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 Genetically
modified food products are plants which genetic characteristics altered.
Scientists put efforts to change the plants' unique features by putting new
genetic material into them, genes for example from bacteria which can withstand
pesticides to give longer life to corns.
GM is a
special set of technologies that change the genetic structure of organisms such
as animals, plants, or bacteria. Biotechnology, which is a more general term,
refers to using organisms or their components, such as enzymes, to make
products that include wine, cheese, beer, and yogurt.
And this gets obvious that GM has a promising future.
At the same time, wrong and uncontrolled
handling of live organisms on the level of heritage may bring various troubles.
Sometime
back only the fantastic books proposed the plots of novels on consequences of
unsuccessful genetic experiments. Currently, the genetic experience is
accumulated over the biological system of the planet for over decades, and
thus, over the entire mankind. Yet, this
experiment is called Genetically Modified Food.
And we seek
to understand if Genetically Modified Food Products are wrong? If yes, why
various ministries and authorities of many countries do not care of it, who are
actually assigned to control this problem. Unfortunately, we cannot find a definite
reply to the level of danger for such food products, though there are various
versions and assumptions among those who hold to products with altered
inherited information, and among its vocal opponents.
So, what is
Generically Modified Food Product? These are the organisms of vegetable or animal
origin with the chromosomal complement where the genes of the other organism are
implanted to add more useful and nutritious features to adverse environmental effects
(frost resistance, humidity resistance, etc.), «inedibility» of valuable field
crops for various vermin (the most
practiced example is the potato, «tasteless» for the potato bug), highly
resistance of plants to various microorganisms pernicious for them. One of the first
scientists, who intended to inoculate the plants with the additional useful features,
was the reputed Russian geneticist I.V. Michurin. His experiments with
inoculation of sprouts of particular trees under the bark of other trees,
cannot be compared with interference in the genetic structures of organisms,
though. Currently scientists perform tests to grow plants and even animals with
pharmacological features (like, hen's eggs with the white egg containing
anticancer medicinal component).
The origin of
genetically modified food products obviously pursued the best intentions, in
particular to provide the world with the sufficient amount of food stuff. Year by
year it is difficult to grow vegetables, fruit and berry crops in natural
environment, taking into consideration the condition of farms close to
exhaustion and increase in resistance of weeds to herbicides, and also insects
get more resistant to pesticides and weed and pest-killer chemicals. As for the microorganisms pathogenic for plants,
they show their resistance to new chemicals even quicker. It results in huge expenses for the development
and testing of new stuff to kill pests and weeds, and also to enrich the lands,
where the efficacy of such drugs is not high. In this aspect genetically
modified food stuff appears to be profitable and allows saturating the foreign
economic market quickly with any consumer goods. Nevertheless, the scientists
have still been arguing on the consequences of genetically modified food stuff
consumption (especially on consequence of remote effect). Thus, as the potential
adverse «side effect» of such food stuff is the possibility to provoke various
and diverse allergic reactions, increase in risk of tumor development and even
the mutation of normal microflora of human organism.
Which is how,
genetically modified food stuff is still marketed, and while the scientists
from all over the world continue investigating and arguing in this sphere, the
ordinary customers are faced with options to consume genetically modified food
stuff or avoid it. Chasing this idea, the international and domestic legislation
bind the manufacturers of products with genetically modified components, to
mark the food stuff with the relevant label. And the extent, to which the
manufacturers observe this rule, is not known to us.
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