...An Introduction to the topic of GMOs Ruby Gutierrez Adventist University of Health Sciences Abstract GMOs are a promising and exciting revolution in agriculture. The technology, if safe, could allow humanity to make hunger a thing of the history. On the other hand a technology as powerful as GMOs also has the potential of changing our lives and ecosystems irreversibly. This paper is a basic introduction into the topic of genetically modified organisms and the concerns consumers and advocates around the world have about this technology, its approval, and future impact in the environment and societies around the world. Keywords: GMOs, FDA, agriculture, Monsanto, patents, corruption, environment. GMOs: An Introduction We live in an area where the acquisition of knowledge is only a few keystrokes away for any given subject. The pace at which new technologies are developed and become obsolete is unprecedented. Each new invention brings the hope and promise of a better tomorrow, an improved tomorrow. One of these revolutionary technologies are genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Companies that produce GMOs offer the technology as the answer to at least two of our most pressing issues, sustainable agriculture and world hunger. Both issues speak to one of humanity’s most basic biological needs, food. In effect, anything that affects this need should be treated with importance and urgency, because of the essential nature of food for human existence. ...
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...Monsanto Paper By Raikirat Sohi MBA 505 Foundation of Management A. Hetro Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Management November 18, 2014 COMPANY HISTORY AND PROFILE Monsanto is one of the Fortune 500 Company with its headquarters located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It employs 21183 employee globally providing 146 facilities in In USA alone, it employees 10277 employees distributing 404 facilities over 66 countries (Monsanto, 2014). It is an American multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation. It serves its customers with products ranging from agricultural and vegetable seeds, plant biotechnology traits to crop protection chemicals. In present times it is the leading manufacturer of genetically engineered seeds and herbicide glyphosate marketed under brand name round up (Monsanto, 2014). It was founded in 1901by John F. Queeny with his wife Olga Monsanto Queeny. The first produce that was manufactured by this company was saccharin (the artificial sweetener) that was sold to Coca-Cola Company. By 1905, Monsanto benefitted ad progressed through the sale of vanillin and caffeine. During the time of World war 2 Monsanto was unable to import chemicals that were needed by them from Europe so in order to compensate that it started producing chemicals on its own. Monsanto went public in Stock exchange in 1929. During this era of 1920’s Monsanto expanded in chemical industries producing sulphuric acid and PCB’s. Monsanto’s first PCB manufacturing...
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...2015 How Are GMOs Affecting the Environment and Our Health? Food has been one of the basic needs since the birth of a person. History shows that the production of food only consisted of hunting, harvesting, and farming. During these times, it usually took a long time before these foods arrived at the dining tables of families. However, today, technology has allowed the mass production of food. Unfortunately, the market has taken advantage of technology, not letting us know how food is made, leading to the birth of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). GMOs are widely used in most foods today. Though most people are unaware of this, GMOs even exist in some of their favorite food products. Many reports tell that diseases, such as E-Coli and Salmonella, have been caught from GM-foods. Furthermore, researchers and doctors believe that GMOs carry a huge risk; although, some scientists claim that GMOs are completely safe for human consumption. GMOs should be banned because they have a negative impact on human health, and potential risks on the environment. Although GMOs were only introduced in 1996, the side effects can already be seen: there have been increased allergic reactions, antibiotic resistant bacteria and other toxic hazards. While these side effects of GMOs may seem minuscule in the grand scheme of things, the lasting effects can be much more drastic. More and more children are having life-threatening allergies, which can be contributed to increased GMO intake. Children...
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...Cavite State University – Main Indang, Cavite College of Engineering and Information Technology Department of Agriculture and Food Technology AENG 26 Introduction to Environmental Science Term Paper Effects of Genetically Modified Food on Human Amoguis, Jenina R. ECE 3 – 1 Engr. David L. Cero Professor Introduction Genetically modified (GM) foods are foods derived from organisms whose genetic material (DNA) has been modified in a way that does not occur naturally, e.g. through the introduction of a gene from a different organism. Currently available GM foods stem mostly from plants, but in the future foods derived from GM microorganisms or GM animals are likely to be introduced on the market. Most existing genetically modified crops have been developed to improve yield, through the introduction of resistance to plant diseases or of increased tolerance of herbicides. In the future, genetic modification could be aimed at altering the nutrient content of food, reducing its allergenic potential, or improving the efficiency of food production systems. The main purpose of genetic modification of food is to improve its taste, output, and make plants disease resistant. Despite these advantages, many people refuse to eat genetically modified foods over concerns that it could be dangerous to their health. However, there is still no detailed study about the long term effects of eating genetically modified foods. Genetically...
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...10 REASONS WHY we don’t need GM foods With the cost of food skyrocketing – hitting not just shoppers but the poor and hungry in the developing world – genetically modified (GM) foods are once again being promoted as the way to feed the world. But this is little short of a confidence trick. Far from needing more GM foods, there are urgent reasons why we need to ban them altogether. 1. GM foods won’t solve the food crisis A 2008 World Bank report concluded that increased biofuel production is the major cause of the increase in food prices.1 GM giant Monsanto has been at the heart of the lobbying for biofuels (crops grown for fuel rather than food) — while profiting enormously from the resulting food crisis and using it as a PR opportunity to promote GM foods! “The climate crisis was used to boost biofuels, helping to create the food crisis; and now the food crisis is being used to revive the fortunes of the GM industry.” — Daniel Howden, Africa correspondent of The Independent2 “The cynic in me thinks that they’re just using the current food crisis and the fuel crisis as a springboard to push GM crops back on to the public agenda. I understand why they’re doing it, but the danger is that if they’re making these claims about GM crops solving the problem of drought or feeding the world, that’s bullshit.” – Prof Denis Murphy, head of biotechnology at the University of Glamorgan in Wales3 commercialization, genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase US crop yields...
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...GMO MYTHS AND TRUTHS An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops Michael Antoniou Claire Robinson John Fagan June 2012 GMO Myths and Truths An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety and efficacy of genetically modified crops Version 1.3 by Michael Antoniou Claire Robinson John Fagan © Earth Open Source www.earthopensource.org 2nd Floor 145–157, St John Street, London EC1V 4PY, United Kingdom Contact email: claire.robinson@earthopensource.org June 2012 Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this paper, or otherwise published by EOS, are those of the authors and do not represent the official policy, position, or views of other organizations, universities, companies, or corporations that the authors may be affiliated with. GMO Myths and Truths 2 About the authors Michael Antoniou, PhD is reader in molecular genetics and head, Gene Expression and Therapy Group, King’s Cols: lege London School of Medicine, London, UK. He has 28 years’ experience in the use of genetic engineering technology investigating gene organisation and control, with over 40 peer reviewed publications of original work, and holds inventor status on a number of gene expression biotechnology patents. Dr Antoniou has a large network of collaborators in industry and academia who are making use of his discoveries in gene control mechanisms for the production of research, diagnostic and therapeutic products...
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...Abstract Introduction The Hunger Games trilogy dwells upon genetic modification. With genetically engineered animals such as the jabberjay, mockingjay, tracker jacker and wolf mutts, monkey mutts and even genetically engineered roses, the trilogy explores the ethics and consequences of toying with Nature. This paper will discuss the pros and cons of genetically modified organisms. Also the economic, psychological effect on society as well as the moral and ethical implications that this technology can have on today’s society. History Genetically modified organisms have continually been around but have recently evolved and came to light in the past 10 years. Genetically modified organisms are described as “An organism whose genetic characteristics have been altered by the insertion of a modified gene or a gene from another organism using the techniques of genetic engineering (www.medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com, 2013).” genetically modified organism (GMO) is used to refer to any microorganism, plant, or animal in which genetic engineering techniques have been used to introduce, remove, or modify specific parts of its genome(www.medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com, 2013).” There is a genetic material found inside cells in molecules called (DNA), which is the "blueprint" for any living thing, such as plants, animals or the tiniest bacterium. Changing the pattern of the DNA molecules may make it possible to change countless characteristics in a living organism. This ability...
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...Unilever Corporate Crimes Promoting Consumerism Misleading marketing Market domination Procter&Gamble and Unilever reach agreement Pushing the neoliberal agenda and spreading false information Exploiting -relatively cheap- resources in the Third World Promoting unsustainable agriculture Environmental pollution 9. Using consumerism to ‘eradicate’ poverty Taking public space/barring imagination Collaboration with oppressive regimes Hypocritical Health Campaign induced by Self-Interest Excessive Pay Management 1. Promoting consumerism Unilever spends a lot of energy and money on marketing and commercialisation of consumer products all over the world (‘Paint the World Yellow’ – the Lipton marketing campaign which provide everything with the Lipton Logo, from surfboards to Chevrolets—was a tremendous success, according to Unilever. It created a much bigger Lipton Logo awareness amongst consumers.) Since the Northern consumer market is saturated (so not much room left for expansion of market shares) Unilever aims at maximising the processing of food, which means adding value to ‘improve’ products and then charge more for these products. Unilever changes the product only slightly (e.g. strawberry toothpaste), or just changes the visual language in order to sell exactly the same product. Naturally this process involves heavy advertising. Many of the ‘improved’ products are basically useless, and there is no demand for them (the demand is being manufactured by the...
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...http://cls.casa.colostate.edu/transgeniccrops/what.html What Are Transgenic Plants? A transgenic crop plant contains a gene or genes which have been artificially inserted instead of the plant acquiring them through pollination. The inserted gene sequence (known as the transgene) may come from another unrelated plant, or from a completely different species: transgenic Bt corn, for example, which produces its own insecticide, contains a gene from a bacterium. Plants containing transgenes are often called genetically modified or GM crops, although in reality all crops have been genetically modified from their original wild state by domestication, selection and controlled breeding over long periods of time. On this web site we will use the term transgenic to describe a crop plant which has transgenes inserted. Image:Results of insect infestation on Bt (right) and non-Bt (left) cotton bolls. Source: USDA | Why Make Transgenic Crop Plants? A plant breeder tries to assemble a combination of genes in a crop plant which will make it as useful and productive as possible. Depending on where and for what purpose the plant is grown, desirable genes may provide features such as higher yield or improved quality, pest or disease resistance, or tolerance to heat, cold and drought. Combining the best genes in one plant is a long and difficult process, especially as traditional plant breeding has been limited to artificially crossing plants within the same species or with closely related...
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...The Wealth of Networks The Wealth of Networks How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom Yochai Benkler Yale University Press New Haven and London Copyright _ 2006 by Yochai Benkler. All rights reserved. Subject to the exception immediately following, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. The author has made an online version of the book available under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Sharealike license; it can be accessed through the author’s website at http://www.benkler.org. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Benkler, Yochai. The wealth of networks : how social production transforms markets and freedom / Yochai Benkler. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-300-11056-2 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-300-11056-1 (alk. paper) 1. Information society. 2. Information networks. 3. Computer networks—Social aspects. 4. Computer networks—Economic aspects. I. Title. HM851.B457 2006 303.48'33—dc22 2005028316 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1...
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