Genetically Modified Foods

1
Genetically Modified Foods
2
(No Transcript)
3

• Quickly write down a list of the
• foods or drinks that you had in the last 24
  hours.
• Circle any foods that you believe were
  genetically modified.

4
Where do we get our food?

• Hunting and gathering
• Subsistence farming
• Agriculture
• Grocery Stores
• Restaurants

5
Questions to consider?

• Do we have enough food to feed the world?
• Do we have the right types of food in the right
  places?
• Can we increase our food supply?
• What is the cheapest and easiest way to increase
  the food supply?

6

• Genetically modified (GM) and genetically
  engineered (GE) foods provide one way to produce
  enough food for the growing world population and
  to produce the right types of food.

7

• People have been modifying food for many years.
  Some types are familiar and comfortable to
  consumers.
• Examples include
• Selective breeding of animals
• Alcohol, yogurt, cheese and other dairy products,
  tangelos and other hybrid foods
• Recent controversy surrounding genetic
  manipulation of food because of its increased
  popularity.

8
What is a genetically modified food?

• A food that has genes added or removed
• Also
• Foods made using genetically modified ingredients
• Products from animals fed GM feed
• Food products produced by a GM organism

9
Why are foods genetically modified?

• Rapid and precise way of altering organisms to
  have a desired trait.
• Traditional breeding methods tend to be slow,
  require many trials and produce many inaccurate
  products.

10

• Most of these crops are being grown to benefit
  the producers of the food not the consumers.
  (make it more efficient to grow the crop)
• But the foods end up in products that are made
  from these GM crops
• Ex GE soybeans get soybean oil made into
  margarine.

11
Prevalence of GM crops

• In 2010
• 10 of all crops
• 29 countries
• Most prevalent in the US, Brazil, Argentina, and
  Canada
• Most common gene added allows farmers to use weed
  killer on plants without killing them

12
GM crops

• 1 Soybeans
• 2 Corn
• 3 Cotton
• 4 Canola (rapeseed oil)
• 5 Sugar Beets
• 6 Alfalfa
• 7 Papaya

• 8 Squash
• 9 Poplar trees
• 10 Potato
• Tomato
• Carnations
• Radicchio
• Flax
• Petunias

13
Examples of GM foods
14
Did you eat GM food today?

• Breakfast
• Pop tarts
• Nutri grain bars
• Quaker granola bars
• Eggo Waffles
• Most cereal (Cheerios, Wheaties, Lucky Charms,
  Rice Krispies, Froot Loops, Cocoa Pebbles, Capn
  Crunch)

• Chocolate
• Cadbury
• Hersheys
• Mars
• Nestle
• Cookies
• Keebler
• Oreos
• Graham Crackers
• Teddy Grahams

15
Did you eat GM food today?

• Crackers
• Wheat Thins
• Triscuits
• Cheeze-its
• Snacks
• Microwave Popcorn
• Frito-Lay
• Pringles
• Campbells Soup

• Frozen Pizza
• Drinks
• Pepsi Coke
• Capri Sun
• Fruit Works
• Dr. Pepper
• Hi-C Mt. Dew
• Koolaid
• Ocean Spray
• Gatorade

16
4 biggest GM in foods

• Corn corn oil, corn syrup, high fructose corn
  syrup, corn starch, corn mealSoy soy protein,
  soy lecithin, soy oil, soy sauce, soy
  isolatesCanola canola oilCotton cottonseed
  oil

17

• Scientists estimate that 2/3 of food in a normal
  grocery store contain something that is
• genetically modified.

18
Check a current list non GM foods

• True Foods Now has a list of foods that are
  considered to be non GM if a person wants to
  avoid them or see if a certain product contains
  GM ingredients.
• http//truefoodnow.org/shoppers-guide/

19
Advantages/Benefits

• Avoid chemical pesticides on food and runoff into
  water supply.
• Weather resistant food production
• Increased nutrients
• Increased crop yields in shorter time
• Increased crop yields on less land
• Can use land of poor quality
• Enhanced taste or quality
• Longer growing season

20
Disadvantages/Risks

• Environmental Hazards
• Unintended harm to other organisms
• Reduced effectiveness of pesticides/herbicides
• Insects develop pesticide resistance
• Weeds develop herbicide resistance
• Crops that cross-pollinate to create superweeds
• Harm to beneficial insects or wildlife
• Decrease biodiversity

21
Disadvantages/Risks

• Economic Concerns
• Increase price of seeds/food
• Domination of world food production by a few
  companies
• Increased dependence on industrialized nations by
  poor countries
• Rich countries have advantage
• Human Health Risks
• Allergies (soybeans with brazil nut gene)
• Unknown effects on human health

22
Regulation

• Different governments have different responses to
  regulation of GM food
• Europe products are labeled and not well
  accepted
• Japan health testing of GM foods mandatory
• US not many policies, regulated by many
  different agencies

23
Labeling of GM foods

• FDA contends that GM food are substantially
  equivalent to non-GM foods, and do not need
  labeled.
• Food labels of GM food are not required in US
  unless nutritional values are changed.
• Most industries believe that labeling should be
  voluntary.

24
Labeling of GM foods

• Considerations
• Cost of labeling
• Handling in fields, shipping, production so that
  products of GM and non-GM are not mixed.
• Higher price to consumers
• What are acceptable amounts of GM before labeling
  needed?
• Who is responsible for monitoring and enforcing?

25
Future

• Greatest challenge is educating and informing the
  public on the GM foods and policies without
  causing alarm or fear.
• From recent surveys
• Americans have little knowledge of GM foods
• Most oppose a ban but believe that it should be
  regulated by the FDA

26
THINK and DISCUSS

• Mendocino County, California became the first
  county in the US to prohibit growing GM crops and
  raising GM animals. The ban is unlikely to have
  an immediate effect because no GM crops are known
  to be grown there. But it will give farmers a
  marketing tool in places where anti-biotech food
  sentiment is strong.
• USA Today March 4, 2004

27

• Should foods in the US be labeled?
• Should they say GM or GM free?
• Would you spend more money to purchase GM free
  foods?
• Would you vote to make your county a GM area?
  Why/why not?
• Should farmers/food manufactures be required to
  disclose they are using GM products?