What Is Gmo, What Is The Process And History Of Gmo?
Dont focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog thats great for your readers. what is gmo, what is the process and history of gmo? AGMO(genetically modifiedorganism) is the result of alaboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted andartificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal. The foreigngenes may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. 1)1982 FDA Approves First GMO Humulin, insulinproduced by genetically engineered E. coli bacteria, appears on the market.1994 GMO Hits Grocery Stores. 2)The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves theFlavr Savr tomato for sale on grocery store shelve 3)Evenin ancient times, humans were genetically modifying their food withoutrealizing it, molding crops into more desirable versions over time. 4)Sweetpotatoes are actually 8,000 year old GMOs. 5)Workingprimarily with pea plants, Gregor Mendel became the father of genetics. 6)1954.Watson and Crick described DNAs shape as a doublehelix, paving the way for genetic engineering to make a real debut. Genetic engineeringis widely used in biological research. Mouse models are engineered forbiomedical studies, bacteria are engineered to produce medications such asinsulin, and crops are engineered for agriculture. All of these products ofgenetic engineering were created using the same basic steps: EXAMPLES OF GENETICALLY MODIFIEDORGANISM GM wheat: Not on the North American market GM wheat is not currently grown anywhere in the world. The planned introduction of GM wheat into the US and Canada has been put off for the time being. Genetic engineering could be used to combat fungal disease. Fungal diseases not only cause significant yield losses, but also lead to the contamination of wheat products with fungal toxin Continue reading >>
Gmos In Food And Medicine: An Overview
When you search online for GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) the results that come up speak to GM crops, but GMOs are more than just plants. The technology of genetic modification or genetic engineering was first developed in the early 1970s, commercialized in pharmaceutical applications in the early 1980s, and then agricultural applications in the early 1990s. The technology has been around for 40 years. It is hardly new. Perhaps if you compare it to the internal combustion engine it is new, but compared to something as recent and ubiquitous as flat screen HDTVs, DVRs, and Wi-Fi -friendly touch screen devices like iPhones and Tablets, it is a time tested technology. In medicine, genetic engineering (GE) is used to make biopharmaceutical drugs. Various organisms are engineered for use as factories to produce the drug product. Bacteria are the preferred option, as they are the easiest to grow and scale-up for production, but depending on the complexity of the drugs molecular structure, other organisms such as yeasts, mammalian cells, etc ., can also be used to express the drug product. The first GE drug approved for use was insulin . By the year 2000, there were over 100 GE drugs on the market. Currently, peoples lives are changed every day by drugs like Remicade , Epo , Avastin , and Neulasta . With the notable exception of Golden Rice , the agricultural applications for GE have been predominantly directed at the practical concerns of farming, such as controlling destructive insects and weeds. Herbicide resistant and insect resistant crops have given farmers more choices . While the techniques used to modify the organisms are similar, the intent couldnt be more different. Pharmaceutical companies are looking to manufacture drugs that are intended to have deliberate Continue reading >>
History Of Agricultural Biotechnology: How Crop Development Has Evolved
History of Agricultural Biotechnology: How Crop Development has Evolved By:Wieczorek Ania(Dept of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Hi at Manoa)&Wright Mark(Dept of Plant and Env Protection Sciences, University of Hi at Manoa)2012Nature Education Citation:Wieczorek,A.M.&Wright,M.G.(2012)History of Agricultural Biotechnology: How Crop Development has Evolved.Nature Education Knowledge3(10):9 Have you ever wondered where our agricultural crops come from? And what were they like thousands of years ago, or hundreds of years ago? Our food crops today are in fact very different from the original wild plants from which they were derived. About 10,000 years BC, people harvested their food from the natural biological diversity that surrounded them, and eventually domesticated crops and animals. During the process of domestication, people began to select better plant materials for propagation and animals for breeding, initially unwittingly, but ultimately with the intention of developing improved food crops and livestock. Over thousands of years farmers selected for desirable traits in crops, and thus improved the plants for agricultural purposes. Desirable traits included crop varieties (also known as cultivars, from "cultivated varieties") with shortened growing seasons, increased resistance to diseases and pests, larger seeds and fruits, nutritional content, shelf life, and better adaptation to diverse ecological conditions under which crops were grown. Over the centuries, agricultural technology developed a broad spectrum of options for food, feed, and fiber production. In many ways, technology reduces the amount of time we dedicate to basic activities like food production, and makes our lives easier and more enjoyable. Everyone is familiar with how transportat Continue reading >>
Genetically Modified Foods
GM plants were first marketed in the 1990s. The first commercialized GM crop was a TOMATO called Flavr Savr (resistant to rotting), marketed in 1994 by a US-based company, Calgene. Since then, many GM crops have been commercialized. Genetically modified (GM) foods are made from crops, animals or microorganisms whose GENETIC material has been altered to acquire specific traits using recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant DNA technology refers to combining genes from different organisms, sometimes across species. The resulting organism is said to be "genetically modified" or "transgenic." For this purpose, a gene conferring desirable traits is isolated from an organism (a BACTERIUM , a VIRUS , an ANIMAL or a PLANT ) and introduced into a recipient plant or animal. Thus GM foods are foods produced from these GM crops or organisms. Current GM products are not limited to foods but include several beneficial products including medicines (eg, INSULIN ), vaccines, animal feeds and fibres. GM plants were first marketed in the 1990s. The first commercialized GM crop was a TOMATO called Flavr Savr (resistant to rotting), marketed in 1994 by a US-based company, Calgene. Since then, many GM crops have been commercialized. More than 250 million hectares of GM crops are planted annually in more than 20 countries and by more than 10 million farmers. The US grows more than 50% of all the GM crops in the world. The other most important producing countries are, in order, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, China, Paraguay and South Africa. Canada accounts for about 6% of the world production. The International Services for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) maintains records of global acreage and a database of the global status of commercialized transgenic crops. Commerc Continue reading >>
Brewing Insulin Using Genetically Modified Bacteria (#gmomonday)
Image: Africa Studio via Shutterstock.com The American Juvenile Diabetes Association estimates that about 3 million Americans suffer from type 1 diabetes. So perhaps, you, like me, know somebody who needs insulin in order to survive. Type 1 diabetes is a disease caused by the failure of the pancreas to produce insulin, a hormone that regulates the amount of sugar in the blood. I first learned about diabetes in grade school when a friend was diagnosed. His pancreas stopped producing the insulin his body needed, and he began drinking lots of water and feeling very sick. I went to the hospital with his family and learned how to give insulin injections and understand blood sugar measurements. One thing I didn’t learn at the time is the amazing biotechnology story behind the tiny bottles of life-saving insulin that showed up in his refrigerator. Insulin was first produced in the 1920s by scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best. Banting and Best had discovered that insulin was the hormone that diabetics lacked, and they figured out a way to harvest insulin from animal pancreases. In what is commonly described as one of medicine’s “most dramatic moments,” scientists went into a diabetic children’s ward, injecting the comatose and dying children with this insulin. By the time they reached the far end of the ward, children on the near end were already waking up. The refining process for insulin was perfected, and up until the 1980s, people around the world relied on insulin from pigs and cows to lift the death sentence of diabetes. But porcine and bovine insulin, although similar to the human variety, were not exactly the same. Although most people have no problem using insulin from these animals, some reacted poorly to it. The chemical structure of human insulin Continue reading >>
The Gene: An Intimate History Review Journeys In A Misunderstood World
The Gene: An Intimate History review journeys in a misunderstood world Siddhartha Mukherjees primer illuminates a subject that most of us find hard to grasp When The Irish Times says, as it did last month, that innovation is in our DNA, as a geneticist I might be pleased. The problem, of course, is that most readers do not know what the term means. Well, DNA is the chemical genes are made of. If something is in your DNA, this means its in your genes. But what does that mean? Siddhartha Mukherjee, a molecular biologist at Columbia University who received a Pulitzer Prize in 2011 and whose family has been affected by heritable illness, is well-placed to explain this complex topic. He writes well, often pithily, in his mostly excellent, though occasionally protracted, history of the gene. The first century of genetics was of little interest to the general public, as I found out at dinner parties in the 1960s. The past 50 years have seen genetics emerge, in the words of Bryan Appleyard, as the most restless, turbulent and demanding form of knowledge that our species has yet produced. Mukherjee sees the gene as one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in the history of science, and he ranks it with the atom as an idea that has transformed our understanding of the natural world. The gene is the beautiful and powerful idea that explains biology. Friends are more interested now but still find it difficult to accept the implications of genes, which affect everything we are and do, but often in a small way that cannot be understood or altered. Moreover, ethical dilemmas prevent people from paying attention to areas where genetics can be of great service. Mukherjee has the optimism or is it bad judgment coming from relative inexperience? to believe that genetics can do much m Continue reading >>
The Bizarre History Of How Corporate Food Industry Flooded Our Farmlands With Gmos
The Bizarre History of How Corporate Food Industry Flooded Our Farmlands with GMOs Photo Credit: Sandra Matic / Shutterstock The following is excerpted with permission from the forthcoming book Badditives! The 13 Most Harmful Food Additives in Your Dietand How to Avoid Them by Linda Bonvie and Bill Bonvie (January 2017). Copyright 2017, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. No matter what you may have heard about how completely safe genetically modified foods are, it is part of an elaborate con jobone designed to protect the profits of both Big Food and the biotechnology industry at the expense of your familys health. Perhaps the best indicator of how patently false those notions are comes from those consumers whose honesty you can always depend onanimals. As Jeffrey M. Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, notes in his book, Genetic Roulette , when given the choice, animals in multiple isolated accounts usually make a point of steering clear of genetically altered foods. Are these animals merely being finicky, or might they know something we dont? Theres an awful lot we dont know about the hidden effects of altering an organisms DNA, and the consequences on anyone who consumes it. Despite the lack of any official safety testing on GMOs, the evidence so far suggests that transferring genes from one life form to another can have unanticipated and unintended biological consequences. Glyphosate: The Other Half of the GMO Hidden Hazard Equation The chief purpose of DNA remodeling, or genetic modification, of crops is to make them Roundup Readyable to survive being doused with Monsantos Roundup, currently the worlds most widely used herbicide. Roundups main ingredient, glyphosate, was declared a probable cause of cancer by the International Agency for R Continue reading >>
A Little Bit Of History
Home » About Diabetes » GM Vs Animal Insulin » A Little Bit of History GM Vs animal insulin Choices – The Evidence Evidence from people with diabetes A little bit of history Facts Action and duration times of animal and GM ‘human’ insulins Hypoglycaemia and loss of warnings ‘Dead in Bed Syndrome’ The concerns of patients are justified Availability of animal insulins in the UK Changing your insulin What to do if your consultant refuses to change your insulin Availability of animal insulin if admitted to hospital Frequently asked questions Allergic reactions to insulin A little bit of history For nearly 80 years people with diabetes who required insulin treatment used animal insulin, originally beef insulin. In the 1970s highly purified pork insulin became available. All insulin is now highly purified whether beef, pork or GM ‘human’. In 1982 genetically modified insulin, so-called ‘human’ insulin, received marketing approval. Approval was given in five months, a remarkably short time when one realises that it was the first genetically produced drug to be licensed and used on people. It was claimed that GM ‘human’ insulin was better because it is an exact copy of the insulin molecule produced by the body and therefore it would produce less antibodies. It was also claimed that it would be cheaper, therefore more accessible to people in poor countries and that animal insulin supplies were likely to run out. None of these claims have proved to be the case. During the mid-1980s there were widely circulated but untrue rumours that animal insulins were being discontinued. This resulted in the over 80% of people in the UK being transferred from animal to GM ‘human’ insulin but in the majority of cases for no good clinical reasons. Within a year or so Continue reading >>
The History Of A Wonderful Thing We Call Insulin
Since the dawn of time, we have searched for ways to make life easier for us. The modern age has given us some amazing technological advances—what we would do without the internet, our iPhones or high-speed travel? For many people, surviving life without these things sounds rough. However, if you have diabetes, no doubt you’re also a big fan of one particular 20th-century discovery: insulin. Before insulin was discovered in 1921, people with diabetes didn’t live for long; there wasn’t much doctors could do for them. The most effective treatment was to put patients with diabetes on very strict diets with minimal carbohydrate intake. This could buy patients a few extra years but couldn’t save them. Harsh diets (some prescribed as little as 450 calories a day!) sometimes even caused patients to die of starvation. So how did this wonderful breakthrough blossom? Let’s travel back a little more than 100 years ago.… In 1889, two German researchers, Oskar Minkowski and Joseph von Mering, found that when the pancreas gland was removed from dogs, the animals developed symptoms of diabetes and died soon afterward. This led to the idea that the pancreas was the site where “pancreatic substances” (insulin) were produced. Later experimenters narrowed this search to the islets of Langerhans (a fancy name for clusters of specialized cells in the pancreas). In 1910, Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Shafer suggested only one chemical was missing from the pancreas in people with diabetes. He decided to call this chemical insulin, which comes for the Latin word insula, meaning “island.” So what happened next? Something truly miraculous. In 1921, a young surgeon named Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best figured out how to remove insulin from a dog’s pancreas. S Continue reading >>
The Difference Between Open Pollinated, Hybrid And Gmo Seeds
The Difference Between Open Pollinated, Hybrid and GMO Seeds It is common for people who support (or know little about) genetically modified foods (GMOs) to argue something along the lines of, Whats the big deal? Humans have been genetically modifying plants for thousands of years. Unfortunately, this claim can only be made by someone who either doesnt understand seed breeding, or who is outright trying to deceive you. Heres why Today, seeds are bred in only one of three ways: 1) in an open pollinated environment, 2) through a hybrid cross, and 3) through direct DNA modification in a lab. Lets look at each, one at a time Open pollinated (OP) seeds are seeds that are produced from cross-pollinating two of the same variety of plant, usually by wind, birds or insects, resulting in plants that are very similar, but naturally varied. Open pollinated seed saving is the oldest of the three methods of producing seed. Gardeners and farmers have been carefully isolating, selecting and replanting open pollinated seed varieties that have beneficial traits (like drought tolerance or good flavor) for as long as we have been doing agriculture. All heirloom seeds are open pollinated, and they can be saved and passed from generation to generation. When a gardener or seed breeder raises open pollinated plants, she has to keep pollen from other related varieties from entering the patch (generally accomplished with distance from the other variety). If successful at keeping the open pollinated variety isolated, she or he will be able to select and save seeds from the very best plants in the patch, and trust that they will grow out next season with the same characteristics as their parent plant. This is how most of the sweet, juicy, large fruits and vegetables we enjoy today (like corn, pot Continue reading >>
Anti-gmo Advocates Try To Scare Diabetics Off Life-saving Genetically Engineered Drug Treatment
In the late 1970s scientists used genetic engineering to piece the gene for human insulin production into E. Coli or yeast cells, essentially turning them into tiny insulin factories. Before this technology, diabetics had to inject themselves with insulin from ground up pork and beef pancreases. The human stuff offers a lot of benefit over the animal variety: it’s more useful for controlling blood sugar levels and it causes many fewer allergic reactions than the animal-derived insulin. But, because synthetic human insulin is derived from genetically modified yeast or bacteria cells, no amount of evidence, including 40 years of intensive study and millions of diabetics who would have died without the treatment, will convince some anti-GMO activists of its safety. Why? Because it’s ‘not natural.’ A number of anti-technology activists launched a coordinated campaign over the past week by misrepresenting a recent small Japanese study that identified six patients with Type 2 diabetes who began developing Type 1 diabetes after starting insulin. The actual study makes no mention of GMO insulin or the animal-produced variety, which is perfectly safe, as Kevin Folta, head Horticultural Sciences at the University of Florida and an expert on genetic engineering, points out on his blog. We all depend on insulin, a hormone synthesized in the Pancreas, to control blood sugar levels. Elevated blood sugar can lead to a variety of metabolic disorders and long-term damage to various organs. Type II diabetics produce too much at first, leading to insulin resistance, a state where the body just does not respond to the hormone and blood sugar levels remain high. Eventually type II's do not produce enough, so they need to control blood sugar with drugs, or in some cases administer in Continue reading >>
Genetic Essay G10 - Biology Bibliographies - In Harvard Style
Not logged in. Log in or create an account These are the sources and citations used to research Genetic Essay G10. This bibliography was generated on Cite This For Me on What Is Insulin? How Does Insulin Regulate Glucose? Your Bibliography: Today, M. (2017). What Is Insulin? How Does Insulin Regulate Glucose?. [online] Medicalnewstoday.com. Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2017]. How did they make insulin from recombinant DNA? Your Bibliography: Nlm.nih.gov. (2017). How did they make insulin from recombinant DNA?. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2017]. Your Bibliography: Yourgenome.org. (2017). What is genetic engineering?. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2017]. Your Bibliography: JDRF. (2017). General Diabetes Facts - JDRF. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2017]. History of Insulin - Discovery to Modern Day Timeline Your Bibliography: Diabetes.co.uk. (2017). History of Insulin - Discovery to Modern Day Timeline. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2017]. Recombinant DNA: Example Using Insulin In-Depth Explore More: Genetic Engineering Your Bibliography: Iptv.org. (2017). Recombinant DNA: Example Using Insulin In-Depth Explore More: Genetic Engineering. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2017]. Human Insulin and Recombinant DNA Technology Your Bibliography: Uppangala, N. (2017). Human Insulin and Recombinant DNA Technology. [online] Biotecharticles.com. Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2017]. Diabetes: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments Your Bibliography: Today, M. (2017). Diabetes: Symptoms, Causes and Treatments. [online] Medicalnewstoday.com. Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2017]. The Pros & Cons of the Use of GMO Insulin Your Bibliography: Callahan, R. and Callahan, R. (2017). The Pros & Cons of the Use of GMO Insulin. [online] LIVESTRONG.COM. Avail Continue reading >>
Genetically Modied Organisms
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video From the course by American Museum of Natural History Genetics and Society: A Course for Educators Genetics and Society: A Course for Educators How have advances in genetics affected society? What do we need to know to make ethical decisions about genetic technologies? This course includes the study of cloning, genetic enhancement, and ownership of genetic information. Course participants will acquire the tools to explore the ethics of modern genetics and learn how to integrate these issues into their classrooms. This week you will learn about the societal implications of genetically modified food, and discuss ways to incorporate this issue into your teaching. Senior Manager of Professional Development Hello, and welcome to lecture 4 of Genetics and Society. By the year 2050, there will be 9 billion people on this planet and the resources to feed those people will have dwindled. And we won't have enough resources to feed those people. So, what does this have to do with genetics? coming up with an informed opinion about the problem that Well, today what we're going to do is talk about genetically going to talk about their technical aspects. we're going to talk about the existence of GMOs for because of breeding in the past. We're going to talk about the policy around GMOs. And we're also going to talk about some of the controversies of GMOs. Genetic engineering or genetically modified organisms or GMOs have been around for millenia. People humans have genetically modified organisms either agricultural of their pets for thousands of year. Wheat is a great example of a genetically modified organism that more than likely wouldn't exist if it were not for humans. A Continue reading >>
Biopharmaceuticals Derived From Genetically Modified Plants
Biopharmaceuticals derived from genetically modified plants Address correspondence to: Dr D.A. Goldstein, Monsanto Company A2NE, 800 N. Lindbergh Blvd, St Louis, MO 63167, USA. e-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, Volume 97, Issue 11, 1 November 2004, Pages 705716, D.A. Goldstein, J.A. Thomas; Biopharmaceuticals derived from genetically modified plants, QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, Volume 97, Issue 11, 1 November 2004, Pages 705716, Modern biotechnology has resulted in a resurgence of interest in the production of new therapeutic agents using botanical sources. With nearly 500 biotechnology products approved or in development globally, and with production capacity limited, the need for efficient means of therapeutic protein production is apparent. Through genetic engineering, plants can now be used to produce pharmacologically active proteins, including mammalian antibodies, blood product substitutes, vaccines, hormones, cytokines, and a variety of other therapeutic agents. Efficient biopharmaceutical production in plants involves the proper selection of host plant and gene expression system, including a decision as to whether a food crop or a non-food crop is more appropriate. Product safety issues relevant to patients, pharmaceutical workers, and the general public must be addressed, and proper regulation and regulatory oversight must be in place prior to commercial plant-based biopharmaceutical production. Plant production of pharmaceuticals holds great potential, and may become an important production system for a variety of new biopharmaceutical products. The use of plants or their extracts for the treatment of human disease predates the earliest stages of recorde Continue reading >>
“gmos” For The Animals: The Case Of Pig-free Insulin
by Juan Drewjn, Vegan GMO Latinoamerica. Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar (i.e. glucose) is too high. Type 1 diabetes prevents your body from making insulin. With type 2 diabetes -the most common type- your body doesn’t make or use insulin well. Insulin is a protein that is needed to lower glucose levels in blood. The Latest statistics show that incidences of diabetes have risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. In 2012, an estimated 1.5 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes and another 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood glucose.[i] Contrary to a common myth, vegans can have diabetes. (Though it does happen less frequently because a diet high in vegetables is a good way to prevent it.) Diabetes can cause kidney, nerve, or heart disease, stroke, and even the need to remove a limb. To prevent people from dying the most common modern treatments includes a special diet and the use of insulin. In 1923, Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for the discovery of insulin. The discovery was a massive boon for human diabetes sufferers, but not great news for animals. The only known method to obtain insulin consisted of extracting it directly from the pancreases of pigs and cows. The insulin was then purified, which reduced the chance of the insulin user developing a negative reaction. “Stories from the National Museum of American History” It took approx. 8,000 pounds of pancreas glands from 23,500 animals to make one pound of insulin. But in 1978, a new discovery made it possible to take animals out of insulin production. That discovery was thanks to a burgeoning new technology–genetic engineering. Scientists started to synthesize insulin with the use of modified e. coli bacteria. Thes Continue reading >>
