June 2013
GENETIC FOOD
What is the largest producer of genetically modified seeds ?
For answer look below .
This is the “ Flavr Saver ” tomato which was the first genetically modified food to hit the markets .
Pretty cool , huh ?
SO HOW DOES GENETIC ENGINEERING WORK ?
They edit the DNA . I am guessing though you would like more information on it so read on .
Genetic engineering is a simple concept but very hard to do . It is simple because all you do is edit the genetics of something . Now the ways of doing that are very complicated . There are two ways to genetically modify food . Probably the simplest way is to take the bacterium Agrobacterium Tumefaciens , which injects it ’ s DNA into plants to create plant tumors . You remove the tumor causing trait that floats around freely in the cytoplasm and you replace it with the DNA ( genes ) that you want . Then it injects it ’ s DNA into the plant . The other way is to use a tool called a gene gun . This is a gun that
injects fibers coated with DNA into a plant to replace the old DNA . There is a diagram on the next page that shows the production of recombinant DNA . Now that you know how genetically modified food is made what do you think some environmental problems may be ?
Did you ever realize how large these
companies where ? Just to give an idea “ The top 10 seed companies account for
$ 14,785 million – or two-thirds ( 67 %) of the global proprietary seed
market . ” ( page 12 of Who Owns Nature ? Corporate Power and the Final Frontier in the Commodification of Life . By the etc group .)
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