Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Biotechnology (Round 2!)

So, last week we checked out many of the different crops, both cash and food, which were genetically modified, and I think everybody will agree with me when I say it's a very positive direction for science to be going.

Some of the many benefits include:
- Genetically resistant plants; resistant to diseases, insects, weeds, and critters that could normally ruin a harvest.
- Reduced use of pesticides; people won't have to worry as much about all of the many cancers and sicknesses which some pesticides could potentially cause.
- More nutrition from everyday items, such as the enhanced beta-carotene in golden rice which the body uses for Vitamin A. Nutritional items that some people normally would miss out on would then be healthier from there on out without having to drastically change their diet.
- Some GM crops are designed to grow in no-till farming conditions, which saves the environment in fossil fuels, ground nutrients, and less runoff of soil and fertilizers.

The major cons I've seen so far are:
- People may be allergic to a certain product that has been added into a crop, but with them not knowing it's there they could be in trouble from eating these.
- If a genetically modified strand of crop was accidentally mixed with an original crop field, the original crop could be lost.

Opposition still stands, but will it forever? Biotechnology is creating major benefits to the inhabitants of our earth mother and is preventing many disasters from happening (imagine: the Irish Potato famine being completely erased from history because of earlier discoveries).
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