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20 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are worldwide benefits for agriculture? |
Crops can be transformed to give higher yields or to be more nutritious. This could reduce the risk of famine and malnutrition? |
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What is an example of how recombinant DNA has helped to improve nutrition? |
Golden rice has been transformed to enable rice to produce beta carotene. This is used to make vitamin A and is being used to reduce the number of cases of vitamin A deficiencies. |
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How else can crops be modified? |
They can be modified to be more tolerant to environmental extremes or resistant to pests. These means areas previously unsuitable for crops can be used, providing more food for a growing population |
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What is one of the risks in agriculture? |
A recombinant gene could pass from one organism to another via a virus, leading to superweeds which could have a higher growth rate and be resistant to herbicides. |
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What is another risk in agriculture? |
Farmers could grow monocultures, one type of crop. If they're genetically identical, a disease could wipe out the whole crop. It also reduces biodiversity |
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What is a risk to niche agriculture? |
Organic farmers may have their crops contaminated by wind-blown GM seeds, so they can no longer sell their crops as organic and lose their income |
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What is the final risk to agriculture? |
There may be financial consequences to developing crops that can grow in new areas |
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What is a benefit to industry? |
Enzymes can be produced by transformed organisms, which increases the quantity produced and decreases cost. E.g. chymosin is an enzyme used to make cheese that used to be made from rennet (from cows). Now it can be made, so it's suitable for vegetarians. |
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What is a risk to industry? |
A few large companies control some forms of genetic engineering, as they get bigger, smaller companies are forced ut of business. |
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What is another risk to industry? |
Large companies may patent particular seeds, so they can charge high prices for them and may make farmers repurchase them every year. |
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What is a risk to the food industry? |
Without proper labelling, people may not have a choice whether they consume GM crops or not. They're also worried that the process used to purify proteins could introduce toxins into the food industry. |
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What is a benefit to medicine? |
It can be used to make drugs and vaccines e.g. insulin used to come from animal pancreases. Now, human insulin can be made. |
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What is another benefit to medicine? |
Microorganisms could be modified to make a range of substances which could be used to treat diseases and disorders. These can be produced quickly, cheaply and in large quantities. |
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What is the final benefit to medicine? |
GM plants can be modified to produce antigens for vaccines. |
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What is a risk for its use in medicine? |
Companies that own this technology may limit the use of technologies that could be saving people's lives. |
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What is another risk in medicine? |
The ability to change human genes could lead to eugenics as it may lead to the selection of one race rather than another. |
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What's another risk in medicine? |
GM bacteria often have antibiotic resistant marker genes. They could pass these genes to harmful bacteria through conjugation |
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What is the final risk in medicine? |
There's some debate over who owns genetic material from humans once it's been removed from the body- the donor or researcher. Some argue that the individual holds the right to their genetic information. Others argue value is created by the researcher who uses it to develop a medicine or in diagnosis. |
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What is an advantage in other areas? |
Microorganisms can be used to control pollution e.g. to break up and digest oil slicks. Cre needs to be taken to ensure bacteria doesn't destroy oil where it's required. |
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What safety measures are put in place to prevent this? |
A suicide gene can be incorporated into the bacteria's genome, causing them to destroy themselves once the oil slick has been digested. |
