b cook project
- 1. Modifying Foods Brandon Cook and Edwin Rodriguez Period 8
- 2. Basic Principles of Genetics Individual alleles control the inheritance of traits because when a dominant allele is present it will always show up in the trait. when traits are controlled with co-dominant alleles, neither allele is masked in the offspring. The alleles of two parents combine to express traits in offspring because when a dominant allele is active, it will always show up.
- 3. Human Genome Project The Project started in 1990 and the goals were identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA, determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, store this information in databases, improve tools for data analysis, transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. Some legal problems that could happen is that people could get mad that scientists are stealing their genes from them. A social implication could be that someone could find out they have a contagious cell in them and people might stay away from them.
- 4. Genetic Disorders Single Cell Disorder : Tay-Sachs Disease is an autosomal recessive resulting in degeneration of the nervous system. Symptoms manifest after birth. Children homozygous recessive for this allele rarely survive past five years of age. Sufferers lack the ability to make the enzyme N-acetyl-hexosaminidase, which breaks down the GM2 ganglioside lipid. This lipid accumulates in lysosomes in brain cells, eventually killing the brain cells. Although rare in the general population (1 in 300,000 births), it was (until recently) higher (1 in 3600 births) among Jews of eastern central European descent. One in 28 American Jews is thought to be a carrier, since 90% of the American Jewish population emigrated from those areas in Europe. Most Tay-Sachs babies born in the US are born to non-Jewish parents, who did not undergo testing programs that most US Jewish prospective parents had. Chromosome Abnormality : Color blindness afflicts 8% of males and 0.04 % of human females. Color perception depends on three genes, each producing chemicals sensitive to different parts of the visible light spectrum. Red and green detecting genes are on the X-chromosome, while the blue detection is on an autosome. Multifactorial Disorder : Attention-Dificit Hyperactive Disorder is a disorder that makes you not pay attention and be hyper all the time. Genetic counseling can help perspective parents who have genetic disorders regarding future children because it can make them understand the potential benefits, limitations and risk of a genetic test. Karyotypes are used to predict genetic disorders because if someone is missing a chromosome or has one more than they should, they will know if someone has a genetic disorder.
- 5. Argument 1(against) Modifying foods causes unintended harm to other organisms. Deborah Whitman says, " Last year a laboratory study was published in Nature showing that pollen from B.t. corn caused high mortality rates in monarch butterfly caterpillars. Monarch caterpillars consume milkweed plants, not corn, but the fear is that if pollen from B.t. corn is blown by the wind onto milkweed plants in neighboring fields, the caterpillars could eat the pollen and perish. Although the Nature study was not conducted under natural field conditions, the results seemed to support this viewpoint. Unfortunately, B.t. toxins kill many species of insect larvae indiscriminately; it is not possible to design a B.t. toxin that would only kill crop-damaging pests and remain harmless to all other insects. This study is being reexamined by the USDA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other non-government research groups, and preliminary data from new studies suggests that the original study may have been flawed. This topic is the subject of acrimonious debate, and both sides of the argument are defending their data vigorously. Currently, there is no agreement about the results of these studies, and the potential risk of harm to non-target organisms will need to be evaluated further "
- 6. Argument 2 (against) Modifying foods could reduce the effectiveness of pesticides. Deborah Whitman says, " Just as some populations of mosquitoes developed resistance to the now-banned pesticide DDT, many people are concerned that insects will become resistant to B.t. or other crops that have been genetically-modified to produce their own pesticides. "
- 7. Argument 3 (against) Modifying foods could transfer genes to non-target species. Deborah Whitman says, " Another concern is that crop plants engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds will cross-breed, resulting in the transfer of the herbicide resistance genes from the crops into the weeds. These "superweeds" would then be herbicide tolerant as well. Other introduced genes may cross over into non-modified crops planted next to GM crops. The possibility of interbreeding is shown by the defense of farmers against lawsuits filed by Monsanto. The company has filed patent infringement lawsuits against farmers who may have harvested GM crops. Monsanto claims that the farmers obtained Monsanto-licensed GM seeds from an unknown source and did not pay royalties to Monsanto. The farmers claim that their unmodified crops were cross-pollinated from someone else's GM crops planted a field or two away. More investigation is needed to resolve this issue. "
- 8. Argument 4 (against) Modifying foods can cause human health risks like Allergenicity. Deborah Whitman says, " Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. A proposal to incorporate a gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans was abandoned because of the fear of causing unexpected allergic reactions. Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies. Labeling of GM foods and food products will acquire new importance, which I shall discuss later. "
- 9. Conclusion The government should not fund this because modifying foods can cause unnecassary things to animals and humans. It's not worth it to have food that is changed when we already have food to eat because animals could be changed around with gene transfering and humans have to deal with being allergic if they don't know what's in a genetically modified food.
- 10. Works Cited http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/health/2009/march/Some-Scientists-Say-Genetically-Modified-Golden-Rice-Experiment-is-Unethical.html http://filebox.vt.edu/cals/cses/chagedor/Biotechnology.html http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml http://library.thinkquest.org/19037/general_info.html http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/publicat/genechoice/index.html http://find.galegroup.com/menu/commonmenu.do?userGroupName=nysl_se_tap http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/BioBookhumgen.html