Agriculture has been a part of American life for tens of thousands of years. The modern world today has changed allot since then thanks to technology and new scientific studies in order to improve the way we see agriculture today. A specific change is a term call biotechnology which is the use of living organisms or other biological systems in the manufacture of drugs or other products or for environmental management, as in waste recycling. Biotechnology has changed agriculture by making plants resistant to certain diseases or to the animal aspect of changing the sex of a cow its just remarkable on how much science has changed and how far its come. Of course everything comes with its good and bad and this is sure a controversy that has gone on forever about its health risks and if its actually healthy for you but it is one part of science that has changed they way we farm and plant crops today.
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Some of the cells may take up a piece of the plasmid known as the T-DNA or (transferred-DNA). Then the modified cell inserts the desired genes into one of the plants chromosomes to form the newly created GM or (transgenic) cells. The third step in this process is the selection of modified plant cells. In this method genes responsible for resistance are inserted into the vector and transferred along with the gene(s) carrying the desired traits to the plant cells. When the plants are exposed to the pesticide only the plant that are transformed will survive all the others will die off .Then the transformed plants are then regenerated to form whole new plants using the tissue culture method. The last final steps are to check to make sure the gene has properly been put into the organism then they test the product to make sure it grows and functions properly. Finally the food and safety people make sure its healthy and safe for humans.
The field that mostly uses GMOs are biomedical science. The currently the new study of disease and the development of new vaccines, antibodies and some pharmaceuticals. One example from Christie Wilcox in her article “Genetically Modified Organisms: The Back Story” says that “ The insulin that diabetics must have is produced by a transgenic strain of E. coli, as it has been for over 20 years.” Then Wilcox goes on and talks about how “ The ability to use GMMs like E. coli to produce pharmaceuticals has revolutionized the industry making some cheaper and safer..” GMOs are not just to produce good crops but can potentially help out elders and people in this case with diabetes. Instead of collecting a large amount of animals or plants to withdraw a medicine we can engineer a bacteria to make it for us.
There are many pros and cons to GMOs. First lets start off with the pros or primary benefit of GMOs. They have a better overall quality and taste. Through the process of modifying food the flavors can be enhanced. Peppers become spicier and sweeter, while corn becomes sweeter as well. Mostly the difficult flavors become more palatable. Second is that their more resistant to disease. Both plants and animals that have been genetically modified can become more resistant to problems or diseases.
