YOUR LIFE What Would You Do Imagine you are a carrot farmer You must spend hours each day picking weeds from your fields because you don’t like what herbicides would do to your carrots Then one day you learn scientists have created a new GM carrot If you plant this type of carrot you can spray your fields with a specific herbicide that does not affect the carrot Would you do it What if the herbicide harmed nearby animals 6 The community wondered why these events happened The answer soon became clear The farms grew genetically modified GM beets The people who destroyed the crops were protesters They did not agree with the use of GM foods Changes to Genes Genes are the chemical building blocks of all living things Scientists have discovered how to make small changes to the genes of different organisms Doing this alters how the organisms grow look and behave Plants and animals
Some grocery chains require suppliers to add a GMO label to their products with altered genetic material are called genetically modified organisms GMOs Altering food crops is not a new concept Farmers have selectively bred new crops for centuries They choose seeds from the healthiest crops to plant for the next season This results in crops with the best 7
taste size and appearance Farmers also create hybrid plants One way they do this is by planting two different types of plants close together Then birds or insects move pollen from one plant to the other This cross-pollination often results in the creation of a new plant Farmers hope the new plant has the best traits from both parent plants But farmers are not the only people to genetically alter crops Scientists use special techniques to make changes to seed genes For example they use the chemical colchicine to create seedless watermelons And seedless grapefruit is made using X-rays Crossbreeding In addition to crops farmers have selectively bred animals throughout history They allow two similar types of the same animal to mate They hope the offspring has the best traits from both parents This is called crossbreeding Farmers might crossbreed a goat that has thick fur with a goat that produces large amounts of milk Farmers hope the baby goat 8
Some scientists have crossbred bees to keep them h e a l t h i e r a n d m o r e h u m a n f r i e n d l y will grow up to produce a great deal of milk and stay warm in the winter Creating hybrid plants and crossbred animals is effective but the process is complex and can be very slow It can take years even decades to get the desired outcome For farmers who want new plants and animals with specific characteristics genetic technology is the solution Scientists can alter a plant’s 9
