Genetically Modified Organisms

Question 1

Explain how you can genetically manipulate a plant to make it insect-resistant?
E.g.?

Answer 1

Soybeans can be GM, so that yields of soybeans aren’t greatly reduced by pests that feed on the soybean
You can GM soybean plats to include a gene originally found in the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)
This gene codes for a protein that is toxic to some of the insects that feed on soybean plants

Question 2

What are the ethical issues concerning GM soybean plants? Positive and negative?

Answer 2

(+) they will reduce the amount of chemical pesticides that farmers use on their crops, which can harm the environment
(+) GM plants can be designed to be more nutritious

(-) GM plants may encourage monoculture (only one type of crop is planted), this decreases biodiversity, whole crop could be vulnerable to disease
(-) GM soybean plant could interbreed with wild plants creating ‘super weeds’ - weeds that are resistant to herbicides

Question 3

What is pharming?
Example?

Answer 3

the production of human medicines (pharmaceutical) using genetically modified organisms, e.g. animals.

• creating model animals - addition or removal of genes so that animals develop certain diseases, acting as models for the development of new therapies
• creating human proteins- the introduction of a human gene coding for a medically required protein e.g. transgenic cow can produce milk with desired human protein that can be harvested

Question 4

Ethical issues to pharming?
Benefits and issues?

Answer 4

(+) drugs made this way can be made in large quantities, making them more available to people
(-) manipulating an animals genome could have harmful side-effects for the animal
(-) animals being used merely as human ‘assets’

Question 5

Using pathogens for research

Answer 5

Scientists carry out research into genetically engineered pathogens in order to find treatments for disease

Question 6

Benefits and issues with using pathogens for research

Answer 6

(+) help cure disease, untreatable disease, reducing suffering

(-) people worried about mass outbreak of disease
(-) people worried that a genetically modified version of a pathogen could revert back to its original form and cause an outbreak of disease

Question 7

Ownership of GM organisms

Answer 7

The sharing of knowledge, skills and technology is called technology transfer

Scientists or a company may want to obtain legal protection for their genetically modified products, e.g. by getting a patent. This means by law they can control who uses the product and how for a set period of time

Question 8

Benefits and Ethical issues of ownership of GM organisms

Answer 8

(+) owner of the patent will get money generated from selling the product
(+) encourages scientists to compete to be the first to come up with a new, beneficial genetically engineering idea, so we get genetically engineered products faster

(-) farmers in poorer countries may not be able to afford patented genetically modified seeds