Say NO to Genetic Engineering

In August of 2013, 400 Filipino farmers stormed the government-owned golden rice fields and annihilated about a quarter of the research facility, in order to save their own crops from contamination. Golden rice is a genetically modified version of white rice that contains beta-carotene, which serves as an effective Vitamin A source. Farmers in the Philippines were worried that elements of these genetically engineered crops would reach their own crops through cross-pollination, possibly concocting adverse side effects. Examples such as this disaster illustrate one of the many potential hazards and issues that revolve around genetically modified food. Because of its difficult application to a multitude of food, the extensive testing that must occur before approval, and potential chemical side effects and harms, the costs of genetic engineering outweigh the few benefits, most notably disease-resistant crops. These obstacles may perhaps cause more social unrest and affect what we as humans eat, in the future.

Golden Rice Compared to White Rice
Photo by IRRI Images

One of the biggest issues with genetic engineering is that it is difficult to apply to a myriad of foods. To understand why this is, it is critical to first understand the basics of how genetic engineering works, in a biological sense. The process consists of manually removing a DNA segment from one organism and inserting the segment into another organism so that the organism in a sense can inherit the trait that the DNA carried. Small segments of DNA are called genes and genes are essentially what are extracted from organisms with the desired traits for cloning. The gene can be modified and then transferred into the desired organism through the process of transformation. For someone who does not have a strong biology background, this simple overview may cause them to wonder what the problem is then, if the process is so straightforward. Well, I am here to tell you that there are several complications that arise during the transformation of genes.

The way genes work in an organism, is that they interact with each other, in order for chemical and physical processes to occur. Each organism has a unique set of genes so every organism operates in very different ways as it is. In genetic engineering, a gene with a desired trait is extracted from some random organism, but will behave differently based on the genes around it, meaning that the behavior of the inserted gene really depends a great deal on the organism that it is inserted into. For this reason, it becomes difficult to apply genetic engineering to a variety of organisms, or foods in this case. Just because a gene with a certain trait works successfully in one organism does not mean that the same will occur in another organism due to varying genomic makeup. This phenomenon explains why genetic engineering is often times considered so unpredictable.

Retrospectove Model of Genes
Photo by UCL Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Another issue that stems from genetic engineering is that of its potential chemical side effects and harms. Just to allude to the seriousness of this topic, history does not necessarily support genetic engineering and its side effects. In 1989 and 1990, a genetically engineered dietary supplement, L-tryptophan, took the lives of more than 30 human beings and disabled/afflicted more than 1500 others. Genetically engineered bacteria were used to make the supplement and the bacteria were somehow contaminated in the process. Through the alteration of these bacteria, the blood disorder, eosinophilia myalgia syndrome, was also caused.

The misfortune with the dietary supplement produced in Japan is just one of many incidents of how genetically altered foods can cause chemical harms and effects. The reason that such occurs goes back to similar reasons that genetic engineering can’t be applied to all foods easily. A lot of the process depends on the surrounding genes and their behavior as a result of the inserted gene. When the inserted gene does not necessarily “agree” with those surrounding genes, such chemical effects are possible and can negatively impact the future foods that we as human beings consume. The other issue at hand is that often times to facilitate the transformation process, bacterium such as E. Coli are used. The benefit of using such bacterium is that they are relatively inexpensive to use, however they always leave the possibility of becoming contaminated. This contamination can also lead to adverse unwanted chemical harms. Essentially, the process of genetic engineering is too prone to hazardous outcomes and hence is unreliable.

E. Coli Petri Dish
Photo By: Anthony D'Onofrio

Finally, the extensive testing that must occur during the process of genetic engineering is one of its greatest disadvantages. This stems directly from the reasons discussed before. Because genetic engineering can cause too many potential side effects in food, it must go through years of testing and approval before it can even be considered being sold in the market. This is indeed a positive thing, however there is a major drawback. Even after the years and years of testing and money spent, there is the potential of the genetically engineered food still being harmful. For example, going back to the Japanese dietary supplement in the example before, the sample was created by the third largest chemical company in Japan, meaning that a reputable company that likely tested their product multiple times and went through rounds and rounds of approval still messed up. Despite all of this testing, the unreliability of genetic engineering made it all worth nothing. No matter how much testing occurs, there is always the possibility of flaws and hazards.

Ultimately, genetic engineering is not worth the time, effort, and money that go into it because the potential benefits do not outweigh its costs. The genetic engineering debate is a growing one in the world today and has gotten to the point that there are instances of public upheaval such as those as recently as August of 2013 in the Philippines. This social unrest will only continue to grow until the problems of genetic engineering are either solved or the process as a whole stops. Even if there is the possibility that one day scientists can create disease resistant and herbicide resistant crops, the chances that they have no detrimental effects are little to none. Because of undesirable consequences, it may be in the best interest of the human race to put an end to genetic engineering.

A Positive Future
Photo By Luke P. Woods