Genetic Engineering
Genetically modified crops are appearing on the farms of the United States more and more everyday, even though consumers may not know it. However, the good news is that these crops are planted because of their benefits to people. For example, according to the American Medical Association (AMA), "More than 40 transgenic crop varieties have been cleared through the federal review process with enhanced agronomic and/or nutritional characteristics or one or more features of pest (insect and viruses) and tolerance to herbicides." The AMA goes on to report that no long-term effects have been detected to date (2). Nevertheless, because there is a lack of unbiased information that is provided to the public, there are still some people that are skeptic of this new science, and believe it is dangerous. However, the public must be informed that genetic engineering has given agriculture many technological advances, and still offers many more to come. Agricultural genetic engineering! research could provide many benefits for our future because genetically modified organisms (GMO) would offer a surplus yield to help ease world hunger, would promote a pesticide/herbicide free environment, and would lead to higher quality foods.
This is great news for environmentalist everywhere. Crops can now turn away pests on their own, because of their genetically altered make-up, without the use of dangerous spray pesticides. Cutting down on the use of these pesticides will assure safer drinking water. Although agricultural genetic engineering has so many positive aspects, some critics assert that this technology could be dangerous to society because the technology could disrupt natural ecosystems, could create health problems in humans, and could harm agriculture. Dietic Association. Nov. 2000 v100 i11 p1306. InfoTrac. University of Kentucky's Lexington Community College, Lexington, Ky. 27 March 2001 . Some people believe that agricultural genetic engineering could disrupt natural ecosystems. They are afraid of such myths as the super weed, a weed produced with genetically engineered crops through crossbreeding that will take over an ecosystem, leaving society powerless. Greger, J. L. "Biotechnology: Mobilizing dietitians to be a resource." Journal of the American Another type of research in biotechnology is transgenic. According to Julie Johnson transgenic research is "transferring genes from one species to another." This type of research is the type of research looking to create custom-designed animals. These animals could potentially be used for food production, drug production, environmental cleanup, and disease models (18). These animals will help researchers in many ways. One example Julie Johnson offers is the "oncomouse." The creators of this little mouse inserted a gene that is related with cancer (19). These test mice will allow researchers to come more familiar with cancers and possible lead one day to a cure. Johnson, Julie B. "Genetic Engineering Is Dangerous." Wekesser 18-21 In an attempt to combat health care cost, some have moved in on pharmaceuticals. The attempt to control health care costs is indeed a noble one-but pharmaceuticals are the wrong target. They represent only 6 percent of total health care costs and they're probably the most cost effective part of the equation. Ask any ulcer victim who has traded a $15,000, not-very-effective surgical procedure for $1,000 a year of Tagamet or Zantac to relieve the ulcers. In fact, if you took all the profits away from pharmaceutical companies. . . you'd cut U.S. health care costs by eight tenths of one percent. (35)
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3019
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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