GM Crops

Harvest of Fear

Should we Grow GM Crops?


1. What is a GM Crop.
GM crops are genetically modified crops. There are GM products in most of the food we eat.


2. List 2 arguments FOR the growing of GM crops
GM crops will be healthier, have a longer shelf life, and will be safer to eat. Some scientists say that genetically engineered crops will take over regular crops. Farmers usually produce genetically engineered crops without using pesticides.
Genetically engineered food would also be helpful to poor, hungry countries all over the world. Scientists would genetically engineer crops with more vitamins and minerals that people need to help malnourished countries,


3. List 2 arguments AGAINST the growing of GM crops.
Genetically engineered crops will take over small farmers. Genetically engineered crops may be too expensive for small farmers, and they may be forced off their land so it could be used by the larger farmers growing genetically engineered crops.
People feel like genetically modifying organisms go against nature.


Engineer a Crop

4. Practice this simulation until you get the largest ears of corn. How many times did it take you?
It took me two times to get the largest ears of corn


What’s for Dinner?


5. List two foods and desribe how they are being modified.
Pizza: For many of the ingredients in pizza scientists are trying genetically engineered versions of them. The cheese, wheat, green peppers, onions, and tomatoes may be genetically modified. They are modifying rennet, a dried extract used in cheese, so that cheese is more easily digestible and produce more cheese. They are modifying green peppers, onions and tomatoes so that they have a longer shelf life, resist pests, and survive droughts.

Bananas: Bananas are being modified to serve as a host of diseases for an edible vaccine. They are using bananas as an edible vaccine because they are indigenous to many countries and their skin provides a sterile barrier against contamination.



Viewpoints

*Read the article titled “Are GM Food Sufficiently Regulated in the US?”

Do you think food should be labeled if it has been genetically modified? Why or Why not?
Genetically modified food should be labeled. People have the right to know what they are eating. People need labels for nutritional reasons, and if people want to not buy and support genetically modified foods then they should at least know what they are.
 

 

Finished? Go to www.yahooligans.com and type "genetic engineering" in the search field. Browse some of the sites that pop up.

(Yahooligans is better than yahoo, the sites tend to be picked for education rather than for scientists and universities, you'll find more understandable and interesting sites on yahooligans than you will with Yahoo)

Write down any of the sites you visited below.
sciencemuseum.org.uk
invasions.bio.utk.edu
www.ornl.gov