Genetic Engineering in Donny and Ursula Save the World by Sharon Weil

“In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on” (Robert Frost). People from the beginning of civilization have cultivated crops ranging from methods of fermentation to classical selection for desired traits. In essence, genetic modification is not a new concept only conceived in the twentieth century; it has been occurring for millenias. Genetic engineering is only a step forward as the latest form of gene selection utilizing biotechnology, which merely catalyzes processes that previously required generations upon generations to that of just a couple days.

All living organisms consist of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the building block for life that consists of the same four nucleotides: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. The process by which a section of DNA codes for a specific known trait from one organism to another, scientists are not introducing foreign substances. Known segments of DNA extensively studied and selected by teams of top scientists with many years in the field for the greatest safety and benefit of the consumer. To reassure the safety of the product, companies that wish to release a GM seed are required to extensively test the safety of the product on numerous other organisms before being released to the public market. Not a single human death or illness has been substantiated from consuming GMOs. Peter J. Davies, Professor of Plant Physiology and International Professor of Plant Biology at Cornell University wrote that “After 16 years of consumption by billions of livestock, pets and humans, there have been no cases of allergy, cancer or death, or indication that GMOs are of any health concern. Claims of effects have been found to be anecdotal and without merit and are rejec...

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...e treated groups.”

As the study eventually attracted criticism as scientifically flawed, it was retracted late November 2013 according to the Businessweek.

Genetically modified crops are a completely safe solution to the growing food consumption demands of the developing world. Through the millenias that man has tested the limits of science, it has come to a conclusion that GMOs are not different from any other organisms, necessary to the growing world population, and safe to the common consumer. GMOs are essentially catalyzed results of genetic selection through the application of modern sciences and biotechnology. In Donny and Ursula Save the World by Sharon Weil, a book about GMOs, it talks about the fear of GMOs: “All it takes is rumor...The danger itself is irrelevant. It's the perception of danger we're selling” (Sharon Weil, Donny and Ursula Save the World).