Genetically Modified Human Beings

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The majority of consumers today are unaware that they are eating genetically engineered (GE) foods on a constant basis without much knowledge as to what GE foods are. (pg 6, 8) While 60-70% of all processed products contains a GE ingredient, and since the majority of crops that grow corn, cotton, potato, and soybeans are growing GE seeds; people are beginning to question the safety and need of such technology. (7) The growing population, the unpredictable climate change, and the increase of pesticide spraying are the two motivating factors for growing GE seeds. There is a necessity in the marketplace for farmers to be creating more sustainable, productive, and environmentally friendly crops. (7)

People tend to relate GE foods to the traditional selective breeding that humans have been doing with plants and animals; however, selective breeding in farming is the process of choosing and growing seeds from which the plant or animal has a desired trait that needs to be pronounced further. (192 Bongyu) The process of “genetically engineering” a plant or animal is done by first forming what is called a Recombinant DNA in a laboratory. Recombinant DNA is the process of creating an artificial DNA sequences by using genetic material from other species and then later inserting that sequence into the DNA of the desired plant or animal; as a result, the modified species inherits a gene that could have come from many different species which would have never entered the DNA of the modified species naturally or through selective breeding. (9) Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) is a bacteria found in soil that is used as an insecticide in plants as it causes the stomachs of insects to rupture. The current consumption of genetically engineered foods ...

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10. http://www.enveurope.com/content/23/1/10

11. http://www.greenpeace.org/israel/Global/israel/image/2012/07/ReproductiveToxicology-%20GMO.pdf

12. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2013/11/29/notorious-seralini-gmo-cancer-rat-study-retracted-ugly-legal-battle-looms/

13. http://www.ijbs.com/v05p0438.htm

14. http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.langara.bc.ca/science/article/pii/S0306919210001302

15. http://www.ijsaf.org/archive/16/1/lotter2.pdf

16. http://www.enveurope.com/content/23/1/10

17. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.langara.bc.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7d06856d-6a92-4f0a-a8ba-624beb6af7e0%40sessionmgr4004&vid=4&hid=4204

18. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7hhP5QasNtsX1AwV2YzNnlrZTA/edit?pli=1

19. http://genok.no/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Chapter-14.pdf

20. http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/events/Chapter16.pdf

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