Transcript Organism - TeacherTube

IS IT A GMO?
What is a Genetically Modified Organism?
• Organism: an individual animal, plant,
or single-celled life form.
• organism that has had its DNA altered
or modified in some way through
genetic engineering.
• Organisms to which foreign
inheritable genes have been introduced
by genetic methods are called
transgenic organisms.
It all started…
•
1980 - First GMO Patent Issued
A 1980 court case between a genetics engineer at General Electric and
the U.S. Patent Office is settled by a 5-to-4 Supreme Court ruling,
allowing for the first patent on a living organism. The GMO in
question is a bacterium with an appetite for crude oil, ready to gobble
up spills.
•
1982 - FDA Approves First GMO
Humulin, insulin produced by genetically engineered E. coli bacteria,
appears on the market.
•
1994 - GMO Hits Grocery Stores
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the Flavr Savr
tomato for sale on grocery store shelves. The delayed-ripening tomato
has a longer shelf life than conventional tomatoes.
What Foods contain GMO’s?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Corn
Soy
Canola
Sugar beet
Cotton
Rice
Papaya, Bananas, Tomatoes
Baby formula
Who is Monsanto?
Monsanto Company is a publicly traded
American multinational agrochemical and ag
ricultural biotechnology corporation
headquartered in Creve Coeur, Greater St.
Louis, Missouri.
Founded in 1901 by John Francis Queeny,
Are GMO’s safe?
• GM foods currently available on
the international market have
passed safety assessments and are
not likely to present risks for
human health.
• Only the U.S and Canada have
approved the use of GMO’s.
Are they Healthy?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Obesity
Allergies
Heart disease
cancer
GMO’s can be patented
GMO’s create “super weeds” and “super bugs”
Are GMO’s labelled?
• Sixty-four countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of
the countries in the European Union, require genetically modified foods to
be labelled
• GMOs are not required to be labelled in the U.S. and Canada
What do you think?
Should GMO’s be labelled?
Should living organisms be patented?