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    FOOD CONSPIRACY: Introducing Genetically Modified Organisms GMOs: The History, Research and the TRUTH You're Not Being Told
    FOOD CONSPIRACY: Introducing Genetically Modified Organisms GMOs: The History, Research and the TRUTH You're Not Being Told
    FOOD CONSPIRACY: Introducing Genetically Modified Organisms GMOs: The History, Research and the TRUTH You're Not Being Told
    Ebook184 pages2 hours

    FOOD CONSPIRACY: Introducing Genetically Modified Organisms GMOs: The History, Research and the TRUTH You're Not Being Told

    By Mark Plummer

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    About this ebook

    New and updated 2016 2nd Edition
    Have you asked the question 'What are GMOs?"
     

    • Where did they come from?
    • Who creates them?
    • How will they affect myself and my family?
    • Are they dangerous?
    • If so, what can I do about it?

    What you'll find out by reading this book
     

    • An objective overview of what is meant by plant genetic engineering (GMO) and an insight as to where the science and technology came from.
    • An explanation (without being too 'sciencey') of how the genetic engineering of the DNA of plant species is being combined with other species, both plant and animal, to create new forms of life that are being sold to us as "food".
    • Why the biotech industry is so interested in the genetics of our food supply.
    • A historical journey dating back 12,000 yrs to the start of human agriculture.
    • An introduction to the infamous flavr-savr tomato.
    • A perspective of the wider economic, scientific and philosophical issues which are intrinsic to a full understanding of the GM food issue.

    We all need to understand the issues surrounding the controversial topic of GMOs, for the sake of our health, our families and the security of the food chain of our planet. Our very future may depend on it.
     

    GRAB This Book Today
    + FREE SIRT FOOD Healthy Eating Recipe PDF Book

    For further reading please visit www.viddapublishing.com

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Hodges
    Release dateFeb 25, 2017
    ISBN9781386402596
    FOOD CONSPIRACY: Introducing Genetically Modified Organisms GMOs: The History, Research and the TRUTH You're Not Being Told

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      Book preview

      FOOD CONSPIRACY - Mark Plummer

      Introduction

      This book will attempt to provide an objective overview of what is meant by plant genetic engineering (GMO) and provide insight as to where the science and technology came from. The text will use real examples and as many hyperlink as necessary and the reader is (as with all writing) actively encouraged to follow up on them. Genetics is a highly complex issue but it is absolutely possible to gain understanding of the principle techniques involved and how geneticists apply our constantly expanding knowledge of how molecules such as DNA function. I have tried to strike a balance between imparting essential knowledge and a sense of how it was developed against putting people off by over doing the science. Having said that I make no apologies and the reader may find that they will have to make some effort and ask questions, the answers to which may force you out of any comfort zones you may have. Getting to grips with GM foods requires a basic understanding of how genetic engineering is carried out. It is not necessary to have a detailed understanding of a given technique or be able to argue their respective virtues; this is domain of those who actually carry out plant genetic engineering. You do need to know how the nuts and bolts of plant genetic engineering is conducted, such that you understand the concepts behind the science. Such a position is equally as important as perfecting the latest technique or developing more efficient processes. This first volume in a series 5 books will finish with an overview which seeks to present genetic engineering in a frame which stretches back into geologic time but really begins for our purposes about 12,000 years ago. If the reader wishes to they can start their reading with chapter 7, in fact you may begin your reading at a juncture of your choosing.  The first four chapters will explain the how and the what of the plant genetic engineering. The why is the subject of furious debate but really comes down (as these things often do) to power, control and money. Chapter 5 will introduce the flavr-savr tomato and the last two chapters will hopefully provide some perspective as to the further wider economic, scientific and philosophical issues which are intrinsic to a full understanding of the GM food issue. It is not necessary to read this book sequentially, feel free to navigate as you see fit through the text. Overall the hope is that this book will provide a foundation by which you will be able to make your own mind up on the issue. I will however, clearly state my own position the genetic engineering of food crops is not a solution to our current food security problems. They (GM foods) are in fact part of that problem and will only succeed in making matters infinitely worse. Aside from all other factors, the objectives of the agencies involved in developing GM foods are highly debatable and that is putting it mildly. The only clear beneficiaries of the entire enterprise are the transnational corporations and the biotechnology firms connected to them. This construct is often called big-agriculture and is introduced in chapter 6. If we are to ever live in a genuinely sustainable world big agriculture along with many other institutions needs to be consigned to the dustbin of human history. The GM foodstuffs that are slowly making their way into your diet are a product of big-agriculture and so ought to be equally untenable. Furthermore, when it is beyond obvious that real long term and sustainable alternatives to GM food exist, the need for the technology becomes even more questionable. In summary GM foods are everything about maximising profits for the biotechnology firms which pursue it and the agribusiness firms which created and continue to fund them. In other words GM foods are last about sustainability, diversity, productivity, or health and nutrition and first about profits, huge profits as well as the control that such financial clout brings.

      Chapter 1: What is Genetic Engineering?

      This book is going to start with the humble pea plant and the scientist who dedicated every spare moment he had to studying their characteristics. In 1856 an Austrian monk and botanist Gregor Mendel¹(1822 - 1884) began what became crucially important work on the study of the transfer of hereditary or genetic information. Without question Gregor Mendel set the foundation for what became the science of genetics and he is rightly regarded as the father of this quintessentially modern discipline, hence the phrase Mendelian Genetics. In 1863 after seven years of painstaking and meticulous science, he established the guiding principles² of genetics. Just four years previously "On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin had been published and the established creationist orthodoxy was well on the way to collapsing. It was clear to scientists such as Darwin, Mendel and others such as Alfred Russel Wallace³ (who came to the same conclusions as and co-authored with Darwin) that some mechanism for the transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring must be in evidence.  Gregor Mendel spent seven years of his life analysing the inherited and transferred characteristics of a sample of about 13,000 pea plants out of a total population of 28,000 individual plants. In essence his work established the four cornerstones of genetics:

      Plants contain a material which determines their form and characteristics.

      Beneficial and undesirable characteristics can be passed on from generation to the next.

      That a particular trait could be dominant or recessive.

      That a particular trait could skip one or more generations.

      In the 21st century these principles would be explained in terms of genes, chromosomes and DNA. In the 19th century such terminology simply did not exist and Mendel published his work in a paper called "Experiments on Plant Hybridization, which was greeted with a deafening silence until the turn of the 20th century. In terms of agriculture this understanding that traits can be passed on from one generation to the next is rightly regarded as the beginning of modern farming. Farmers could now make definite predictions as to the most likely traits that would be expressed in a given cross breeding scenario. By applying the principles put forward by Gregor Mendel geneticists were able to establish a solid foundation for our understanding of hereditary. In an agricultural context farmers were able to continuously develop evermore precise cross and selective breeding techniques. A simple mechanism for predicting the expression of a gene is known as the three to one ratio" and it goes something like this...

      Sticking with peas, suppose that a farmer is looking to produce a pea plant that is medium in height as compared to the smaller and larger pea plants that are currently growing. Suppose that the farmer has plenty of large pea plants and the small pea plants are few and far between. Our pea farmer needs to embark on some pretty nifty selective breeding. He or she also needs to have some grasp of terms such as dominant and recessive. In essence two different forms of the same gene occupy corresponding positions on the chromosome and control the same characteristic. In our example we are looking at cross breeding Tall (T) pea plants with small (t) pea plants to produce a medium sized plant. An uppercase letter indicates a dominant gene a lower case letter a recessive gene. As the language implies a dominant gene is stronger than a recessive gene and so all things being equal that gene will be expressed, meaning that the organism will have a particular characteristic. The genes are the same but are of a different form; hence we use the term allele (allele-morphic gene) to describe them. Each pea plant in question contains both alleles the trick is to get the right gene expressed in as many plants as possible with each season. So how does it work? The best way to explain it is to list the outcomes of each meeting of pollen and ova in the plant:

      If a T pollen fertilises a t ova the result is a Tt plant

      If a T pollen fertilises a T ova the result is a TT plant

      If a t pollen fertilises a t ova the result is a  tt plant

      If a t pollen crosses a T ova the result is a tT plant

      There is no difference between the tT and Tt varieties and for simplicity we are only referring to the inheritance of one desired trait, the size of the plant. In the real world all traits are inherited but may not necessarily be expressed. With the above scenario the tt pea plants have both recessive alleles for height and so will likely be the smallest. Common sense dictates that even if the tt plant does not express the characteristics we are looking for the seed should still be kept for the future. The same is true of the TT plant, where two dominant genes for height are expressed, likely resulting in a taller plant. From here the grower will be able to select those plants that express the best of a whole range of traits and begin to incorporate those into the primary objective, which is to produce the medium sized plant. The grower now has 3 out of every four plants that will express the dominant form of the tall gene, hence the 3:1 ratio. The next stage is to keep selecting those pea plants with the desired traits and choose those plants which possess it, hence the term selective breeding. A further way of showing the possible outcomes is to construct a punnet square:

      Figure 1 Punnet Square for Predicting a Genetic Trait

      From here the producer will be able to identify any plants which express the desired trait or carry the gene for that expression. In this example the trait is carried by plants which carry either allele or the dominant alleles for height. Over many seasons further selective breeding for the given characteristic (and others) occurs until the desired trait is expressed in sufficient numbers. Therefore, selective breeding is the deliberate breeding of organisms within a species with the aim of producing offspring with a desired range of characteristics or particular traits. Cross breeding or hybridisation is a slightly different proposition; it normally involves crossing pure bred plants or animals with individuals of a different variety or species. As with selective the breeding the intent is to produce offspring that express beneficial traits, but often from both lineages. Both techniques have been recognised for millennia as an effective mechanism by which to maintain diversity. In many cross breeding scenarios the progeny is sterile and so it is not possible to create a new species of plant or animal. In biology a pre-requisite of the term species is the ability of the organism to mate and reproduce an offspring that is also fertile, that is a progeny that can also reproduce. For a new species to begin to evolve the offspring must itself be able to reproduce irrespective of circumstances or habitat. Even when organisms of a different species are cross bred they must be from the same genus for the hybridisation to be biologically viable. The word genus describes a group of species that have a similar structure. When taxonomists (biologists who classify organisms) develop the scientific name for a species the genus is the first of the two Latin words and the second tells us the species. In other words we have a generic name and a specific name. For example:

      Modern Human beings are classified as Homo sapiens.

      The now extinct Handy human, one form of the genus Homo is Homo habilis.

      One species of albatross is the Laysan albatross Phoebastria immutabilis

      Another species is the black footed albatross  Phoebastria nigripes

      One species of frog is the Gopher Frog Rana capito

      Another species of frog is the Bull Frog Rana catesbeiana

      In selective breeding when the pollen grains of a plant which contain the desired characteristic are transferred to the flowers of a different variety (that is within the same species) the beneficial characteristic will only appear in a few plants of the next generation. In turn these plants are

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