News by Nature

When is corn not corn? When is a chicken not a chicken? What is a better egg? The answer is when it’s been genetically modified. We have been trying to produce better food forever. Farms modified food when they saved seeds of cream-of-the-crop plants to grow the next season. That’s when we turned small bunches of tiny kernels on tall grass years ago into the big ears of corn on the cob we have today. We picked the best animals of the litter to breed “new-and-improved” animals. We grafted the branch of one orange tree to another orange tree to get a different tasting orange. What we do now is we alter the genetic code of the plant or animal. This alteration can be genetic coding is taken out or added to produce a product that is more desirable.

For a few decades, food manufacturers began to rely on GMOs as a way to improve a plant’s resistance to pest, tolerance to herbicides, making them more apt to survive weather changes and increase crop yield. We can even get bigger eggs, chickens with bigger wings, cows with more milk or animals that grow faster. We can do it but is it safe to eat? Do we know how our bodies will digest the “Genetically Modified Foods” (GMOs)? Will the GMOs cause genetic changes to our bodies?

Food manufacturers insist that GMOs are safe because they have not been proven to cause harm or illness in humans. Are they right? No one knows for sure how safe GMOs are. It could take decades of scientific research to definitely prove GMOs are harmless in humans. Several animal studies suggest health risks such as infertility, immune problems, and impaired insulin regulation. The FDA is responsible to make sure all food is safe to eat. Soybeans enriched with a protein from a Brazil nut wasn’t brought to market, even as animal feed, because tests showed that it might trigger a reaction for people with an allergy to those nuts. Animal viruses may be used in genetic engineering. Will this infect humans or other animals that eat meat produced this way.

Genetically engineered salmon that grows to full size in about half the time it normally takes. The FDA wanted to know if genetically engineered salmon would mix with salmon whose genes haven’t been engineered and how likely they would be to survive and reproduce if they did. To lower the risks, developers have to raise the salmon in secure facilities in Canada and Panama. The tanks cannot connect to any outside body of water. These engineered salmon farms have to have barriers, screens, and nets to prevent fish and eggs from getting out as well as birds and other predators from getting in. The GMO salmon are sterile.

In the produce section, only a few things might be GMOs:

• Edamame

• Papayas from Hawaii

• Summer squash

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• Growing health consciousness among consumers also generates massive demand for nutritious food items.
• Other factors supporting market growth include an increase in seed replacement rate and surging adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops.
• The market growth might be hindered by fluctuating climatic conditions and regulations governing the cultivation of GM crops.

Surging demand for healthy food items along with the adoption of modern agricultural practices are key factors driving the growth of the fruits and vegetables seeds market. Other factors supporting the growth of the market include an increase in seed replacement rate and surging adoption of genetically modified crops.

Surging demand for healthy food items along with the adoption of modern agricultural practices are key factors driving the growth of the fruits and vegetables seeds market. Other factors supporting market growth include an increase in seed replacement rate and surging adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops.

The Solanaceae segment has been further segmented into a tomato, eggplant, potato, and others. The Amaryllidaceous segment has been further segmented into an onion, garlic, and others. The Citrus family segment has been further segmented into orange, lime, and others.

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