Environmental Risks of Biotechnology in Agriculture

Biotechnology, a term coined in 1917 by Karl Ereky, is defined as the manipulation of living organisms for purposes other than their original intent. Biotechnological research is often propelled by the desire to increase the quality of life that humans experience here on earth and is used to find solutions to modern-day problems. General opposition of the many variations of this type of research is driven by concern about the unknown effects of altering the environment of the natural world and the ethics of doing so. While the term may sound futuristic, agricultural biotechnology is nearly as old as civilization itself. Agriculture, in its most basic sense, is biotechnology and it all started with food.

In order to have a proper understanding of the current day practices of biotechnology, one must have knowledge of where the concept began. About 10,000 years B.C.E in Egypt’s lower Nile Valley, our Neolithic ancestors domesticated crops and animals when they realized that the soil underneath them was very fertile. The first farmers selected particular plants to grow as crops, mainly wheat and barley, and saved their seeds for the following season. Over the years, they bread the varieties of seeds they liked and adjusted their methods each season to increase production. This allowed them to transition from hunters and gathers, to agriculturalists. Almost 9000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians used the process of fermentation, unbeknownst to them, to make bread dough rise and brew beer. In 1492, the Native Americans introduced the Europeans to the corn plant, and from there, corn was transported around the world. In 1866, Gregor Mendel experimented with pea plants and his conclusions about the nature of genetic inheritance became the foundation for modern genetics. 1965, Robert Hooke coined the term “cell”, which started the path of genetic manipulation. Many scientists