Genetically Modified Crops

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“Civilization rests on people’s ability to modify plants to make them more suitable as food, feed and fiber plants and all of these modifications are genetic” (American Association 1). This quote from the article “Statement by the AAAS Board of Directors On Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods” expresses that fact that humans have used the favorable genes of plants since the days of Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics. When plants exhibited a desirable trait, they were bred together so that more of the offspring would have that trait. Genetic Modification is manipulating the genome of the plant, but humans have been doing that for years. Modifying the genes is a more precise way to do this. Genetic Modification improves food and is safe.
Genetic modification is a scientific way to enhance crops. The article “Genetically Modified Food” explains this by saying; “A genetically modified (GM) food is a result of recombinant DNA biotechnological procedures that allow the genetic Makeup of an organism to be modified. This can be accomplished by incorporating genes from other organisms of by rearranging genes already present” (Schneider 1). The genes used in the GM plants either comes from other plants of the plant itself. This means nothing going into the plant is from an unnatural source. “Statement by the AAAS Board of Directors On Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods” says, “Modern molecular genetics and the invention of large- scale DNA sequencing methods have fueled rapid advances in our knowledge of how genes work and what they do, permitting the development of new methods that allow the very precise addition of useful traits to crops…” (American Association 1). In traditional breeding there is a guess and check mentality w...

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...elected and many years and a great deal of money has been put into research about concerns regarding genetically modified food. This ensures genetically engineered crops are not dangerous for consumption and will not cause an allergic reaction. Genetically engineered food is not dangerous and beneficial for all humans.

Works Cited

American Association for the Advancement of Science. “Statement by the AAAS Board of
Directors.” Aaas.com. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 20 Oct. 2012. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
Schneider, Keith R., and Renee Goodrich Schneider. "Genetically Modified Food."
Edis.ifas.ufl.edu. University of Florida IFAS Extension, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Questions & Answers on from Genetically Engineered
Plants." Fda.gov. U.S. Department of Human and Health Services, 07 Apr. 2013. Web. 07 Nov. 2013.

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