Genetically Enginered Crops

“Genetically Engineered Crops: Their Potential Use for Improvement of Human Nutrition” was written by Dr. Lin Yan and Dr. Philip S. Kerr. The focus of the article was to discuss research being done to help feed the increasing world population with new scientific discoveries that have been made since World War Two. The most monumental discoveries have been the discovery of “chemical processes to reduce nitrogen and ammonia” as well as fertilizers with nitrogen in them and chemical pesticides to control insects. Irrigation techniques and improved use of seeds have helped meet the world’s increased demand for food sources (Yan and Kerr, 2002, p.135). Dr. Yan and Dr. Kerr call the increasing world population and greater need for food to feed this population the “green revolution”. Estimates indicate that although the current agricultural system is meeting the dietary needs of the population growth, it could one day be insufficient. The protein requirement future populations may require will put too much pressure on already limited resources, which is where today’s research comes into play. Today’s research is called Biotechnology, Dr. Yan and Dr. Kerr focus on how scientists study alternatives to increase agricultural productivity and eliminate environmental risks. According to the article, one of the most common problems with the current nutrition of the world is “Anemia”, also called Iron Deficiency. By further investigating biotechnology, scientists could find some way to alter foods to increase iron levels to a more healthy range for today’s society. One of the biggest successes in plant biotechnology is the number of plants capable of manufacturing an insecticide protein encoded by a gene isolated from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Having this protein leads to the death of the insects that destroy crop plants. Conventional pesticides do not work as well due to various things, such as the insects becoming immune to the conventional pesticide or finding ways inside the plant around the pesticide. By controlling the crop -eating insects with the protein (Bt) more crops can be produced and sold to the population. Studies have been shown that state BT being safe for humans, even doses several thousand times stronger than the ones currently being used. Bt also makes crops resistant to herbicides. By using herbicide resistant crops, soil erosion will decrease and land and production will become more efficient. The costs to farmers will be significantly lower when controlling weeds among their crops as well. A second impressive development of agricultural products stated in the article is the B-Carotene pigment in rice grains. This pigment helps to make areas where Vitamin A deficiency is common healthier by providing Vitamin A through B-Carotene. A third development of agricultural products is the use of genomics, to increase a-tocopherol content in oil-seeds, which increases Vitamin E levels. By producing the genetically engineered oilseed crops, vegetable oil is produced that has an increased amount of fatty acids. These fatty acids are important to American society especially because of the need to decrease “bad fat” acids and increase the more healthy fat intakes. “Genetically Engineered Crops: Their Potential Use for Improvement of Human Nutrition” also states the safety of genetically engineered crops. There are three main organizations set up to protect the United States from unhealthy crops and test the crops themselves using standardized tests. The organizations are the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “The EPA regulates pesticides, sets tolerances and establishes exemptions for pesticide residues in or on food crops”(Yan and Kerr, 2002, p.138). “The FDA regulates the introduction of new foods and new food additives and hold producers leally responsible