Biotechnology and Food

Every day we awaken is another day closer to the future we envision for our advanced civilization, a future that varies for each individual but includes many of those ideas shared by countless books, movies, and television programs. As science continues to make rapid advances in all areas from astronomy to medicine to technology, that future becomes a greater part of our present. While some pioneers work on flying cars and others concentrate on faster computers, biotechnologists busy themselves with the manipulation of DNA, the makeup of all organisms and the biological basis for both a species' and an individual's characteristics. Recent advances in this technology, known as biotechnology, include cloning and gene therapy, a possible form of treatment for a variety diseases.

As scientists continue to advance these developments, we hide from making hard decisions about the moral and ethical issues raised by this genetic manipulation, what some people consider to be "playing God." We put it off hoping no one will figure out how to take it to the next level. For instance, we hope that no one will utilize the information regarding the cloning of Dolly, the sheep, to develop technology that will lead to the cloning of a human. In the United States and elsewhere, laws have been enacted prohibiting the development of such technology, or at least the use of federal funds to do so. But discussions have not been

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course to such technologies" through utilization of present-day techniques across the globe, the creation of the necessary infrastructure such as banks, and the provision of enough money to support initial and follow-through efforts (Tudge, p. 9). If one considers the underlying reasons for the majority of the "benefits" possible through genetically engineered food, money frequently plays some sort of role. For instance, genetically modified tomatoes that do not fall apart when ripe and can be stored longer, can also be grown and distributed in larger lots, which saves fuel and, even more profitably, reduces labor (Tudge, p. 9). A cheaper, better-looking tomato may be more appealing to the farmer and consumer, but it is not going to prevent mass starvation. However, even if the same techniques are applied to more substantial crops to produce them at a less expensive price, policies incorporated to produce cheap food have frequently had damaging results (Tudge, p. 9). A "cheap food policy" led to the introduction of BSE or mad cow disease, which developed when cows were fed carelessly sterilized remains of sheep that allowed prion to creep through (Tudge, p. 9). Some make the argument that genetically modified organisms are
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Approximate Word count = 3058
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)