Two 18-month-old

coho salmon show

the difference
genetic engineering
can make. The top
fish has been given
a modified gene
that lets it grow at
a faster pace, while
its unmodified
cousin grows more
slowly in winter.

The Battle for Biotech Foods

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Genetic engineering of crops and animals

through the manipulation of DNA is
producing a revolution in food production.
It is also starting a battle between those who
believe in its promise and critics who doubt
and fear it. The potential to improve the
quality and nutritional value of the vegetables
and animals we eat seems unlimited. Such
potential benefits notwithstanding, critics fear
that genetically engineered products, so-called
biotech foods, are being rushed to market
before their effects are fully understood.

Q: What are biotech foods?

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Biotech foods are produced from animals

and plants that have been genetically altered.
Genetic alteration is nothing new. Humans
have been altering the genetic traits1 of plants
for thousands of years by keeping seeds from
the best crops and planting them in following
years, and by breeding varieties to make them
taste sweeter, grow bigger, or last longer. In
this way weve transformed the wild tomato
from a fruit the size of a small stone to the
giant ones we have today. From a plant called
teosinte with an ear barely an inch long has
come our foot-long2 ears of sweet white and
yellow corn.
On the other hand, the techniques of genetic
engineering are new, and quite different
from conventional breeding. Conventional
breeders always used plants or animals that
were related, or genetically similar. In so doing,

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they transferred tens of thousands of genes. By

contrast, todays genetic engineers can transfer
just a few genes at a time between species that
are distantly related or not related at all. There
are surprising examples: rat genes have been
inserted into lettuce plants to make a plant
that produces vitamin C, and moth genes have
been inserted into apple trees to add disease
resistance. The purpose of conventional and
modern techniques is the sameto insert a
gene or genes from an organism that carries
a desired trait into an organism that does not
have the trait. Several dozen biotech food
crops are currently on
the market, among
them varieties of corn,
soybeans, and cotton.
Most of these crops
are engineered to help
farmers deal with ageold3 farming problems:
weeds,4 insects, and
disease.
 trait is a particular characteristic,
A
quality, or tendency that someone
or something has and which can
be inherited.
2
One inch = 2.54 cm;
One foot = 12 inches (30 cm).
3
An age-old story, tradition, or
problem has existed for many
generations or centuries.
4
A weed is a wild plant that grows
in gardens or fields of crops and
prevents the plants that you want
from growing properly.
1

The papaya ringspot virus

threatened the entire
Hawaiian papaya industry
until 1998, when farmers
were given seeds genetically
modified to improve
resistance.

3B Genetic Engineering

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Q: Are biotech foods safe for humans?

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As far as we know. So far, problems have been

few. In fact, according to Steve L. Taylor,
of the Department of Food Science and
Technology at the University of Nebraska,
None of the current biotech products have
been implicated5 in allergic reactions or any
other healthcare problem in people. Some
biotech foods might even be safer than
conventional varieties. Corn damaged by
insects often contains high levels of fumonisins,
toxins6 that are carried on the backs of insects
and that grow in the wounds of the damaged
corn. Lab tests have linked fumonisins with
cancer in animals. Studies show that most corn
modified for insect resistance has lower levels
of fumonisins than conventional corn damaged
by insects.

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theyve been adequately tested.

On the other hand, advocates of genetically
engineered crops argue that some genetically
modified plants may actually be good for the
land, by offering an environmentally friendly
alternative to pesticide,9 which tends to pollute
water and harm animals. Far less pesticide
needs to be applied to cotton plants that have
been genetically modified to produce their
own natural pesticide. While applied chemical
pesticides kill nearly all the insects in a field,
biotech crops with natural pesticide only harm
insects that actually try to eat those crops,
leaving the rest unharmed.
At a test field in Colorado, U.S.A, a farmer demonstrates
a genetically modified corn plant that outperforms its
conventional cousin.

However, biotech foods have had problems in

the past. One problem occurred in the mid1990s when soybeans were modified using
genes from a nut. The modified soybeans
contained a protein7 that causes reactions in
humans who are allergic to nuts. While this
protein was discovered before any damage was
done, critics fear that other harmful proteins
created through genetic modification may slip
by undiscovered. The technique of moving
genes across dramatically different species, such
as rats and lettuce, also makes critics nervous.
They fear something could go very wrong
either in the function of the inserted gene or
in the function of the host8 DNA, with the
possibility of unexpected health effects.

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Q: Can biotech foods harm the environment?

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Most scientists agree that the main safety issues

of genetically engineered crops involve not
people but the environment. Allison Snow
is a plant ecologist at Ohio State University
known for her research on gene flow, the
natural movement of plant genes from one
population of plants to another. She worries
that genetically engineered crops are being
developed too quickly and released before

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Unit 3 Food and Health

If someone is implicated in a crime or bad situation, they are involved in it

or responsible for it.
6
DNA is a material in living things that contains the code for their structure
and many of their functions.
7
Epidemiologists are scientists who study outbreaks of disease.
8
When sellers recall a product, they ask customers to return it to them.
5

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Out of every ten rice plants that scientists at Cornell University,

U.S.A., modify, only one or two will be suited for future development.
Researchers must monitor dozens of specimen dishes to determine
which plants will offer improvements over the original rice.

Q: Can biotech foods help feed the world?

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Eight hundred million people on this planet

are malnourished,10 says Channapatna
Prakash, a native of India and a scientist at
the Center for Plant Biotechnology Research
at Tuskegee University, and the number
continues to grow. Prakash and many other
scientists argue that genetic engineering can
help address the urgent problems of food
shortage and hunger by increasing crop
quantities and nutritional value, offering crop
varieties that resist pests and disease, and
providing ways to grow crops on land that
would otherwise not support farming.

University. Beta-carotene,12 which is already

widely available in fruit and vegetables, isnt
converted to vitamin A when people are
malnourished. Golden rice does not contain
much beta-carotene, and whether it will
improve vitamin A levels remains to be seen.

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Q: What next?

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Whether biotech foods will deliver on their

promise of eliminating world hunger and
bettering the lives of all remains to be seen.
Their potential is enormous, yet they carry
risks. If science proceeds with caution, testing
new products thoroughly and using sound
judgment, the world may avoid the dangers
of genetic modification, while enjoying
its benefits.

According to the World Health Organization,

for example, between 100 million and 140
million children in the world suffer from
vitamin A deficiency.11 Some 500,000 go blind
every year because of that deficiency, and half
of those children die within a year of losing
their sight. Golden rice, a biotech variety
named for its yellow color, is thought by some
to be a potential solution to the suffering and
illness caused by vitamin A deficiency.
Skeptics, however, claim that golden rice is
little more than a public relations exercise by
the biotechnology industry, which they say has
exaggerated its benefits. Golden rice alone
wont greatly diminish vitamin A deficiency,
says Professor Marion Nestle of New York

For the Wathome family in eastern Kenya, biotechnologys

risks are greatly outweighed by its rewards. Before getting
genetically modified disease-free banana seedlings, they
barely had enough to eat. Now they sell a surplus.
 omeone who is malnourished is weakened from not eating
S
enough or the right kinds of food.
11
Deficiency in something, especially something that your body
needs, is not having enough of it.
12
Beta-carotene, a natural substance found in red or orange fruit
and vegetables, is used in the body to create vitamin A.
10

3B Genetic Engineering

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