I NEED HELP!!! WORK AT SCHOOl!!!?

Question

A Debate about growing genetically modified crops has focosed on three mai

n areas:

The effect on wildlife and biodiversity

The effect on human health from eating food made fom the crops

The possible transfer of genes from the crops to wild species

What is GM and is it fair and sensible?

Answer 1

GM is Genetically Modified organism.

All the above issues which you have stated in your question are true. In my opinion all these points are valid and one should not promote GM.

Answer 2

GM: Genetic modification (GM) involves the artificial insertion of a foreign gene into the genetic material of an organism in an essentially random way. There are currently two main types of genetically modified crops, those engineered to be resistant to herbicides in order to kill weeds and those engineered to produce toxins to kill pests.

Negatives: GM does not increase yields. Reports from farmers of substantially reduced harvests have been substantiated by scientific studies.

GM does not reduce herbicide use. GM volunteers' (plants that appear after harvest with built-in resistance to herbicides) have spread quickly. Farmers are spraying with more herbicides, sometimes reverting to older, more toxic chemicals in their efforts to control these.

Contamination of the whole food chain has occurred within a couple of years.

Very little is known about the side effects of the inserted genes' random location, how gene function is controlled, and gene transfer into other micro-organisms such as the bacteria in the human gut. The British Medical Association has said the potential adverse effects have not been sufficiently investigated and strongly recommended caution. Why take the risk?

Benefits:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4046...

Pro-GM groups claim that GM crops can give us healthier food, produced in a more efficient, environmentally-friendly way.

They believe that giving the go-ahead to GM crops in Britain will boost the economy and encourage biotechnology companies to invest in research and development.

The benefits of growing GM crops have to be weighed up against the advantages of growing non-GM or organic crops, which often sell at a premium. To minimise the risk of contaminating non-GM crops with genes from GM crops, the two have to be separated and measures need to be brought in to check the purity of the GM crops, the study said.

Hope this helps :)