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Ethical Issues of Genetically Modified Food

Ethical Issues of Genetically Modified Food. By: Blaine Menke IET 600 Impact of Technology. Genetically Modified Food.

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Ethical Issues of Genetically Modified Food

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  1. Ethical Issues of Genetically Modified Food By: Blaine Menke IET 600 Impact of Technology

  2. Genetically Modified Food Genetically Modified Food (GMF) is defined as foods that have foreign genes (genes from other plants or animals) inserted into their genetic codes. These foods do not occur naturally.

  3. Facts about Genetically Modified Food • About 75% of processed food contains GM ingredients. Almost everything that contains soy and corn is GM. • GM food has been around for about a decade • Generally considered safe to eat, has caused no proven illness yet. • Soybeans were the first crop to be GM

  4. History • Humans starting practicing agriculture over 8,000 years ago. Since then they have been picking the plants that grow well, resist disease, pests, and weather changes. Ever since then, farmers have bred and crossed plant varieties that proved to be the most useful. • These techniques eventually led to the practice of genetic engineering. By inserting a particular gene to produce plants with novel traits. This can include resistance to certain conditions, a loner “shelf life”, or enhanced nutrient content.

  5. World Health Organization (WHO) • GMF has a safety assessment that the WHO does. • Specific systems have been developed to look how GM foods effect both human health and the environment. These assessments are not performed on traditional food. • One of the objectives of the WHO Safety Programme is to assist national authorities with the identification of food that is subject to risk, and recommend solutions.

  6. Safety Assessment of GM Food • 1. Toxicity • 2. Tendencies to provoke allergic reaction • 3. Specific components thought to have nutritional or toxic properties • 4. Stability of the inserted gene • 5. Nutritional effects of that said inserted gene • 6. unintended effects that could result from the inserted gene

  7. Benefits of GM food and crops • The purpose of GM food and crops is to decrease cost and increase durability and nutritional value. • The crops currently on the market are mainly aimed at increased level of crop protection through resistance against plant diseases. These diseases are either caused by insects or increased tolerance to herbicides.

  8. Dominance of Chemical Industry • Certain groups are concerned about the high level of control that the chemical industry has over the seed markets • The reason for this is because they fear that they will soon monopolize the business, and farmers will rely on the exclusive use of herbicide-tolerant GM crops. • These groups do not believe that these crops are sustainable.

  9. The Future • GM organisms are likely to have improved disease and drought resistance. • Crops with increased nutrient levels • Fish species with increased growth tendencies. • Plants and animals that produce pharmaceutically important proteins that can be used in vaccines.

  10. This is the case for most of the food Americans put on their dinner table. All jokes aside, we need to be aware of what we feed to our bodies.

  11. Sources • World Health Organization. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/index.html • McLean, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/medical/conference/presentations/genetically-modified-foods.html • University of Maryand. (N.D.)Retrienved from http://umm.edu/health/medical/ency/articles/genetically-engineered-foods

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