Genetically Modifying Food

Genetically Modifying Food Genetically modifying food is becoming a highly controversial issue

these days. Some scientists believe that Genetic Modified Food (GMF)

can benefit the community in a great variety of ways, while others

believe that it can do a great harm to the environment and human

health. In addition, GMF raises many issues in regards to religions,

ethics, law and many others. More importantly, what we should be

concerned is whether having the ability to genetically modify species

gives us the right to do so. Before we go on any further, it is

extremely crucial for us to fully understand what exactly genetically

modifying food is all about.

Humans have been genetically modifying food for thousands of years,

but the method they used is different from the genetic modification

that we use nowadays. In fact, genetic modification is only a new

scientific breakthrough of the 20th century. The ancient method of

genetically modifying food is known as “selective breeding”, which in

more scientific terms is to cross hundreds or thousands of genes.

Selective breeding has been used for a great variety of things,

ranging from crops to animals. For example, if a farmer is to grow

large potatoes, he would first plant a plot of potatoes, and select

the seeds from the largest potatoes and plant them again to observe

their performance. After repeating the same methods several times over

a period of time, the farmer would eventually end up with a strain of

large potatoes. By utilizing the method of selective breeding, people

have also been able to develop crops...

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