Genetically Modified Crops: Advantages, Needs, Safety and Future Trends

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Traditional breeding techniques have been used for years to alter the genomes of plants and animals. With the progress of science and technology, many achievements have been made by humans in the field of biology. Advances in genetic engineering have made it possible to precisely control the genetic changes introduced into an organism. Crops are the most frequently cited examples of genetically modified organisms (GMO). In recent years, with the rapid development of genetically modified (GM) technology and its application in crops, the safety of GM foods, especially agricultural products, has gradually become a global focus. The paper discusses the advantages, needs and safety of GM crops, as well as the development and application trends of GM crops in the future.

Introduction

Traditional breeding techniques have been used to alter the genomes of plants and animals. Crossbreeding has been around since the agrarian age. Artificial selection for certain desirable traits has produced a wide variety of organisms. The most striking example of artificial selection in plant genetics is the evolution of corn. Corn was originally a wild grass called teosinte with spikelet and very few kernels. Over hundreds of years, the ears of teosinte grew larger and with more and more kernels to form what we know as corn. Most of the foods we eat today were created through traditional breeding methods. But it usually takes a long time to change plants through traditional breeding. The long process of traditional breeding has been unable to meet the needs of population growth and social progress. And it is difficult to make concrete changes. The development of genetic engineering in recent decades have made it possible to precisely control the genetic changes introduced into an organism. Scientists were able to make changes in more concrete ways and in a shorter time frame. Faster and more accurate is genetic engineering, which allows scientists to copy genes with desirable traits from one organism and transplant them into another. More recently, methods such as genome editing have given us more targeted ways to create new crop varieties. A notable example of GMO food safety is Bt corn. To turn corn into a GM crop, scientists need to identify the genes that produce the genetic traits of interest and separate them from the other genetic material from the donor plant. The donor organisms can be a bacterium, fungus, or other plant. The donor organism for Bt corn is Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Bt is a soil bacterium that produces an insecticidal toxin. Bt genes are inserted into crops to make them resistant to certain pests by producing an insecticidal toxin.

Body

The study published in the prestigious science journal ‘Nature’, aims to prove that the DNA from GM crops can be transferred to humans who eat them. What they finally found contradicted their hypothesis. Plant DNA can generally be found in the human bloodstream with no prescribed harm. The study found GM crops protein in 93% of blood samples from pregnant women, 80% of umbilical cord blood, and 69% of blood samples from nonpregnant women. The toxin they used was an insecticidal protein produced by the Bt bacterium, a gene inserted into the DNA of corn to make what is known as Bt corn. Bt corn has been used in animal feed. As it is found mainly in animal feed, there is no direct evidence of how it got into women. Researchers initially thought it might be due to exposure to contaminated meat. Bt was considered as a toxin. In fact, it is a toxin to corn worms, but not necessarily to humans. There is no data showing that Bt toxin is harmful to humans. Evidence suggests that Bt is one of the few non-toxic pesticides that are regularly sprayed on organic fruits and vegetables. The study confirms the safety of GM crops.

As a result of an ever-growing global population and changes in dietary habits, the demand for food has increased the demand for high-yielding food and feed crops. It is estimated that the global population will grow to about 9.7 billion by 2050. It is extremely time-consuming to produce plants with improved quality traits such as disease resistance, extended shelf-life, and drought resistance by conventional breeding. In this case, GM crops can be seen as the most effective way to increase food and feed production efficiently by producing plants with higher yields and greater nutritional benefits in a reasonably short period of time. The most common GM traits are insect resistance and herbicide tolerance in GM crops. GM soybean, corn, rapeseed, and cotton are the most common crops in markets and life. GM crops contain transgenic traits with improved quality and can significantly speed up the developmental process. GMOs overcome the barriers to interspecies incompatibility and greatly increase the size of the available gene pool. GM crops allow breeders to introduce specific genes from a variety of sources to produce more useful and high-yielding crops. The future adaptability of GM crops within the agricultural sector has increased agricultural productivity, contributed to economic growth, and satisfied global food demand.

Conclusion and Future Prospects

The future of GM crops is very promising. It meets the future global demand for food, feed and fiber in a sustainable and responsible manner. Since the introduction of GM crops in 1996, GM crops yields have been recorded to increase by about 100 times. Many studies have confirmed that the introduction of GM crops has a positive impact on food safety and dietary quality. As the global population continues to grow, traditional breeding has been unable to meet the global food demand. GM crops can be seen as an effective means to solve the problems of hunger and malnutrition. It could become an important part of a broader food security strategy.

Bibliography

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Qaim, Matin, and Shahzad Kouser. “Genetically Modified Crops and Food Security”. PloS One, Public Library of Science, 5 June 2013, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3674000/
Oliver, Melvin J. “Why We Need GMO Crops in Agriculture”. Missouri Medicine, Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association, 2014, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6173531/
McFadden, Brandon R. “Examining the Gap between Science and Public Opinion about Genetically Modified Food and Global Warming”. PloS One, Public Library of Science, 9 Nov. 2016, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5102371/
Maghari, Behrokh Mohajer, and Ali M Ardekani. “Genetically Modified Foods and Social Concerns”. Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology, Avicenna Research Institute, July 2011, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3558185/
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “Science and History of GMOs and Other Food Modification Processes”. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, http://www.fda.gov/food/agricultural-biotechnology/science-and-history-gmos-and-other-food-modification-processes.
Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/genetically-modified-organisms-gmos-transgenic-crops-and-732/
“GMO Facts”. Non, http://www.nongmoproject.org/gmo-facts/
“Understanding Genetically Modified Foods”. Understanding Genetically Modified Foods – Unlock Food, http://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Food-technology/Understanding-Genetically-Modified-Foods.aspx

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Genetically Modified Crops: Advantages, Needs, Safety and Future Trends

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