Title: What is gene-edited food and is it safe to eat ?
Source: Pallab Ghosh
URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64559210
Date: 24/03/2023
Summary:
To produce new varieties of plants or animals, scientists use 3 types of genetic techniques: genetic modification (GM), cisgenesis, and gene editing (GE). GM means genes from different plant or animal species are added to the plant’s DNA, and cisgenesis is like GM but with genes from similar plant species added instead. Gene-editing is the newest technique that is more specific and allows scientists to snip out a small section of DNA.
Therefore, gene-edited food is a crop or meat that was made using the GE technique. For example, tomatoes from Japan contain GABA, a chemical that has a calming effect.
In addition, the article mentioned how scientists guarantee the safety of consuming food produced by three genetic techniques. However, GE food is still relatively new compared to GM food that has been consumed by Asian and South/North American populations for over 25 years. Hence, there are many concerns about the health risk and the impact on the environment. So although GE food is legal in England, it is still under consideration for other parts of the UK.
Reaction: Gene-edited food is safe or not? I think it is, depending on the purpose of the people or the company that producing it. Some GE foods could be commercially produced without any worries about the consumer's health, such as plants that are edited to look more delicious or to be much bigger and tastier, but do not contain any nutrients. However, some GE foods are created in order to be more nutritious; UK scientists, for instance, have created tomatoes that are rich in vitamin D as much as two eggs. Accordingly, I believe that GE foods should be legal after a careful check or test. Would I eat GE foods? Definitely, but only if the food is made to be healthier.
Questions: Who are the scientists who confirm that GE food is safe?
How do we know that the food we consume nowadays is not made through the genetic method?
What if the majority of GE foods are produced for profit rather than nutritional value?
On the other side, if GE foods are made to be healthier and in the future consuming GE foods is common, will future humans be able to live longer?
wow~ Would it be more expensive than natural food?
ReplyDeleteGood post, Dida. I don't think I'd like to eat any food that would alter my mood, like the tomatoes from Japan that have a calming effect. What other effect could GE foods be made to have on people? Scary to think what might be possible.
ReplyDelete