DailyDirt: Growing Superfoods
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Humans have been modifying the genes of plant and animal life for hundreds of years -- using conventional breeding techniques. Maybe you don't like the food you eat to have had its genetic material bombarded by radiation to accelerate mutations, or you don't want genes from pigs in your orange juice. But how else are farmers going to keep growing crops at ever increasing yields... or to grow superfoods that are more nutritious or make us smarter, immune to disease and better looking? Here are just a few examples of biotechnology getting into our food supply.- No naturally occurring citrus plant appears to be immune from the dreaded "citrus greening" disease which threatens the global supply of oranges. The best solution could be a transgenic plant with DNA from other vegetables or a virus or a pig or an artificially-designed gene. (Or the world could just live without oranges for a while....) [url]
- The FDA is evaluating the impact of AquAdvantage Salmon -- a genetically engineered variety of Atlantic salmon that matures much faster than its naturally-occurring cousins. AquaBounty Technologies created this salmon with genes from the Chinook salmon and the ocean pout so that AquAdvantage Salmon produces a growth hormone all year long (instead of just during warm weather) and can be harvested in 18 months (about half the time it takes for conventional salmon). [url]
- A few Chinese officials were fired for violating laws and ethical regulations in order to allow researchers to feed genetically modified rice to about two dozen kids in a study lasting three weeks. The parents were only told that their children would be fed Golden Rice that contained β-carotene, but not that the rice was genetically modified in any way. [url]
Filed Under: aquadvantage salmon, beta-carotene, biotechnology, conventional breeding, dna, farming, food, genetic engineering, gmo, golden rice, hormone, oranges, rice, salmon, superfood
Companies: aquabounty technologies
