Why Genetic Engineering?
Scientists believe that bioengineered food can feed the world by increasing yields, reduce farmer’s costs (by allegedly reducing the amount of expensive and toxic chemical inputs), and improve health and nutrition by selecting out certain desirable traits from one organism and injecting those genes into another organism. So, if you want to raise salmon year-round in a northern climate, splice in the frost-resistant gene from a flounder. Scientists are pushing genetic material across natural boundaries. “Biotechnology offers a way to continue ignoring underlying problems, and perpetuates the myth that the inherent ecological limitations of a nature-denying way of life can simply be engineered out of existence”, according to Brian Tokar from Goddard College, Institute for Social Ecology. Peter Montague believes that “feeding the hungry” is a sales gimmick. He tells us that if genetically engineered seeds were designed specifically to feed the hungry then they should be able to: (1) grow
