp. But I dont think theres any way to prepare for a place like this. There isnt any way to prepare to witness history in the making. From the road, the valley flat provides an incredible view of the expanse of Oceti Sakowin, the surrounding camps, and the mass of protectors who have come from Nations far and wide to defend water from the Dakota Access Pipeline. After a brief chat with some helpful camp security, we begin pulling our 13-ton truck down the avenue of flags representing the Indigenous nations who have lent their support. I will spend the next week working with the hundreds of people who have pledged to peacefully and prayerfully stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Each day, there are non-violent direct action or peace-keeper trainings designed to ground us all in the principles of camp and our purpose here. The conversations are rich, delving into what the role of a protector is versus a protester, and how to hold each other accountable to the principles weve agree to. https://twitter.com/RuthHHopkins/status/779511223154937856?lang=en I am struck by how unique this moment is to be training with members of so many nations, with so many relatives from so many different places, and with so many people who have never before taken action on their principles in this way. These are our prayers in action. Among us are also leaders from other historic moments of Indigenous resistance, like Wounded Knee II and Alcatraz. We listen humbly to our Elders as they remind us that we are responsible for one anothers actions as much as we are responsible for our own. The days are long and the weather is turning cold. There is talk of what will happen when winter really hits, and protectors who have been here since last April recount how relentless the snow was last year. But no one is talking about leaving.

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For months, the Standing Rock Sioux and allies have been protecting their water by resisting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would carry 500,000 barrels of oil a day from North Dakota to Illinois. Peter Dakota Molof spent a week supporting water protectors at resistance camps set up along Lake Oahe this is what he saw.

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Watch the full show online! Visit the Explore More Genetic Engineering video page...

Would you want to clone your pet? Would you change your child's eye color? Do you care if your strawberry contains a gene for fish?

Explore More: Genetic Engineering tells you the story, gives you the facts, and then takes a closer look to help you unravel the core issues. Take a look at and interact with the content. Discuss what you learn with other people, form your own opinion on the subjects, but always keep an open mind.

As you go through this site, think about how genetic engineering is changing the way we live. This is a fascinating area that deserves our attention. Decisions and choices we make in our lifetime will affect how and why genetic engineering is used.

Investigate Explore More Teacher Resources WebQuests, Web links, lesson plans, teaching strategies, discussion questions, standards, and project goals help you leverage Explore More content to help student achievement and motivation. Get your students thinking with this useful collection of tools and tips! Find out more.

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Excerpt from:
Recent Articles | Genetic Engineering | The Scientist ...

New section started specially for students (Sep 2007) All useful study materials will be found there

As we have learnt that many students are using our website, we are just starting a students section. There you will find this and other documents of special value for writing your reports and theses.

What is Genetic Engineering?A simple introduction

This text is written so that even you who have forgotten much of what you may have learned about genetics will understand it. Therefore, the description is as simple as possible (some details of minor importance have been omitted or simplified).

If you want a very brief overview, go to "A first introduction to genetic engineering".

If you only want to rapidly get an idea of the great difference between mating and genetic engineering, see the "at a glance" illustration (elementary level)

Contents

1. The hereditary substance

The hereditary substance, DNA is what is manipulated by Genetic Engineering, below called GE.

DNA contains a complete set of information determining the structure and function of a living organism, be it a bacterium, a plant or a human being. DNA constitutes the genes, which in turn are found in the chromosomes in the cell nucleus.

For schematic picture of the spiral-formed DNA-moleculse click here: DNA

DNA is a very long string of "code words", arranged in an orderly sequence. It contains the instructions for creating all the proteins in the body.

Proteins are truly remarkable molecules. They can have many different properties. All the various tissues in the body are mainly made of proteins. Likewise all kinds of regulatory substances like enzymes, hormones and signal substances. There are many other proteins like for example different substances protecting from infection like antibodies.

The properties of a protein are entirely decided by its form, which is decided by the sequence of its building blocks, the amino acids. The set of code words required to describe one protein is called a "gene"

The DNA-protein system is an ingeniously simple and extremely powerful solution for creating all kinds of biological properties and structures. Just by varying the sequence of code words in the DNA, innumerable variations of proteins with very disparate properties can be obtained, sufficient to generate the enormous variety of biological life. For more about it, see "The cell - a miracle of cooperation"[EL]

If you want to know more about DNA, you could look up:

2. Mating - natural recombination of hereditary information

Through mating, the DNA of two parents is combined.

This can be described in a simplified way like this:

In plants and animals, the DNA is not just one long string of "codewords". It is divided into a set of strings called chromosomes. Commonly, each cell has a double set of chromosomes, one from the mother and one from the father.

In the germinal cells (the cells involved in mating), however, there is just one set. In mating, the set of the mother and father join together to create an embryonic cell with a double set of chromosomes. This embryonic cell divides into two identical copies. These divide in turn. In this way the whole organism will come to contain identical sets of chromosomes (the reason that the tissues have different properties in different parts of the grown up body is that different genes are active in them).

Mating summarized in a simple illustration

(The DNA of plants and animals contains hundreds of millions of "code syllables". To represent the complete set of information, each circle below would correspond to about 30 million code syllables. In the illustration below, each circle represents 300 code syllables. One code word, corresponding to one amino acid, contains three code syllables. One gene contains at an average about 1000 code words. The genes are about 3% of all DNA)

(The names of the colors have been written to simplify for those with color blindness)

A DNA string (part of a chromosome) in the germ cell of the mother (green):

The corresponding DNA string in the germ cell of the father (blue) :

(The syllables A and Z are just symbolical to mark the beginning and end of the two corresponding DNA strings).

Through mating, the strings are combined to create the DNA of the body cells:

The combined DNA in the offspring (one green and one blue string):

So in mating, there occurs no manipulation of the natural and orderly sequence of code words and sets of code words, the genes.

3. Genetic engineering, an artificial manipulation of genes

In genetic engineering, one gene or most commonly, a set of a few genes is taken out of the DNA of one organism and inserted into the DNA of another organism. This we call the "insertion package" illustrated in red:

Insertion package (red):

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

This insertion package is inserted into the DNA of the recipient organism.

DNA of the recipient before insertion:

There is no way to make a gene insert in a predetermined location. So the insertion is completely haphazard. Below the insertion package (red) has happened to become inserted in the chromosome string stemming from the mother (green):

DNA of the recipient after insertion:

This means that the sequential order of the genetic code of the mother string has been disrupted by a sequence of codes that are completely out of place. This may have several serious consequences as you find more about in "Is Genetic Engineering a variety of breeding?"[ML].

4. The difference between mating and genetic engineering at a glance

In mating a chromosome from the mother, o-o-o-o (green ) is combined with a chromosome of the father, o-o-o-o (blue). The sequence of DNA "code words" in each chromosome remains unchanged. And the chromosomes remain stable. The mating mechanism has been developed over billions of years and yields stable and reliable results.

Mating:

Genetic engineering:

In genetic engineering, a set of foreign genes, o-o-o-o (red) is inserted haphazardly in the midst of the sequence of DNA "code words" (in this case in the DNA inherited from the mother [green])). The insertion disrupts the ordinary command code sequence in the DNA. This disruption may disturb the functioning of the cell in unpredictable and potentially hazardous ways. The insertion may make the chromosome unstable in an unpredictable way.

A second fundamental difference is that, in genetic engineering, special constructs of genetic material derived from viruses and bacteria are added to the "desired gene". These constructs don't exist in natural food. They are needed for three major purposes:

These constructs may cause trouble of various kinds. See e.g.:

For more about how these constructs work, see: "How are genes engineered" [ML] Explains the technique of Genetic Engineering.

The key assumption of genetic engineering is that you can "tailor" organisms by adding genes with desirable properties. But science has found that genes don't work as isolated carriers of properties. Instead the effects of every gene is the outcome of interaction with its environment. The situation is succinctly summarized by Dr Craig Venter:

"In everyday language the talk is about a gene for this and a gene for that. We are now finding that that is rarely so. The number of genes that work in that way can almost be counted on your fingers, because we are just not hard-wired in that way."

"You cannot define the function of genes without defining the influence of the environment. The notion that one gene equals one disease, or that one gene produces one key protein, is flying out of the window."

Dr. J. Craig Venter, Time's Scientist of the year (2000). President of the Celera Corporation. Dr. Venter is recognized as one of the two most important scientists in the worldwide effort to map the human genome.

Source: Times, Monday February 12, 2001 "Why you can't judge a man by his genes" http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-82213,00.html

This is further explained in "The new understanding of genes" [ML].

Conclusion

So technically, genetic engineering is an unnatural insertion of a foreign sequence of genetic codes in the midst of the orderly sequence of genetic codes of the recipient, developed through millions of years. In addition, powerful artificial genetic constructs are added with potentially problematic effects. This is a profound intervention with unpredictable consequences:

"Up to now, living organisms have evolved very slowly, and new forms have had plenty of time to settle in. Now whole proteins will be transposed overnight into wholly new associations, with consequences no one can foretell, either for the host organism, or their neighbors.... going ahead in this direction may be not only unwise, but dangerous. Potentially, it could breed new animal and plant diseases, new sources of cancer, novel epidemics."

Dr. George Wald. Nobel Laureate in Medicine 1967. Higgins Professor of Biology, Harvard University. (From: 'The Case against Genetic Engineering' by George Wald, in The Recombinant DNA Debate, Jackson and Stich, Eds. P. 127-128. ; Reprinted from The Sciences, Sept./Oct. 1976 issue)

To Students Section

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What is Genetic Engineering? - An elementary introduction ...

Human Genetic Engineering - A Hot Issue! Human genetic engineering is a hot topic in the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government. Time will tell how committed the United States will be regarding the absolute ban on human cloning.

Human Genetic Engineering - Position of the U.S. Government Human genetic engineering has made its way to Capitol Hill. On July 31, 2001, the House of Representatives passed a bill which would ban human cloning, not only for reproduction, but for medical research purposes as well. The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001, sponsored by Rep. Weldon (R-fL) and co-sponsored by over 100 Representatives, passed by a bipartisan vote of 265-to-162. The Act makes it unlawful to: "1) perform or attempt to perform human cloning, 2) participate in an attempt to perform cloning, or 3) ship or receive the product of human cloning for any purpose." The Act also imposes penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment and no less than $1,000,000 for breaking the law. The same bill, sponsored by Sen. Brownback (R-kS), is currently being debated in the Senate.

The White House also opposes "any and all attempts to clone a human being; [they] oppose the use of human somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning techniques either to assist human reproduction or to develop cell or tissue-based therapies."

Human Genetic Engineering - The Problems There are many arguments against human genetic engineering, including the established safety issues, the loss of identity and individuality, and human diversity. With therapeutic cloning, not only do the above issues apply, but you add all the moral and religious issues related to the willful killing of human embryos. Maybe the greatest concern of all is that man would become simply another man-made thing. As with any other man-made thing, the designer "stands above [its design], not as an equal but as a superior, transcending it by his will and creative prowess." The cloned child will be dehumanized. (See, Leon Kass, Preventing a Brave New World: Why we should ban human cloning now, New Republic Online, May 21, 2001.)

Human Genetic Engineering - A Final Thought Human genetic engineering leads to man usurping God as the almighty creator and designer of life. No longer will a child be considered a blessing from God, but rather, a product manufactured by a scientist. Man will be a created being of man. However, man was always intended to be a created being of God, in His absolute love, wisdom and glory.

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