This time it’s about the latest innovation in technology- the single most potent technology the world has ever known - more powerful even than atomic energy. Yet it is being released throughout our environment with no risk assessments. When you are having that lovely basmati rice with your favourite curry at an Indian Restaurant, or the popcorn that you munch on, at the cinema, or when you are having that delicious Chicken chow mein (soya bean sauce) at a Chinese restaurant….does it ever cross your mind, whether it is pure/original that you see on your plate? Is this harmful or harmless to future generations? Just trying to take a peek through this controversial issue called GENETIC ENGINEERING.

The reason why I chose this topic is due to the fact that; the public is often being denied the right to know about GE ingredients in the food chain because of commercial interest, and therefore losing the right to avoid them. The examples of food ingredients mentioned above are some of the main food crops being genetically engineered in the past decade. ie; rice, corn and soya bean.

Definition: Genetic engineering (GE) is a precise and predictable method used to introduce new traits into plants and animals by moving genes (DNA) and other genetic elements from one or more organisms into another organism.

• GE crops are being produced that have a wide variety of traits that benefit farmers and consumers. For example, GE crops can tolerate drought conditions and herbicides, resist insects and viruses, and provide enhanced quality and nutrition for consumers.


• GE crops that are currently consumed for food, fibre or feed include rice, corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, alfalfa and squash. Over 70 percent of processed foods on grocery store shelves in the U.S. contain ingredients and oils from biotech crops, according to an industry estimate.

I am citing an example of GE food which is a variety of rice being genetically altered to suit human needs; it’s called “LLRICE 601”. Definition of LLRICE 601: LL Rice 601 has a genetically modified protein that makes the rice plants resist glyphosate, a weed killer. The herbicide-resistant trait lets farmers spray their fields with glyphosate, killing all the weeds but leaving the crop untouched. Isn’t this amazing? How convenient?!

The second example is “Vitamin A rice”

Genetically engineered Vitamin A rice has been proclaimed as a miracle cure for blindness - "a breakthrough in efforts to improve the health of billions of people in Asia". More than $100 million have been spent over 10 years to produce a transgenic rice at the Institute of Plant Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. The Zurich research team introduced three genes taken from a daffodil and a bacterium into a rice strain, to produce yellow rice with high levels of beta-carotene, which is converted to Vitamin A within the body. The rice is being promoted as a cure for blindness, since Vitamin A deficiency causes vision impairment and can lead to blindness. According to the UN, more than 2 million children are at risk due to Vitamin A deficiency.

So here I am with my queries:

Why break your heads over creating an herbicide resistant variety of rice? Why can’t anyone discover an organic herbicide? Are there no other means to supplement vitamin A to a human being other than GE rice? No other alternatives I suppose!!

I believe that evolution is a natural process (organisms acquiring specific desirable traits) which happens slowly and not to be induced by human beings. And in the natural world species never breed with unrelated species……so what’s happening now? Strawberries with fish genes! Soya bean with inbuilt herbicide! Corn with bacterial genes! What would happen next are humans with xxx genes! After a thousand years, human species could be wiped out! Digging your own grave, huh?  Instead you would see GE humans and only God knows for what purpose they would be created for! Go on, it’s up to you to imagine…….be creative though. I have already started to imagine!

There is also the real threat of contamination of organic crops from genetically engineered pollen. As long as genetic engineering of crops is allowed, organic producers are at risk of their crops being exposed to background levels of GE organisms. Also humans are getting prone to food allergies at an alarming pace, what could be the reasons? Humans are getting prone to cancer, with reference to the digestive system, what else could you think of? It’s my wild guess; maybe our food has been altered from natural to artificial. There could be loads of other reasons as well. But have a good thought about GE. And be careful about what you eat.

So what do you think? Would you say yes to GE which can manipulate an organism’s DNA in a matter of time in a laboratory? Or do you stand by Darwin’s theory of evolution through selection and adaptation which takes hundreds of years?

(Expecting your valuable comments as usual…..sorry if its boring!)