Farming and Biotechnology

For thousands of years, farmers have bred crops and animals to produce better outcomes in terms of crop yields, pest or drought resistance, speed of ripening, or growth rate. Now they are doing it with the aid of biotechnology by using genetically modified organisms to produce their desired results (Maynard, 2000). For instance: a stalk of corn that breeds pest-resistant corn, a potato that becomes resistant to the protein beetle, a strawberry that can withstand frost, and a soybean whose DNA is spliced with that of a petunia to produce a plant engineered to survive otherwise toxic doses of herbicide, are all products of genetically modified plants.

Traditional crossbreeding in plants requires the mixing of thousands of genes in the hopes of developing a plant with the desired trait. With biotechnology, characteristics can be individually selected and added to a seed. This is having a profound effect on agriculture because it can make a crop more resistant to pests, herbicides, or disease; make a plant produce more of a nutrient such as a protein or a vitamin; and increase crop yield (Maynard, 2000).

By altering the genetic code of the Coffee arabica plant, scientists may soon be able to switch off the gene coding for caffeine, and thus remove it from the coffee before it ever grows (Curry, 2000). They hope to be able to do the same with tea. Currently, decaffeinated beverages are made by a solvent extraction process which also removes flavor and taste from the b

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ctions in people, scientists point out that it is more likely that two species crossbred in the old fashioned way would create novel allergens because more genes are being shuffled that way. However, several large United States companies, including McDonald=s, Heinz, Frito-Lay and Gerber have vowed to scale back the use of genetically engineered crops in making their products. A recent uproar has developed over the finding of genetically altered corn which has not yet met with government approval for human use in many types of food. Starlink corn is one of several corn varieties grown in the United States that are genetically modified to make their own insecticide, but is the only one that isn't approved for use in food because regulators have not been able to prove that the unique Starlink toxin isn't a potential food allergen (Kilman, 2000). When it was found in September of this year that some products on store shelves, particularly taco shells, contained Starlink corn, all products containing the product were pulled from shelves and ConAgra and other U. S. companies had to recall or replace hundreds of corn-derived items, ranging from taco shells to corn chips. Flour, meal and other commercial baking ingredients also

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