Advantages of Green Biotechnology

1. Higher crop yield

With the rising population demand for food, it has become somewhat
necessary to increase the yields of farms to fulfill that demand.

Biotechnology has made it possible by strengthening disease and drought

resistance. What they do is that they select specific genes of disease resistance
and inject them into the DNA of plants to make them resistant.

An example is how Cornell University and University of Hawaii worked

together to develop two seed varieties of papaya that were resistant to the
papaya ringspot virus, the commercial availability of which was in 1998 after
hundreds of field trials.

Drought resistance is also quite the need for crops growing in dry climates.

2. Higher Protection of Crops

Farmers use newer developments in the section of pest control because if not,
there is a risk of severely lowering of yields.

As we were discussing a few minutes before of how insect pests are killed
when they bite into Bt crops, this is because the plants have been transformed
in a way to make such a protein that is toxic to those pests.

This protein from Bacillus Thuringiensis has been an ingredient of many

‘natural’ insecticides.
It’s mostly about the economics. Sometimes it’s much more economical to
make use of transgenic crops rather than applying the Bt insecticide externally.

This way, the whole plant is insect-resistant rather than just the part where the
insecticide is applied. This leads to higher yields as well, thereby making the
technology more effective and economically viable.

However, some farmers who insist on growing ‘organic’ are recommended to

and make use of applying the natural insecticide externally.

3. Increased Nutritional Value

Biotechnology doesn’t only make plants be more resistant to worsening

climate change but literally makes them better. Specific isolated genes can
even be inserted into the genome of plant species to increase their nutritional
value.

This theory was initially put into practice with rice, one of the most eaten
foods of the world.

It was discovered that rice contained Vitamin A in their genes but while
growing those genes would not be ‘turned on’ so as to say. So what scientists
did was to reverse the process and thereby activate those genes during
growth.

This means the nutritional value of many other food crops could possibly be
increased using recombinant dna technology. Considering the rising food
demand in coming years, this could be the answer on how to solve
malnutrition.

Other similar examples would be higher protein content in soybeans or

potatoes with increased amino acids and starch content.

4. Enhancements in Food Production Processes

Chymosin is an enzyme produced from genetically engineered bacteria.

It was the first food product to get approval for commercial production. It
replaces an active ingredient calf-rennet used in cheese-manufacturing
processes.

The genetically engineered enzyme has become so integrated into the process
that it’s now in 60% of all cheese manufactured worldwide.

There are a few reasons for that; Higher purity, continuous supply and up to a
50% cost reduction!

5. Better Flavors

Believe it or not, genetic engineering can also alter the taste of food products.

This is done by promoting the activity of enzymes that work to transform

aroma precursors into flavoring compounds. Transgenic melons are being
researched on and are undergoing field trials nowadays.

6. Fresher Produce/ Increased Shelf-life

Agricultural biotechnology can also increase the shelf life of gm food products
which could help in reducing waste as well as allow consumers access to
fresher produce.

By allowing the food products to stay ripened and prevent them from over-
ripening, minimal food would go to waste.

An example would be how Transgenic Tomatoes are vine-ripened and then

transported without being bruised.
7. Benefits to the Environment;

As we discussed above of how transgenic crops became inherently resistant to

pesticides, this led to much reduced used of pesticides.

Only the organic farmers now have the need of applying the ‘natural’
insecticides externally which is quite the win.

With reduced use of pesticides, there is reduced pesticide residues on food

products and reduced leeching of pesticides into the groundwater and nearby
rivers and lakes.

This also sometimes completely eliminates the exposure of farmers to

hazardous pesticide chemicals. Introduction of transgenic bt cotton has led to
15% decline in use of pesticides in all of United States!

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) also suggested that in herbicide-

tolerant soybeans there were minor increases in profit margins and crop yields
but the use of herbicides had decreased significantly.

8. Improvements in Developing Countries

As i was discussing before in the section of increased nutritional value about

how recombinant dna technology was used to activate and increase the
amount of beta-carotene in what came to be known as ‘golden rice’.

The higher amount of beta-carotene was finally able to fulfill the Vitamin A
requirements in developing countries with populations which have rice-based
diets, which was necessary since Vitamin A deficiency leads to blindness.

Other than that, it can save people from malnutrition due to vitamin
deficiencies where buying vitamin supplements is very expensive.

If it’s so good, then what’s stopping us from implementing this in full speed?

Quite a few things actually; environmentalists, policy makers and legislates
believe that we haven’t made sufficient effort to understand the risks
associated with mixing biotechnology and agriculture.

And that it could have long term impacts as well, especially when one mistake
could affect the generations to come.

We conducted a survey into asking people a few questions about

biotechnology and agriculture.

What we found was that people got quite confused in statements regarding
biotechnology products and suffered great anxiety which was possibly derived
from a lot of misinformation and in many cases, inadequate information.

The concern of humans regarding their food products is understandable. The

issues associated with these concerns should be addressed fully.

Some of the issues related to applications of biotechnology are discussed

ahead.

Disadvantages of Green Biotechnology

1. Allergens and Toxins

Most of us know what an allergic reaction is; it’s just an immune response to a
protein (allergen) that the body is specifically allergic to.

These proteins are called allergens and are present in food products. About 2%

of the total population in the world is allergic to one or two food products.

A major concern is the risk of introducing new allergens into foods that were
initially considered safe and free of all allergens.
Hence, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) now has to keep strict checks
to make sure that the concentration of naturally occurring allergens in
conventional varieties has not been enhanced in the transgenic food products.

However, good news would be how scientists are trying to remove the
allergens from peanuts, one of the most common causes of serious food
allergy.

2. Antibiotic Resistance

When plants are infused with new desirable traits, the antibiotic resistance
genes are used to find and trace the traits. This technique tells us that the gene
transfer was successful.

However, since this technique uses these antibiotic resistance genes, there is a
concern that new antibiotic-resistant bacteria could emerge which would be
difficult to tackle with conventional antibiotics.

This has led to FDA advising food developers to abstain from using such type
of a gene, although the chance of this gene making its way into the DNA of
bacteria is very minute.

3. Potential of ‘superweeds’

As we were discussing how the antibiotic resistance gene in plants could

escape and end up in bacteria.

A similar concern is that transgenic plants could pollinate with the unwanted
plants (weeds) and thereby relay the gene of herbicide-resistance or pesticide-
resistance into them, thereby converting them into ‘superweeds’.

An example would be how glyphosate-resistant plants could cross-pollinate

with weeds and make them glyphosate-resistant as well.
This may be possible but the chances of it happening are very low. But this
doesn’t mean the plants would be resistant to all herbicides, other herbicidal
products could also work.

4. Gene Escape

Some believe the genes could get into the weeds and then those plants could
‘escape’ into the wild and lead to damaging changes to Ecosystems.

But the thing is, these biotech crops have limited growth and seed dispersal
habits which doesn’t allow much of a chance to pollinate. Other than that,
these plants need constant attention by humans for them to grow properly.

This is what some people believe happened with the Coronavirus pandemic.

5. Effect on ‘non-target species’

Many environmentalists believe that once these transgenic plants are released
into the environment, there is a lot of uncertainty on what could happen.

Although the transgenic crops are tested more times than one could count, but
one can’t foresee what could happen.

An example would be Bt corn, the plant is specifically toxic to harmful pests

that feed on the plant. However, later researchers found out that the pollen
from transgenic Bt corn plant could kill unrelated caterpillars of the Monarch
Butterfly.

Other than that, Recent studies have indicated an effect on the lifespan and
cognitive abilities of insects that feed on these plants.

6. Insecticide Resistance
A valid concern is that insect pests could develop resistance to the insecticide
which is embedded in the biotech crops.

Hence, they could bypass the crop-protection features of those plants and be
quite damaging.

However, the main example we talk about is bt corn plants, which, even after
being planted widely have not led to the development of any insecticide
tolerance.

7. Loss of Biodiversity in Organisms

The extensive use of agritech varieties of seeds have made some agriculturists
fearful as this may hurt the biodiversity of plant species.

The extensive use of GMO varieties is because of the fact that they are more
profitable and drought resistant which has made farmers abandon their
traditional varieties of plants.

The newer developed crop would dominate the farms and the traditional
varieties would be on the brink of extinction which would mean that if in any
case the dominating crops were to wither (maybe due to climate change) we
would not have anything to resort to, which puts an enormous risk on food
security.

However, there are many ‘heritage’ collection sites in USA where different
seed varieties from all around the world are stored to ensure food security.

8. Food Labels

People argue ha they have a right to know exactly what they are consuming;
this is why they request that special labels be put on food products derived
from genetically engineered crops.
As of now, in the US, companies are only to place a label if the new gm food
product is different in its nutritional value, composition or if they pose any health
risks.

However, organic foods are usually from family farms that specifically avoid
using any biotech in growing crops.

9. Suicide Seeds

This is also known as genetic use restriction technology. Farmers are forced to
buy new hybrid seeds every season because the second-generation seeds from
biotech crops are always infertile.

This infertility is due to ‘terminator genes’ present inside gm seeds. It’s like a
single-use product.

In conventional family farms, farmers used to store the seed to plant in the
next season but that cannot happen if you would like to plant transgenic crops.

This means that, to reap the benefits of plant biotechnology, the farmers will
have to enter the economic cycle of major biotech seed companies.