Franchino, Jen, et al. "The Cons of Genetic Engineering of Plants, Crops, and Genetically Engineered Food." Cotelligent
Genetic Engineering Project. University of Delaware, 8 May 2000. Web. 23 Oct. 2011.
In this article, the numerous drawbacks of genetic engineering are listed. As far as plants and crops, genetic engineering gives all seeds identical genetic structures. This means that any failure, as far as fungi, pests, and viruses, would be widespread. Also, due to wind and insects, the genetically modified crop seeds can be spread to fields of non-genetically modified crops. This could then cause the crops to cross-polinate, causing unforseen and irreversable side effects. Genetically engineered crops can also be harmful to organisms that live in soil and around fields. In terms of genetically modified food, the GE food has not been fully tested and contains substances from far outside the natural human diet. Additionally, there are many possible genetic mutations and potential allergies.
The authors' intent was to inform of all sides of the genetic engineering argument. In this specific article, their intent was to inform people of the drawbacks of genetic engineering in crops, plants, and food. There was a clear bias against genetic engineering in this instance.
Genetic engineering gives all seeds identical generic structures? So basically if the plants All get infected, the crops that the infection spread to would be wasted. Did the author include research regarding how much money farmers would lose if this happened to their crops? And would the land be good to use for crops the next year? Good article!
ReplyDeleteGood article, Laura! I'm assuming this is the topic you are doing for your research paper...I agree with Haylee, what happens if the crops get infected? Would they be able to fix that problem, or would they be gone to garbage? I'm not too educated on genetic engineering, but it seems like an interesting topic to further look into!
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