Genetically Modified

Food
Chris Chiu
Teacher: Mr Foster
What are Genetically Modified Foods?

• Genetic Engineering: The deliberate

modification of the characteristics of an
organism by manipulating its genetic
material
• GM foods: They are foods which are
produced by crops that their genetic make
up has been modified/changed to improve
their agricultural qualities. Eg: Pest resistant
and herbicide-tolerant crops.
 Properties of FlavrSavr

• The FlavrSavr tomato aimed to have a

longer shelf life than conventional tomatoes
and could be picked when ripe and
transported without bruising.

• The tomato was engineered by using

antisense technology. The method of gene
silencing interferes with the production of
specific proteins in the plants.
Other Genetically Modified Foods
GM Crop Modified Properties and Picture

Soybeans

Resistant to glyphosate and glufosinate herbicides

Rice (Golden Rice )

Contains high amounts of Vitamin A (beta-
carotene)

Cotton

Pest resistant
 Advantages of Genetically Modified
Foods?

• Genetic engineering is just another step along the path of genetic

improvement, which began with people selectively breeding plants
and animals thousands of years ago
• Adding one new gees is a tiny change to the overall genetic makeup
of a living thing. Many plants and animals have tens or hundreds of
thousands of genes.
• With respect to genetically modified food, the Australia New Zealand
Food Authority (ANZFA requires thorough testing of all GM foods
prior to them being able to be sold. It must be at least as safe as their
conventional counterparts- offering all the benefits of conventional
foods with no additional risks. These tests include examining whether
the food has additional allergens or toxins as a result of the genetic
modification process.
• There are strict guidelines in place to control the manufacturing and
release and the use of genetically modified organisms. The Australian
Government, through various regulatory agencies, approves the
monitors the use of gene technology.
Disadvantages of Genetically Modified
Foods?
• Genetic modification is not natural. The deliberate selection of genes
and their transfer between species that are sometimes completely
unrelated only happens very rarely among plants and animals, Gene
technology is quite different from the agricultural techniques that have
gone before, because these mainly involved crosses within a species or
between very close related species.
• It can arbitrarily upset a functioning group of genes. It is, in effect,
tampering with complex systems that we still don’t fully understand.
• Added genes could make ‘safe’ plants produce toxins or allergy-causing
substances. Also, we predict what might happen when groups of genes
are broken up by the insertion of ‘foreign’ genes into a plant.
• Often marker genes actually make a substance that destroys certain
antibiotics. If such an antibiotic resistance gene moved from a GM
plant to a bacterium that causes human disease, that antibiotic may no
longer be useful for treating the disease.
• Traditional breeding techniques have already given us larger harvests
and better crops. There is still more that can be done using these tried
and tested methods without resorting to risky new technologies.
Natural Selection vs Artificial Selection

• The process where organisms better

adapted to their environment tend to have
a greater survival rate and produce more
offspring.

• Artificial selection or selective breeding is

intention breeding for certain traits or
combination of traits.
What is Brassica oleracea?

Cabbage

Broccoli

Kale
 Impacts of Genetically Modified Foods
Advantages Disadvantages
•GM crop plants can be made so that their cultivation has •What’s to stop genes from a GMO spreading into other
closely related species? If closely related weeds breed with a
much less impact on the environment. For example, GM
herbicide tolerant crop species, then weeds could acquire the
plants designed to carry the gene for the production of a
gene for resistance to the weedkiller, creating weeds which
natural insecticide, for example, Bt cotton, can cut the use of are herbicide tolerant
sprayed pesticides on farms, which is good news for many
species that were previously affected by traditional pesticide •Farmers
will still be faced with pests becoming resistant to
spraying. pesticides, even if they are engineered into crops. Therefore
GM crops don’t offer much advantage over existing ways of
•Herbicide resistance in GM plants is that the modified dealing with pests.
plants are made resistant to a relatively benign chemical,
which can then be sprayed in larger doses so that it is •The use of herbicide tolerant crops may encourage farmers
effective against weeds without having to use far more toxic to use more herbicide. In addition, the companies that
compounds. produce herbicide tolerant crops often manufacture the
corresponding herbicide- locking farmers into a single
•Crop plants can have genes from hardier plants added to supplier.
them, thereby allowing them to tolerate salinity, drought or
poor soil. This means that agriculture need not always use •Feeding the world is more to do with politics and economics
the best land or damage non-agricultural species in the area. than agriculture There are food surpluses in wealthy
countries. But poor countries and poor people can’t afford to
•Eventual plant types will become more nutritious, yield buy this food.
bigger harvests, but at the same time are more resistant to
disease and to stresses like drought. Domestic animals •The much publicized promise of new crop varieties feeding
the world in the Green Revolution of the 1970s still hasn’t
would also become more productive and make more less.
eliminated starvation.
•Countries whose lands were previously too poor to be Gene technology is coming from big companies. Are they
•
used for agriculture would be able to grow their own food, doing this research more for their own profits than to benefit
leading to increased food security. the world?
 Bibliography
• Book: Butler, M., Hopkins, D. & Willis, J. 2001, Physics 2, Macmillan Education Australia, South Yarra

• Websites:

• Genetic Engineering Advantages & Disadvantages- Genetics and Evolution: viewed 30 August
2010, http://www.biology-online.org/2/13_genetic_engineering.htm

• Cotton Image- viewed 31 August 2010, http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/clothing/pictures/

cotton.jpg

• Soybean Image- viewed 31 August 2010, http://www.bombayharbour.com/productimage/Soybean/

Soybean.jpg

• Golden Rice Image- viewed 31 August 2010, http://www.goldenjockey.com/images/golden-rice.jpg

• Tomato Image- viewed 31 August 2010, http://www.open.salon.com/files/800px-

capay_heirloom_tomatoes_at_slow_food_nation1236978263.jpg

• Cabbage Image- viewed 31 August 2010, http://www.healthwizard.in/wp-content/uploads/

2009/10/cabbage2.jpg

• Broccoli Image- viewed 31 August 2010, http://binbrain.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/

broccoli.jpg

• Kale Image- viewed 31 August 2010, http://www.skrewtips.com/img/inside_products_kale.jpg

• FlavrSavr Information- viewied 31 August 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlavrSavr