They Aren't Bad - GMOs That Are Beneficial To Us

GMO or Non GMO crop? My bet would be that you would go for Non-GMO crop and it wouldn't be a big surprise for me because if I ask 10 people, at least 8 out of them would pick the same answer. Let me try to ask 10 people but there is no way you will be able to confirm that I did unless I drop the data but why do I have the internet to help me check the data that others have compiled.

Over 40 years ago, since 1973 till date, GMOs still has this mixed feelings and people staying aback when it comes to it because of the believe that GMOs were created for the purpose of increasing yield and line the pockets of farmers and biotech corporations. The question now becomes what is in it for the regular persons who aren't getting their pockets filled?

Actually, contrary to what people might think, there are a lot of genetically modifies crops that were designed for the purpose of saving lives and not for the profit generation moreover, how the tool of genetic engineering is utilized is what matters so the tool itself isn't a bad thing after all. How it is used is what matters and not the technology itself.

Wikimedia: White and saffron rices

Golden rice is one of the great things genetic engineering has been used for. Beta carotene is provitamin A carotenoid which in present in lots of fruits giving them the bright colors they have. Betacarotene is converted to vitamin A which is an essential vitamin the body cannot make on its own although cell allover the body needs it especially the eye. I remember a Cadbury Bournvita advert where part of the lyrics was "vitamin A for good sight...". Vitamin A is used to make n one of the light sensing proteins which allows us to see.

People in developed countries might not have a problem with this vitamin since it is almost in every meal, people in underdeveloped world suffer from vitamin A deficiency affecting millions of people and this is why rice was genetically modified to become golden rice. The rice has betacarotene which is the reason for its color and it is able to give people the required vitamin A they need daily.

Wikimedia: Tomato - Cross section

I love pepper at least for its spice and its hotness. Although not too much but to a reasonable extent and scientist is trying to develop tomatoes that are spicy and they call it Spicy Tomatoes. So there will be a time when you will not need to add pepper to your spice. Scientists are looking into this thanks to the compound Capsaicin in the pepper that has health benefit which are anti-tumors and pain relieving properties.

Scientists are looking to turn on the gene responsible for Capsaicin which was turned off in tomatoes when the two plants which are relatives diverged around 19 million years ago.Scientists are looking into tomatoes because pepper can be easily infested by pest. Scientists are looking to use Transcriptional Activator-like Effector Proteins which are used to turn genes on or use CRISPR to turn on the gene.

Pexels: Dee Dave

On the topic of cancer, scientist in 2018 decided to use CRISPR to insert human Interferon-Beta DNA into a chicken's primordial germ cells which becomes sperms and the genes are stuck next to the gene for ovalbumin which is responsible for egg white so as to keep the expression of the drug. These is done so as to help treat cancer more affordably instead of purchasing Interferon-Beta Drugs at an exuberant amount.

So when next you are going to talk about GMOs, remember that they can be used for good or the other way round. It isn't only for the sake of money that GMOs exists, they also exist for health benefits and scientists are looking into improving a lot of other things for human benefit.

For Further Reading

^{https://www.irri.org/golden-rice-faqs
https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/supplement/beta-carotene
https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/vitamin-deficiency
https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt0718-559a
https://www.irri.org/news-and-events/news/golden-rice
https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/05/18/embrace-golden
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4267963/
https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/abstract/S1360-1385(18)30261-9
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/worldwide-cancer
https://bmcbiotechnol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12896-018-0495-1
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-28438-2}