Genetic Engineering and Agriculture What,

Genetic Engineering and Agriculture

What, exactly, is Genetic Engineering? What are the various processes that are involved in the carrying out of Genetic Engineering? Genetic Engineering is basically the selection and the willful or deliberate alteration or change of the genes or the genetic material that is present in any living being, by man. The process helps man to produce endogenous proteins with properties that are different from the original material, or produce entirely and completely different proteins from the original material. Genes can be, in essence, modified, and altered and changed within the DNA molecule so that the basic information that it contains would be altered. (Definition of Genetic Engineering)

One of the most important events that happened in the 20th century may be that of Genetic Engineering, and when the same was applied to agriculture, the result was 'transgenic crops' and also 'transgenic animals', which are nothing but products wherein the basic genetic structure was altered or modified in order to better the material within them. Some of the examples of successful alterations by the method of genetic engineering are that of rice. When it was discovered that rice did not contain Vitamin a, and that in several parts of Asia rice was the staple food, and most of the people of these regions appeared to be suffering from a Vitamin a deficiency, then it was decided to genetically modify the rice so that the various problems associated with such a deficiency could be effectively prevented. This experiment was initially carried out in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and rice was crossbred in order to produce rice that would be rich in Vitamin a (a Report on Genetically Engineered Crops)

Another example of the benefits of genetic engineering when applied to agriculture is that of producing an 'herbicide resistant transgenic corn', which would resist the deadly parasite 'Striga' or 'witchweed' that farmers in Africa had been struggling with for centuries. This modified corn would be genetically modified to be resistant to this parasite, and these would be able to resist the parasite and prevent damages and losses fro the farmers. This system could also be used for the genetic modification of other crops like millet and sorghum. Cheese, which was traditionally produced by adding rennet, which was extracted from the stomachs of calves, can now be produced with the help of the material called 'chymosin' that is extracted from yeast. (a Report on Genetically Engineered Crops)

Genetically modified foods and animals are now a common factor, and it is now an accepted fact that GE or genetically modified foods are better than normal foods and animals. However, there is still a question that is being asked by the wary, and that is, is it really safe to consume genetically modified foods? This is indeed a debatable issue; there is doubt that GM animals and crops are of no greater benefit to the environment than the unmodified ones. This is because of the various allergies, and antibiotic resistant plants and crops. However, arguments are now being made in favor of GE, and there is now evidence that it is possible to produce health as well as environmental benefits to man by the process of GE. Will GE be able to stop world hunger? It is now thought that GE food is necessary if the world were to be fed, that is, the food production and the health care of people would be greatly improved by GE, and this is especially true because of the fact that because of soil erosion, it is no longer possible to cultivate more and more crops in the traditional method. (Biotechnology, Genetically Modified Organisms)