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Note: Because there’s a lot of emotions tied to this topic, I want to make one thing clear. I am not advocating for or against GMO, I simply want to state the facts, the implied motivations, and the concerns. I don’t proselytize science, but I’m a big believer in giving people the facts, and letting them draw their own conclusions. An informed opinion is a valuable one.

In the mainstream conscience of our society, there aren’t many boogiemen as feared as the GMO.

In Darwin’s Cipher, I do talk about GMO, and I even used a few examples where Dr. Juan Gutierrez explains the benefits of GMO, from his point of view.

Before we go into too many details, let’s briefly discuss what motivates scientists to genetically modify anything. Obviously, they aren’t modifying the genetics of organisms on a whim. There is always a goal.

Let’s assume that in the case below, the goal is to fight malnutrition, and more specifically, vitamin A deficiency in some parts of the world.

1) A scientist will identify a desired trait exhibited in some form of life, whether plant or animal.

2) The gene(s) that provides this desirable feature is identified, and a copy is made.

3) The copied gene is inserted into the target, with the goal of it producing the desirable effect as well.

4) Finally, lots and lots of testing occurs.

Simply put, scientists have a goal to improve a target organism, whether plant or animal, by editing the genetic code or adding genetic code from somewhere else.

The following section will go into technical details associated with a well-documented case of genetic modification.

When we talk about modifying the genetics of something, what does that really mean?

To answer that, let’s gain a little background on the topic before getting too specific.

Many of you are familiar with the concept of DNA. It’s the blueprint of what we are and how we’re made. But have you ever considered what is DNA really made of?

Well, DNA is composed of a collection of genes. Each of those genes are “coded” to express a certain function. Think of a gene as one of the features that makes you who you are.

A gene is composed of a series of nucleotide pairs, also known as base pairs. They’re called that because they form the basic building blocks of DNA. For many, base pairs may sound like a bunch of gobbledygook. So, to better explain what a gene is, I’ll give two analogies:

1) If you’re a computer programmer, you can think of a gene as a series of instructions. Code, if you will. More specifically, imagine that each of the base pairs is an op-code. Each op-code is an independent instruction, that in the end, results in a logical sequence of operations. We might think of the list of op-codes as a useful subroutine. Note that each subroutine has anywhere from 20,000 to two million lines of code (base pairs). Have enough of these subroutines, and you’ve eventually constructed a program that closely resembles your genetic makeup.

2) If you’re a cook, you can think of a gene as an ingredient to a recipe for humankind. But, associated with each ingredient, you have a long series of steps on how to prepare that ingredient. Peeling, scrubbing, par-boiling, chopping into cubes, chiffonade, etc. Think of the base pairs as one of the instructions on how to prepare that ingredient. The only thing is, that the ingredients are quite complicated to prepare. It’s not just toss it into a pot as-is. Each ingredient has anywhere between 20,000 and two million steps (base pairs) to prepare it. Obviously, some ingredients(genes) are more complicated than others to prepare. And when you consider that the human body has approximately 20,000 ingredients(genes), it gives you an idea of just how much work we’re talking about.

Now that you have a vague idea of what a base pair is, let’s talk about rice and genetic modification. If you’re still with me, I applaud your persistence.

Oryza sativa is the Latin name for the species of grass that produces what we commonly refer to as Asian rice. Its DNA is composed of over 400 million base pairs.

It was in the 1990’s that work was done on the DNA of rice by copying phytoene synthase (a gene from a daffodil) and phytoene desaturase (a gene from a soil bacterium). They inserted these genes into the genetic structure of rice. This ended up creating a form of rice that provided beta-carotene, a source of dietary vitamin A.

Later, in 2005, this formula was improved by sourcing the phytoene synthase from corn, thus producing a significantly higher amount of beta-carotene than the previous effort.

In many parts of the world, rice is a staple of people’s diet, often to the exclusion of many other food items. Not everyone has immediate access to the diversity of foods that many of us may take for granted.

Since rice has no natural vitamin A, it was found that vitamin A deficiency was reaching epidemic rates in some regions in the world.

In 2005, 190 million children and 19 million pregnant women in 122 countries were estimated to be affected by vitamin A deficiency. Lack of sufficient vitamin A is responsible for 1 to 2 million deaths and 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness each and every year.

With the advent of golden rice, a GMO product, just five ounces of this rice would provide an adult with their complete daily allowance of vitamin A.

The efforts associated with the creation of golden rice pretty clearly makes the case for increasing the nutritional value of the end product, but GMO products have been made for any number of reasons.

Some of them are: drought tolerance, apples that don’t brown when exposed to air, fungus tolerance in many cultivars, increasing crop yields, and lowering food costs.

Note: it is a widely held position by many scientists that there is nothing to fear from GMOs. In fact, in June 2016, 107 Nobel Laureates—most having been given the award for medicine or chemistry—signed a letter urging Greenpeace and its supporters to stop campaigning against GMOs. In fact, the letter called opposition to precision agriculture (GMO) a “crime against humanity.”

1) There are concerns that genetically modified substances remain in the body once consumed, and are suspected to cause ill effects.

2) By making some GMO crops resistant to herbicides, this enables greater use of herbicides, which is believed to be dangerous.

3) Despite testing, there is fear of unpredictable side-effects that could be caused by the transferring of genes from one species to another.

4) It is believed that government oversight is lax.

5) There’s a belief that GMOs harm the environment.

6) There are some who refute the evidence that GMOs can have beneficial effects.

7) There may be dietary concerns for some religions where genes from an “unclean” animal are used. Also, there are some religions that hold a stance that anything not found in nature should not be consumed.