The History of GMOs

A. 1950s to 1970s
The discovery of GMOs started in 1944 when, Oswald Avery tentatively identified DNA
as the true carrier of molecular information, and his findings were confirmed in 1952.
Less than a year later, in 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick described DNA's
molecular shape as a double helix. That opened the door to genetic engineering.
It's one thing to describe how different sequences of only four chemical "base pairs" can
manufacture proteins that then create genetic differences. It's quite another thing to
precisely "manufacture" new sequences that produce a desirable effect in a living
organism.
Later of the year 1972, Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer developed techniques that
made it possible to chemically cut and splice strands of DNA at specific places in the
sequence. Boyer used an enzyme to cut the code for a specific protein and attach it to
other DNA. Cohen added a way to introduce these DNA sequences into bacteria and
yeast cells. Together the two scientists turned these microbes into hormone factories. In
1976, they founded the new company Genentech and introduced human genes that
produce insulin into strains of bacteria. Those bacteria started manufacturing insulin.
Next, they manufactured human growth hormone. HGH was used to enable dwarf
children to grow to normal size. Before genetic modification techniques, the only source
for the drug had been human cadavers. (Ganzel)

B. 1980s to 1990s
Medical genetic engineering took off and was applied to agriculture in the 1980s.(
Minassian) The first GMO Patent was issued in 1980s when a court case between a
genetics engineer at General Electric and the U.S Patent Office is settled by a 5-to-4
Supreme Court ruling, allowing for the first patent on a living organism. The GMO in
question is a bacterium with an appetite for crude oil, ready to gobble up spills.
(Woolsey)

This was followed by the first GMO food sold on the market known as the Flavr Savr
tomato, which was produced by professors from UC Berkley and UC Davis with the
intention of making tomatoes last longer. The research from the campuses was used by
a company named Calgene, which was later acquired by agriculture giant Mosanto.
The intention of the product was to increase the shelf life of tomatoes, and its cans of
tomato paste were clearly labelled Genetically Engineered and sold to European
markets but didnt succeed commercially. (Minassian)
Gene-splicing technology also entered the food industry in 1990 when the FDA
approved the safety of a new strain of GMO rennet. Rennet is used to curdle milk to
form curds and whey, the raw material of cheese and other dairy products. The
pharmaceutical giant Pfizer had isolated the gene for making rennet from the stomach
of a calf the previous source of the enzyme and inserted it into bacteria. By 1995,
fully 67 percent of the cheese produced in the U.S. was being made with rennet from
genetically modified organisms.
In 1994, Monsanto introduced a form of bovine growth hormone (BGH) that was
manufactured by genetically modified bacteria. Farmers could inject the hormone
directly into dairy cattle to increase their milk production. Critics were concerned that the
hormones could get into the milk supply and possibly harm the cows. However, for the
most part, the public and the farmers have accepted BGH. (Ganzel)
In the year 1999, GMO Food crops dominated and over 100 million acres worldwide are
planted with genetically engineered seeds. The marketplace begins embracing GMO
technology at an alarming rate. (Woolsey)
C. 21st century
Scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich) and the International
Rice Research Institute (Los Baos, Philippines) have recently succeeded in
transferring genes into rice to increase the quantities of vitamin A, iron, and other
micronutrients. This work could eventually have profound impact for millions of people

with deficiencies of vitamin A and iron, causes of blindness and anemia, respectively.
(Borlaug)
Biotechnology in food is now considered as one of the best hopes for solving the food
needs of the poor, when we have 6 billion people in the world, and certainly in the next
30 to 50 years, when there will be 9 billion on the globe. (Prakash)