Hugo Villafana
English A102/109
Mr. McCoy
21 April 2016
GMOs: A Blessing or a Curse? Even though genetically modified organisms or better known as GMOs have been available in the market for a really short time, their commercial used is expanding with extraordinary velocity. GM crops in wildly use include corn, soybeans, cotton, potatoes, canola, and many more (Nelson 3). And while some people believe that GMOs are a blessing, others think that they’re a curse, but what exactly are GMOs? They are living organisms, such as plants, fruits, vegetables, bacteria, seeds, and animals, into which genes of other species have been inserted. These foreign genes change the characteristics of the recipient organism (Feldmann 1). A process called “gene …show more content…
With this in mind, in 2001, videos about the greatness of GMOs started to appear on TV. The Consul for Biotechnology Information, a group of “leading biotechnology companies and associations” (Weals 56) introduced a TV advertising as part of a campaign titled “Why Biotech?” the video starts with a medical facility, but then changes to a village in Asia focusing on the people of the village. ‘‘From medicine to agriculture, biotechnology is providing solutions that are improving lives today, and could improve our world tomorrow’’ (Weals 57). Then the camera focus on a female working on a farm with his child next to her, lifting her head to emphasize that GM will give a better life opportunity for her and her child. The new strategy consisted in creating a stereotype of a poor farmer that seems the light of a better future by farming GM products. But the Consul for Biotechnology Information wasn’t the only one doing that. Monsanto website was filled with video testimonials from farmers from far away, such as “Burkina Faso, South Africa, and the Philippines” (Wealse 58). Monsanto’s videos spread the word of farmers on behave of the goods of GMOs. ‘‘My name is Thandiwe Myeni, I’ve got five kids, my husband is no more. We had a huge problem—the problem of the insects, the worms . . . and in …show more content…
Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer at the University of Freiburg in Germany announced that they had created a new type of rice, fortified with B-carotene (which produces vitamin A), that had the potential to save the lives of millions of children around the world, the Golden Rice (Wealse 69). This invention was made in 1999, and ever since, Golden Rice has encountered different kinds of obstacles that have prevented it’s longing humanitarian debut. Back then, the Golden Rice was able to produce 1.6 micrograms of B-carotene which would mean that for people to be full, the would have to eat three to five pounds of the rice very day. Because of this scientist still working on the Golden Rice so that it can produce more B-carotene and hence reduce the amount need it for a person to meet their amount of vitamin A needed. However, the Golden Rice is not the only hope and future of GM crops. Today, scientists are also working in a new type of GMOs called GURT (Genetic Used Restriction Technologies). GURT are a type of anti-germinating, self-sterilizing seed, which is unable to grow after one growing season (Daniel 251). GURTs are still a technology in the process of evolution, but scientists are very confident that GURT are and will be more efficient than GMOs (Daniel 252). In addition to efficiency, GURT will eliminate the conception that GMOs are
English A102/109
Mr. McCoy
21 April 2016
GMOs: A Blessing or a Curse? Even though genetically modified organisms or better known as GMOs have been available in the market for a really short time, their commercial used is expanding with extraordinary velocity. GM crops in wildly use include corn, soybeans, cotton, potatoes, canola, and many more (Nelson 3). And while some people believe that GMOs are a blessing, others think that they’re a curse, but what exactly are GMOs? They are living organisms, such as plants, fruits, vegetables, bacteria, seeds, and animals, into which genes of other species have been inserted. These foreign genes change the characteristics of the recipient organism (Feldmann 1). A process called “gene …show more content…
With this in mind, in 2001, videos about the greatness of GMOs started to appear on TV. The Consul for Biotechnology Information, a group of “leading biotechnology companies and associations” (Weals 56) introduced a TV advertising as part of a campaign titled “Why Biotech?” the video starts with a medical facility, but then changes to a village in Asia focusing on the people of the village. ‘‘From medicine to agriculture, biotechnology is providing solutions that are improving lives today, and could improve our world tomorrow’’ (Weals 57). Then the camera focus on a female working on a farm with his child next to her, lifting her head to emphasize that GM will give a better life opportunity for her and her child. The new strategy consisted in creating a stereotype of a poor farmer that seems the light of a better future by farming GM products. But the Consul for Biotechnology Information wasn’t the only one doing that. Monsanto website was filled with video testimonials from farmers from far away, such as “Burkina Faso, South Africa, and the Philippines” (Wealse 58). Monsanto’s videos spread the word of farmers on behave of the goods of GMOs. ‘‘My name is Thandiwe Myeni, I’ve got five kids, my husband is no more. We had a huge problem—the problem of the insects, the worms . . . and in …show more content…
Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer at the University of Freiburg in Germany announced that they had created a new type of rice, fortified with B-carotene (which produces vitamin A), that had the potential to save the lives of millions of children around the world, the Golden Rice (Wealse 69). This invention was made in 1999, and ever since, Golden Rice has encountered different kinds of obstacles that have prevented it’s longing humanitarian debut. Back then, the Golden Rice was able to produce 1.6 micrograms of B-carotene which would mean that for people to be full, the would have to eat three to five pounds of the rice very day. Because of this scientist still working on the Golden Rice so that it can produce more B-carotene and hence reduce the amount need it for a person to meet their amount of vitamin A needed. However, the Golden Rice is not the only hope and future of GM crops. Today, scientists are also working in a new type of GMOs called GURT (Genetic Used Restriction Technologies). GURT are a type of anti-germinating, self-sterilizing seed, which is unable to grow after one growing season (Daniel 251). GURTs are still a technology in the process of evolution, but scientists are very confident that GURT are and will be more efficient than GMOs (Daniel 252). In addition to efficiency, GURT will eliminate the conception that GMOs are