Frankenfoods?

: The Debate Over Genetically Modified Crops

Bill Rhodes, Clemson University, Maha M. Alkhazindar, Cairo University, and Nancy A.
Schiller, University at Buffalo
Sam is a work study student in the lant !enetics deartment. "e is sweein! u !lass and dirt on
the floor of the !reenhouse which was #roken into overni!ht. $utside, the vandals had sray%
ainted &Sto 'enetic Mutilation() on the walls of the !reenhouse and the test lots had #een
uturned and the lants trodden under foot.
Sam watched *rofessor Milikin survey the dama!e. $nly fifteen ercent of the urooted lants
were !enetically en!ineered. +he lants that had #een !enetically modified were art of an
e,eriment testin! otential !enetic en!ineerin! techni-ues for reducin! the use of esticides.
&+his was research to find a way to develo a lentiful, safe, healthy cro without usin! so many
chemicals,) he said aloud to no one in articular.
.t was no small ro#lem. An estimated /00,000 chemicals1a#out 2.3 million tons1are in use
worldwide. A#out /0 ercent of the 40,000 chemicals used in the United States are carcino!enic.
.n /552, the 6orld "ealth $r!anization reorted that three million esticide oisonin!s occur
each year, with 220,000 deaths. A study #y the U.S. 7eartment of A!riculture had shown that
esticide residues can ersist on fruits and ve!eta#les even after they8ve #een washed, eeled, or
cored. And there was stron! evidence for associations #etween lymhomas, soft%tissue sarcomas,
and certain her#icides and #etween lun! cancer and e,osure to or!ano%chlorine insecticides.
Scientists #elieved that esticides mi!ht #e linked to the increasin! sterility in humans and other
animals, articularly in males. A num#er of states in the U.S. had ro!rams in lace to reduce
esticide use #y 30 to 43 ercent.
Mina, one of the !raduate students in Bo#8s research !rou, rose from the floor where she had
#een siftin! throu!h some of the urooted lants. Mina had come from 6est Africa to study lant
!enetics on a scholarshi #y her country8s !overnment.
Mina thou!ht of the #enefits of !enetically modified foods. +hey could #e en!ineered to feed
more eole, deliver more nutrients, reduce soila!e, curtail chemical contamination, and even
rovide immunization a!ainst disease. She thou!ht of the research underway to !enetically
introduce vaccines a!ainst diarrhea%causin! #acteria into third world cros such as #ananas. .f
children could #e inoculated #y eatin! a !enetically modified #anana, millions could #e rotected
from life%threatenin! diseases like dysentery in a relatively ine,ensive and easy manner.
But Mina knew there was !rowin! oosition in this country to #iotechnolo!y1oosition that
seemed to take its cue and many of its tactics from environmental activists in 9uroe and Britain.
She had a friend, 9rik, studyin! at the :ondon School of 9conomics, who was vehemently
oosed to cororate #iotechnolo!y. .n the ast, he had written to Mina of the dan!ers of
cororate mer!ers that concentrated lant #reedin! and !enetics in the hands of a few lar!e
multinational cororations. 9rik was outra!ed that these comanies lundered !enes from third
world countries, which they immediately atented and then held hosta!e, makin! the indi!enous
farmers of these countries #uy #ack the ri!hts to !row their own seeds. +hese comanies, he had
written Mina, were only interested in the environment to the e,tent it mi!ht affect their rofits or
#e rofita#le to them.
Sam !lanced at his watch and thou!ht he mi!ht have time to !ra# a coffee #efore his ne,t class.
Sam felt #ad a#out what had haened, #ut he had always #elieved that there was somethin! not
-uite ri!ht a#out tamerin! with the !enes of livin! thin!s%%%lants, and animals.
;uestions<
/. After readin! this case, what is your osition on !enetically en!ineered food and lants=
2. "ow do your ersonal identities inform your osition=
>. 6hich identity is most salient in formin! your osition=