Genetically Engineered Crops

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n trait, make a copy of that gene for insertion into a plant, and be certain that only the new gene is added to the plant. This eliminates the “backcrossing”, traditional plant breeders must do to eliminate extraneous undesired genes that are frequently introduced when using cross-hybridization. · Significant acceleration of the development timetable. New technique takes about 5 years to remove the undesirable traits compared to 12 years of process with the traditional techniques. Plant breeders do not use recombinant DNA techniques exclusively. Instead they use a combination of new and traditional methods to provide a plant with quality, yield, weather and pest resistance and other desirable traits. · Improved quality with more choices for the customers. Genetically engineered food especially fruits and vegetables allow to have plenty of time for shipping and sale and it helps to keep the them stay ripe without getting rotten. Some of the fruits and vegetables need warm climates to grow, so most off-season store them must travel a long way after they are picked. One example is the Flavr Savr tomatoes. To survive their journey intact, tomatoes are picked while they are green, which is a food which is a good way to avoid bruising, but which results in a tomato that is often described as having the consistency and mouth-feel of a tennis ball. In the case of Flavr Savr tomatoes, the company solved the rotting problem by inserting a reversed copy- an “antisense” gene of the gene that encodes the enzyme that results in tomato spoilage. This suppresses the enzyme that results in rotting, allowing the tomato to stay ripe, but not rot, up to 10 days—plenty of time for shipping and sale. Refrigeration is not necessary. What are the dangers of Genetically Engineered Food? · Is it safe t...