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Genetically Modified Organisms ( Gmo )

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Layla Sugawara
4/12/15
9/Fe
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetics has been altered by some form of technology. GMOs were first developed from the idea of selective breeding or artificial selection. Selective breeding or artificial selection is when humans purposely breed two selected organisms to reproduce a offspring with a desired trait. The beginning of genetic engineering is unclear. Before the 1900s, some farmers and naturalists began to recognize hybrid plants being produced through natural breeding between related plants. In the mid 1800s, Gregor Mendel, a European monk published his findings on the basic principles of heredity. Around 1900, European scientists …show more content…

Humulin was a diabetes medicine and was a form of human insulin produced by bacteria. This was a huge step for GMOs because this approval encouraged pharmaceutical companies that may have been apprehensive about the use of GMOs to start research. The first field test for genetically engineered tobacco were conducted in Belgium in 1986 and tests for tomato were conducted the following year in the United States. Even though anti-GMO groups were gaining followers, in 1992 the FDA determined in its “Statement of Policy: Food Derived from New Plant Varieties” that they can not conclude that GMOs are different from other foods. They declared that genetically engineered foods are “not inherently dangerous: and do not require special regulation. This policy impacted the role of FDA and it’s future opinion about GMO labeling. In the same year, Calgene’s “Favr Savr” tomato, which had a longer shelf life, was approved for commercial production by the US Department of Agriculture. In 1994, the European Union’s first genetically engineered crop, tobacco, was approved in France. In the same year, Monsanto, a multinational biotechnology company, introduced a growth hormone (bovine growth hormone BGH) that was used to increase milk production from cows. In 1966, Monsanto introduced the “Roundup Ready Soybeans” which were genetically modified to be resistant to Roundup pesticide. The

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