Avoiding GM Food tips

http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Genetically-Modified-Foods
This website tells you about how to avoid eating genetically modified food, for those of you who are currently wary. In England, it is easier to avoid GM food because it is legally required to be labeled as such, but in Canada and US, it's not as easy. Almost everything we may contain ingredients derived from geneticaly modified food. If you feel that GM food is not safe or you don't want to eat it, there are certain steps you can take to prevent it.
1) Become familiar with the most common applications of genetic modification. There are products that are more likely to be GMO than others. Find out what those are and try to avoid the as much as possible.
2) Buy food labeled 100% organic. Although the US and Canadian government don't have it required for GM foods to be labeled as such, they do not let food be labeled as 100% organic if it contains GM food.
3) Recognize food and vegetable label numbers. However many numbers or what the digits may begin with may label whether or not it is GM.
4) Purchase beef that is 100% grassfed. Some cattle are brought to other places to be fed GM corn, which is used to change how their meat comes out.
5) Seek products that are specificaly labeled as non-GMO.
6) Shop locally.
7) Buy whole foods.
8) Grow your own food.

Pros and Cons:

	Pros	Cons
Agriculture	·  Might actually make agriculture easier and more productive, resulting in more food/healthier food ·  Could help to make getting meat less painful and more plentiful, causing in less deaths and gruesomeness	·  The food might be dangerous to eat and might pass on the genes to future generations ·  According to some tests, some types of foods can cause those who eat it to be infertile
Medicine	·  Can help to make new discoveries in the medicine	·  The medicine might not work on humans if it only works on different animals ·  If animals are modified to be sick, it causes unease because so many animals would die from that
Endangered species	·  Can help to re-introduce endangered species and make them more likely to survive	·  The endangered species, if modified, might be dangerous to their territory like invasive species
Research	·  Research could work and we could have a break-through	·  The research could prove to be false
Donating Organs	·  More organs= less deaths	·  The organs might not function properly or be damaged ·  The person could feel uncomfortable with having, for example, a pig liver ·  The organs might cause different changes in the humans

Overall, I believe that the pros and cons are about equal. While there might be more cons, the pros can lead to revolutionary things.

What do you think?

Why is it done?

There are many reasons why genetic engineering is done, but these are some of the more well-known and common ones.

Agriculture: For agriculture, genetic engineering can be used to better the food we grow. They can add genes that make it more efficient in growing, thriving in their areas or conditions and much more. As well, genes can be added to the organism to make it more nutritious or bigger or have less negatively effecting things.

Medicine: Animals can be engineered to be born with specific sicknesses and be tested on with cures that can also be used on humans.

Endangered species: Endangered species can be cloned and, in some cases, modified to be able to adapt to more territories. This can increase their numbers and better their chances of survival, possibly taking them off the endangered list.

Research: Researching the organism can help us understand them better and hopefully understand how they can cope more easily.

Donating Organs: Now, some scientists are considered engineering specific animals to have organs compatible to humans so we have more organs for those that need them.

Cloning Pets: In some places, there is now an option to clone your pet, to make it exactly the same instead
of getting a new one.

How is it done?

Genetic modifying is the process of adding, deleting or substituting part(s) of an organism’s DNA. To do that, you have to change the organism by “taking parts” (DNA) from other organism(s).

Every genetic engineering experiment includes 3 distinct stages, which are cloning, screening and gene transfer. Here are the stages:

Stage 1: Cloning. A scientist must first get samples of the gene that they want to transfer to another organism. The first step is to get a DNA strand from an organism that has the specified requirements. Using enzymes that cut DNA, they remove the specified gene and let the gene to insert itself into tiny circles of bacterial DNA. The special enzymes cut the DNA and leave sticky ends that attach to similar sticky ends on any other DNA piece cut by the same sort of enzyme. Finally, they let the bacteria carry the gene to infect bacterial cells. They identify the bacterial cells that have succeeded in getting the bacteria and gene. They then grow each of those cells as a “pure cell culture”. Each “culture is a clone” of each other. Each different clone has a different gene.

Stage 2: Screening. They now must select the particular clone which bears the gene that they want. There are many different ways to find a gene; however, one of the most widely used is to test each clone for its ability to stick to a special probe. The probe is fashioned to be made of DNA that will stick to the precise gene you seek and no others. DNA is made of two mirror-image strands (A,T,G,C). A pairs with T and C pairs with G. No other pairs are possible. So, for example, if one sequence is ATTCGGA and then the sequence TAAGCCT will be the only one that pairs with it.

Stage 3: Gene Transfer. Something to keep in mind is that plant cells, unlike animal cells, are encased within a thick cell wall of cellulose. To introduce plant genes, they must find a way to penetrate that thick well. Infection is the easiest way. Infectious bacteria can be used to carry your gene, if the targeted organism will accept the infection. To get the bacteria in, they remove the “wall” and zap the cell with electricity. The shock causes the cell to briefly open the cell’s pores which allows the DNA to slip in. Another way is to, literally, shoot the DNA into the cells with a particle gun.

Afterwards, they select the genes which have the desired characteristics. Using standard tissue culture techniques, they induce these cells to develop into adult genes. At that point the gene engineering experiment is complete.

 From: http://txtwriter.com/onscience/Articles/geneEng.html

What is Genetic Modifying?

All creatures are many of billions of microscopic cells. Inside each cell, there is a piece of DNA. DNA is passed from generation to generation, which passes on the information needed by the creature to survive.

Genetic modifying (GM), genetic engineering (GE) and genetic manipulating (GM) all mean the same thing: The use of modern biotechnology techniques to changes DNA structures of an organism. A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism that has been changed using the biotechnologies.

Traditionally, specific “applications” have been added to the animal’s “genetic coding” by breeding. The process of the traditional breeding methods involve finding other organisms with the specified traits and crossing them with each other; however, that method had a shorter success rate than our technological methods. It also took much longer because they had to find organism’s that were compatible with the one they were trying to modify. As well, trying to breed for a specific trait was hard because they couldn’t control exactly what traits came over; both good and bad came over.

So, to sum up, genetic modifying/engineering/manipulating is adding, deleting or substituting pieces of one organism’s DNA with another’s. 

Welcome

Hey to the people out there! The blogging topic: Genetic Modifying (if you couldn’t tell from my name). Anyways, I’ll be exploring the hows, whats, whys and different sides on the topic. To most, genetic modifying seems to be a sci-fi, mysterious process; however, although it is not simple, it is similar to all science, in the way that there are many ways to go about it and none of which involve anything other than science.

I feel that this topic is very controversial; either you completely support it, you’re not sure what it is, or you completely disapprove of it.

I would love to hear your opinions on the topic. As I am currently learning about the topic, flaming and trolling would not be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.