Trends for GM food industry

[kyky]

<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000FF">GM foods also known as Genetically Modified Foods are foods that are changed genetically such as injecting of certain DNA. Such foods have certain advantages such as being pest-resistant, contain more of certain vitamin and etc. However, some of these foods causes allergies to people. </font><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">My question : <i>How the GM foods industry develop throughout these years?</i></font></font>

Edited February 1, 2011 by kyky

[Mr Skeptic]

The use of GM is of course increasing. (can't go anywhere but up from nearly zero). GM is just taking a step further what we have been doing for hundreds of years (selective breeding), which itself is a step further from what we have been doing thousands of years (accidental selective breeding via the larger heavier seeds at the bottom of jars being what is left over for planting etc). In the US GM food doesn't even have to be labeled as such unless the product is significantly different than the original, and most of it hasn't been. There are some risks to using GM food but almost none of them are the reasons people make up for worrying about because they don't really know what they're talking about.

[zapatos]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food

[Horza2002]

If I remember rightly, almost all of the worlds supply of soya beans is actually grown using GM technology...but unfortunatly I can't find the reference

[Blahah]

GM foods also known as Genetically Modified Foods are foods that are changed genetically such as injecting of certain DNA. Such foods have certain advantages such as being pest-resistant, contain more of certain vitamin and etc. However, some of these foods causes allergies to people.

My question: How the GM foods industry develop throughout these years?

 

Hi kyky. I hope a teacher didn't set you this as an essay question! Firstly because GMO (genetically modified organisms) are not made by injecting DNA. The two most used methods in transformation of plants are using Agrobacterium tumefaciens as a vector, and biolistic techniques in which small lumps of gold (or similar metal) are coated in the DNA to be inserted, then fired at a porous plate above the target plant cells. Fragments of the metal carrying DNA enter the cells and if you're lucky, something gets into the nucleus and if you're even luckier, something gets incorporated. For bacteria, electroporation is the most common method of transformation. Read more about the methods here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering#Transformation

 

The major GM crops in the world are herbicide resistant. Then a smaller, but significant group of other crops are pest resistant. A much smaller group of crops are biofortified, having the engineered ability to synthesize vitamins. The GM foods industry is really strong in the USA and China. Much less so in the UK and Europe. In the UK, there is strong public opinion against foods containing GM ingredients, and also strong opposition to the growing of GM crops. Most of this public opinion stems from a deliberate campaign by Greenpeace to convince the British public not to support GM. The entire campaign relies on misinformation and lying about the science, and I spend a painfully large portion of my time correcting people about the scientific basis of GM.

 

The Wikipedia page which zapatos linked to gives an overview of the current state of GM foods. Do you have any more specific questions?

[kyky]

I am done with the work already. Thanks all !