The Biotech Series: The Red Flag
Fear of
the unknown surrounds the growth of modified crops largely because there isn’t
enough evidence of their safety in terms of human health and our environment.
The
science has no guarantees, with some claiming that scientists are playing God
introducing new crop species into the ecosystem with little knowledge about
future impact
Since
these crops are produced for human consumption, there are unanswered concerns
about the effects these improvements have on the health of those who use the
products. Already Scientists have found out that genetically modified plants
have harmful effects on the lifespan of at least some insects species and
experiment mice and rabbits.
The
major debate on biotechnology lies in the transfer of DNA from dissimilar
organisms without knowing the long-term consequences. Ethical issues have also
emerged, as using DNA from certain animals on plants may be offensive to some
religions.
In
general engineered crops have proven to be genetically unstable, failed to do
what they were designed to do, are a risk to human health especially in human
developing allergies and a host of other unknown consequences only time can
tell.
On the
environment front, there are fears that there is uncontrolled spread of genetically
engineered genes to indigenous plants, increased toxicity, which may move
through the food chain, create new weeds or virus strains and disruption of
nature’s system of pest control.
A
single gene mutation may send the world into a spin and these concerns whether
real or imagined needs to be addressed before we wholly believe that the gene
revolution is the future
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