The Franken-Plant: GMO Part 1

I envision an evil scientist in a lab. Lightning and thunder strike on an eerie night. The full moon radiates through the breaks in the threatening thunder clouds. He holds up his test tube containing the genetic material of the first strain of genetically modified plant and lets out a deep, gut wrenching laugh in celebration of his success. He's created a monster, the birth of the Franken-plant.

The development of the first genetically modified plant strains, back in the 60’s, was intended to help farmers loose less crops to environmental concerns such as frost bite, pests and other threats. Crops that could be more resilient would yield a larger crop. Scientists were trying to develop super-strains that would be more likely to survive and produce a more lucrative crop for farmers. Well intentioned science, but like Frankenstein, it would eventually get out of control.

Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMO, are any organism (plant or otherwise) that have been engineered by recombinant DNA technology resulting in an alteration of its genes. Generally, these changes produce a more favorable strain, eliminating weaknesses and enhancing favorable properties such as size, color and flavor. For example, in the 60's tomato farmers began to harvest their crops with more mechanical equipment rather than hand picking. Agricultural scientists created a strain that was more resilient, less easily bruised and damaged, by the new, more aggressive harvesting techniques. 

In more recent years, Franken-plant has reared its head in the genetic modification of crops that would withstand damaging pesticides. Herbicide tolerant GMO crops now comprise the majority of the US crops. Roundup is a trade name for an herbicide used to kill weeds. Roundup Ready seeds are created to withstand the spray with this pesticide; killing the weeds without harming the plant. Sounds appealing, but unfortunately it’s where the problem starts. The more herbicide-tolerant crops are planted, the more herbicide is used. The pesticides used lead to nutritional deficiencies, increasing quality concerns and potential health problems such as various types of cancer, irritable bowel disease and a slew of allergies.

But that’s just where it starts. In the next post, we'll see where GMO has brought us.