Pros And Cons Of Genetically Modified Organisms And The Hungry World

Genetically Modified Organisms and the Hungry World For hundreds of years, humans have selectively bred and crossbred animals and plants to create or eliminate specific characteristics to produce a wider range of crops, animals and livestock. Genetic technology has become very common in our world today. Therefore, the possibility of altering plants and specifically crops for food supply raises many ethical and possible health issues which need to be explored. For example, the technical aspects of genetic modification and the possible positive and negative effects of genetically modified foods. Genetic engineering might be the phenomenon of the twentieth century, however genetic technology began over 30,000 years ago (Rangel). Genetic modification might seem novel, however humans have been altering the genetic makeup of plants for over 30,000 years. With scientific laboratories being non-existent 30,000 years ago, how were our ancestors capable of directly manipulating DNA? "The process of choosing the organisms with the most desired traits and mating them with the intention of combining and …show more content…
Around 32,000 years ago, the dog was thought to be one of the first organisms our ancestors artificially selected (Rangel). In East Asia, wild wolves joined our ancestors and were domesticated to what we know now as Chinese native dogs. Over centuries, the traits of dogs such as size, hair length, color and body have been artificially selected to the point that dogs like Chihuahuas and corgis barely resemble wolves at all. Since the time that our ancestors artificially selected wolves, artificial selection has been applied to many different species like beef cattle, seedless watermelons, prize-winning race horses. Today, artificial selection is a primitive process, however there is a more modern process of altering the genetics of