NATS 1510 – Lecture 11 – Genetically Modified Foods
Genetically Modified Foods
- Recombinant DNA technology attempts to transfer genetic traits from one organism to another, receiving organisms are “transgenic”
- synthetic materials do not exist in that form in nature, breaking down substances
- Biotechnology research, industry and government, economics
- Accepting new technologies before impact known
- Genetically modified crops presented as solution to problems (such as soil erosion, pest resistant insects, etc.) created by chemicals
Questioning Transgenic Impacts
- The impact of transgenic foods is questioned on a number of grounds:
o The importance of non-human life is versus human rights
o Assumption that transgenics are different in degree, not in kind and thus will not harm biosystems
o The assumption that transgenics are not that different than other agricultural technologies
- Plants with a range of characteristics, some designed to increase yields, also resistant to certain herbicides (weed killers), specifically engineered herbicides
- Scientists and transgenics, feeding hungry and poor, interests of people first
- Some of the consequences of the adoption of transgenics:
o Unsafe to use in areas where populations are sick or malnourished
o Increased development of cash crops and competition with developing world farmers
o Transgenics and herbicides, chemical dependencies
o Increased yields will devalue poor farmer’s crops
o Diversion of resources from more sustainable practices
o Traits from transgenic crops can be transferred to other plants
o Once modified the genes cannot be removed
o Wildlife is harmed by these substances
- Disagreement about impact of biotechnologies on human, animal and plant populations, development should slow
- Poorer populations bear the brunt of new technologies, cannot consent to their use
- Anthropogenic laws, laws that treat human beings, and our needs, as paramount over all others in the environment
- New species being introduced into new environments cause significant problems
- Biotechnologies not like chemicals, cannot draw on our experience of chemicals to argue for the safety of biotechnologies
- Food, religious and health impacts, consumer right to know what transgenics are in their food supply
- Logic of economics: we consider dumping pollution on poor countries as the impact on productivity would be the least there