Experts on population growth predict that the
greatest challenge in the next century will be to maintain an abundant
and safe food supply for the world population. Food biotechnology has
been presented as one of the solutions to this problem. It is a
technology about which many questions have been asked.
Biotechnology is the use of living organisms or parts
of organisms to create new products. It has been practised for many
centuries by the breeding and selection of superior plants and animals,
the use of yeast to make bread and even the making of cheese using
enzymes.
Today, biotechnology involves more than these
traditional techniques. It is used to produce vaccines and medicines and
to help protect the environment by converting organic wastes from
rubbish dumps into useful products. In the area of food production,
biotechnology is helping to produce improved crops and to reduce the use
of pesticides and herbicides in food production.
Food biotechnology, sometimes referred to as genetic
modification, involves the transfer of genetic material from one
organism to another. Genes can be moved from one organism to another,
for example, from a carrot to a soybean.
Genetic modification starts with the transfer of
deoxyribonucleic acid (or DNA) the living material of all organisms.
Imagine DNA as a long piece of string made up of units called genes. The
genes contain information that determines traits like the amount of
vitamin A in a plant or the colour of a fruit. To move these traits,
scientists must first figure out where they lie on the string. The next
step is to find and cut the genes so they can be placed into the DNA of
another organism. Finally, the scientist has to get the gene to do what
it is supposed to in its new organism. This is called "expressing" the
gene.
Genetic modification provides a more exact way to
introduce new traits while keeping other desirable traits in a plant or
animal. Traditional methods of breeding are not as precise, i.e. it can
take as long as 10 to 12 years to introduce new traits in some crops.
This is because traditional breeding techniques involve the transfer of
thousands of genes at one time, resulting in the transfer of both
desirable and undesirable traits. Breeders then spend many years
breeding plant varieties again and again to get rid of the unwanted
traits.
Genetic modification does not replace traditional
breeding. It complements it by shortening the time required to develop
new varieties.
Biotechnology has the potential to offer consumers,
farmers and food processors a greater variety of safe food with benefits
like better quality, higher yields and improved nutritional value. As
with any new technology, potential risks need to be identified and
handled. This includes social and economic impacts.
