Here's a powerpoint I made to get us started and save some time on Monday.

We need to add methods of genetic modification, our sources, and the design of the powerpoint.

.ppt format (Office 2004)
.pptx format (Office 2007)

Article from local source

Here's an article from a newspaper in Syracuse called The Post-Standard. The article describes the controversy surrounding the lax food standards of GM foods, specifically that they are not labeled as such.

Also, here's an article in support of GM foods from the Watertown Daily Times. Describes how people are naturally afraid of new technology, and that genetic modification has been used for quite a while without damage.

The Biolistic Method (or gene-gun method)

The biolistic method--or gene-gun method--is most commonly used in the genetic engineering of plants. Pellets of metal are coated with the desirable DNA and are fired at plant cells. The cells take up the DNA and grow into new plants. This technique has proven quite effective in plant engineering.

"Genetic Engineering Methods." Replicators: Evolutionary Powerhouses. 20 May 2010.

What if you knew that advocates maintain that GM technology will help the environment?
In the U.S. alone, farmers spray, spread, and otherwise administer more than 970 million tons of insect- and plant-killers every year. These pose threats to the environment. Pesticide residues linger on crops and in soil, find their way into the guts of wildlife that eat contaminated foliage, and leach into groundwater and wash into streams.

-Reduced use of pesticides decrease the residues that exist in animals, foliage, groundwater, and streams

If a crop boasts its own ability to resist invertebrate predators, then farmers can use far fewer chemicals. In 1999, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, cotton farmers in states raising significant amounts of cotton genetically modified to withstand pests sprayed 21 percent less insecticide -- that is, they sprayed one to two times rather than eight to ten.

-Sprayed 21% less insecticide

Similarly, endorsers profess that farmers raising crops bearing herbicide resistance -- such as those using the Monsanto-crafted soybean that is resistant to the company's broad-spectrum weed killer Roundup -- will use fewer chemicals in a season than they would while growing conventional soybeans.

Industry spokespersons acknowledge the possibility that cross-pollination could occur between some types of GM crops and weeds. But they claim there are ways around that, such as creating GM crops that are male-sterile -- that is, produce no pollen -- or modifying a GM plant so its pollen doesn't have the introduced gene. As for the danger of pests growing tolerant of plant-borne insecticide, farmers can create buffer zones of conventional crops around GM fields to give harmful insects something to feed on, reducing the selection pressure to adapt to the anti-pest plant. Buffer zones would also deter cross-pollination and provide a refuge for harmless and beneficial insects.

-Reduce risk of creating "superweeds" via cross-pollination by making GM plants male sterile or modifying their pollen

-Create buffer zones to reduce selection pressure and provide a place for beneficial insects

What if you knew that scientists submit that genetically modifying plants is completely natural?
Genetic modification couldn't be more natural, geneticists say. Plants (and animals) genetically modify themselves all the time. That's the basis of evolution. We've been genetically modifying plants (and animals) for millennia. That's the basis of agriculture.

-Genetic modification is natural because it is the basis of evolution

Our manipulation of a single mustard species has generated such diverse vegetables as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. Altogether, the wild ancestors of grapes, potatoes, and all other fruits and vegetables you find today on grocery-store shelves are but pale shadows of their modern, highly modified descendants. All have gone through countless generations of careful hybridization and genetic breeding to improve yields, taste, size, texture, and other attributes.

-Plants (fruits and vegetables) self-evolve, which is considered genetic modification

Modern GM methods are simply more precise, scientists stress. Whereas traditional plant breeding involves thousands of shared genes every time two plants are crossed, GM technology allows, if desired, for the exchange of a single gene between plants. GM procedures are also much faster. In months or years, molecular scientists can accomplish the same degree of alteration that might have taken Nature millions of years to achieve.

-Genetic engineering is like natural modification, except that it is much more precise and quick

What if you knew that companies that fashion GM seeds maintain that GM crops hold the greatest hope for adequately feeding our rapidly expanding world population?

Biotech spokespersons have argued that, while the industry is indeed concerned about the bottom line, it is primarily driven by research and innovation. Their argument is straightforward: Innovation is the only way to meet the world's burgeoning needs for food and medicines in a rapidly shrinking and increasingly scarred natural environment. Innovation requires costly and time-consuming research and testing, which will only happen if it's paid for. The best way to ensure it's paid for is through intellectual property protection. Patents should operate worldwide, they maintain, because markets are increasingly global in nature.

-World population is rapidly increasing, environment is being depleted, and the world must increase crop production

-This can only be done using genetically modified crops

The result of this innovation will be GM crops that will offer our best chance to adequately address the challenge of feeding the estimated six billion people who, in as few as 50 years by some estimates, will join the six billion of us already here. GM crop farming holds out greater promise than conventional farming of boosting production on the same amount of ground, adherents say, and of raising crops where none could grow before, such as on salt-laden land. In increasing yields and making marginal lands productive, GM promoters insist, lie our only means of staving off widespread famine in developing countries in the coming decades.

-Increasing yield for the same amount of ground

-Growing crops were they could not be grown before (salt-laden land)

What if you knew that GM seed companies maintain that GM crops are the most thoroughly tested and highly regulated food plants out there?
Biotech firms hold that every GM food crop is thoroughly tested for possible health effects. They conduct these in-depth analyses, they say, because they are legally required to ensure foods they sell meet federal safety standard

-All GM foods are thoroughly tested

Biotech firms point out that not one but three U.S. government agencies have their say about each GM crop. The Department of Agriculture judges whether it is safe to grow. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses whether it's safe for the environment. And the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deems whether it's safe to eat. Under pressure from activists, these agencies have stepped up their vigilance. In 2000, the EPA began requiring farmers to plant 20 percent unmodified corn whenever they planted Bt corn (a GM corn modified to contain a natural pesticide). And in early 2001, the FDA proposed to begin reviewing all new GM foods for safety.

-Three different groups for regulation

-Increasing their vigilance

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/exist/arguments.html

Concerns and Risks of GM Foods

Main points:

• Lack of studies in regards to safety of GM foods
• Long-term effects near impossible to study
• GM crops persist in the environment, posing possible health risks in the future

Hasn't research shown GM foods to be safe?

No. While only a pitifully small number of animal feeding safety studies have been conducted, several showed evidence of problems.Rats fed an experimental GM potato developed potentially pre-cancerous cell growth, damaged immune systems, smaller brains, livers, and testicles, and partial atrophy of the liver. ...

Since no one is monitoring the human health impacts of GM foods, it might take years to discover most reactions.

In comparion to other food dangers (pesticides, radiation, preservatives, etc.):

Since so little research has been done on the safety of GM foods, it is not possible to rank its risks. Unlike the others, GM crops persist in the environment, and may continue to pose risks to health for centuries....

The biotech industry says that millions have been eating GM foods without ill effect. This is misleading. No one monitors human health impacts of GM foods. If the foods were creating health problems in the US population, it might take years or decades before we identified the cause.

Technology, Institute for Responsible. "Genetically Modified Foods Are Unsafe to Eat." Current Controversies: Genetic Engineering. Ed. James D. Torr. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. West Seneca West Senior High School Lib. 19 May. 2010 &contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010212243&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=nysl_we_wstshs&version=1.0>.

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Main points:

• Genetic modification may result in undesired genetic alteration apart from target genes
• Few safety studies--one study describes many complications caused by genetic modification
• Human trial caused genetically-engineered genes to transfer to digestive tract bacteria
  

While scientists originally assumed that the inserted genes would only add a particular desired trait to the crop, new evidence suggests that the host's normal natural genes can get switched off, turned on permanently, damaged, or altered in the process.
...
Unfortunately, there have been very few safety studies. Of the 10 published animal feeding studies, the most in-depth one showed evidence of damaged immune systems, digestive problems, excessive cell growth, and stunted organ development in rats fed an experimental GMGM food on the market. potato. The scientist identified the process of genetic modification as the probable cause—the same process used in creating most GM foods on the market.
...

The only human feeding trial ever conducted confirmed that genetically engineered genes from soy burgers and a soy milkshake transferred to the bacteria inside the digestive tract after only one meal, making the bacteria resistant to herbicide.

Smith, Jeffrey. "Genetically Modified Foods Are Dangerous and Unneeded." Opposing Viewpoints: Global Resources. Ed. David M. Haugen. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. West Seneca West Senior High School Lib. 19 May. 2010 &contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010139270&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=nysl_we_wstshs&version=1.0>.

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Environmental Hazards

Main points:

• Gene transfer to other species
• Development of resistance to pesticides, possibly rendering pesticides useless
  

Besides threatening monarchs and other wildlife, the crops could spread their engineered genes to nearby wild plants, critics warn. The same genes that allow engineered crops to fend off insect pests might transform wild plants into "super weeds" that could overrun the landscape.
...
Others warn that insect pests may quickly build resistance to crops engineered to produce natural pesticides. This may not only render the pesticides useless—it could touch off an agricultural arms race between insects and humans, in which scientists would constantly have to design new pesticides in order to stay ahead of insects' ability to adapt to them.

"The Promise and Perils of Plant Biotechnology." Today’s Science On File: n. pag. Today’s Science. Facts On File News Services, 31 July 1999. Web. 19 May 2010. .

More on the History

Late 1960’s - early 1970’s was origin of genetic engineering, through experiments with bacteria, viruses, and small free floating rings of DNA called plasmids, found in bacteria.

Techniques for isolating and altering genes were first developed by American genetics during the early 1970

1970’s - scientists found ways to reintroduce single genes into different cells or plants, animals, organisms. These methods alter the heredity of the cells or organisms.

By the early 1980’s, bacterially produced insulin became the first recombinant DNA drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use on people.

In the early 1980’s, geneticists made progress in using genetic engineering techniques to add genes to higher organisms. Researchers inserted a human growth-hormone gene in to mice, and the mice grew to twice their normal size.

"History." Human's Playground: Genetic Engineering. 19 May 2010.

The first genetically modified food was the tomato in the 1990s. It was genetically altered so that it would take longer to decompose. In 1998 a study showed that GM potatoes modified with an insecticide gene were toxic to rats. In 1999 many farmers engaged in a trial to study the effects of herbicide resistant crops. The issue with this is that there would be cross-pollination between the "normal" crops and GM. Critics say that this only provide a limited view on the potential long-term effects. Honey on sale in 2000 showed contamination of GM from a trial in Britain; 2 out of 9 samples--therefore indicating the spread that is uncontrollable. 9 out of 10 people in Britain rejected the idea of having GM foods in the market without knowing proof of safety in health and environment.

Chapman, James. "History of Genetically Modified Food." Mail Online. 19 May 2010.

History of GM Food

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-419985/History-genetically-modified-food.html

Here is a web address to the history of GM Foods. I'll gather the important information later.