The problems of labeling genetically modified food.

Do not be surprised if you have not heard much about genetically modified foods, because neither the chemical companies who produce them nor the governments are exactly running public information campaigns about them. Agricultural biotechnology is big business, and science has been absorbed into industry to an unprecedented extent. Practically all established molecular geneticists have some industrial ties, thus limiting what they can do research on particularly with regard to safely. The transnational companies will soon be in a position to dictate the future of the food industry. And they know just how they want our food to be produced – in ways that will maximize their own profits. That means using the gene technology which they have patented and can control, despite the risk of irreversible global consequences for the rest of us.

Some of the food companies are refusing to segregate crops which contain modified genes from those which do not. This makes it impossible to have a proper labeling scheme, which would allow people to make up their minds about weather or not they should eat the products of gene technology. Only a few genetically modified products are on sale in the supermarkets of Great Britain at the moment. Unfortunately, the situation is changing because of the soya bean. Soya beans are grown mainly in North America and find their way into 60% of all processed foods. For example they are in bread, biscuits, baby foods, chocolate, ice cream and many vegetarian products. The inclusion of soya makes it more than likely that people in Britain are already eating modified soya, whether they like it or not. Monsanto, a giant chemical company, modified a soya bean with genetic material from a virus and a petunia linked to a bacterial gene, which has made the soya plant resistant to a weed-killer called Roundup, which is also manufactured by Monsanto. Companies like Monsanto do not spend millions on a new soya bean because it will feed the poor and starving. They believe it will make their shareholders fabulously wealthy. Farmers have to sign restrictive contracts promising to use Monsanto’s weed-killers and not grow their own seed. In the race to spread their modified crops all over the world, little attention is being paid to the dangers. Perhaps it is the danger to human health that it most worrying. As our food becomes more and more refined and synthetic, its nutritional value falls, and unexpected health effects are continually surfacing. Some of these do not appear for years, even decades, after the food was eaten. At the same time, unchanged, unprocessed, natural food may actually become more expensive and harder to find. Even when toxins aren’t produced, allergies can be triggered unexpectedly. [6]

There is one more thing that comes into question – is it ethical to move genes around? Introducing genes from bacteria, viruses and even animals into plants raises serious concerns for many people, in particular vegetarians and those with certain religious beliefs.

 

Cloning.

A huge quantity of disputes and discussions concerning cloning are carried out nowadays. It is well known that the fear of new and unknown things is a peculiar feature of people. People have already forgotten that a few dozens of years ago the world was shocked by the discussion about an opportunity of cloning of a human being. This opportunity has appeared after successful cloning of frogs.

Several years ago, the humankind was shocked by reports in mass media about Dolly the Scottish sheep, which was represented as its founders assert, an exact copy of its genetic mother. American bull Jefferson and the bull, deduced by the French biologists appeared later. The prospect of work on cloning of a human being is publicly discussed.

The latest months enabled experts to comprehend soberly the situation, to estimate some methodical and technological difficulties lying in the field of mammal cloning. Cloning of a human being can create unsuccessful copies, ugly creatures, but all mankind will bear the responsibility for his or her ugliness. [3]

Problems facing to cloning.

Cloning of bodies and fabrics is the problem number one in the field of transplantology, traumatology and in other areas of medicine and biology. Cloned bodies become a kind of rescue for people who have got in automobile failures or any other accidents or for people who need radical help because of diseases caused by age.

The most evident effect of cloning is that childless people will be able to have their own children. Today millions married couples all over the world suffer because they are doomed to remain without descendants. In our country each sixth or seventh married couple is barren. This problem generates so many tragedies and family dramas! This situation can be changed. It is possible to have your own child, your real continuation in time. [2]

 Cloning will help people who suffer genetic diseases.

And still. Fans of exotic things will always exist among humans. They bequeath to send their ashes on a rocket aside the Sun. They spend thousands of dollars for saving their bodies in cryogenic chambers till that time when medicine will manage to return them into a normal condition and to relieve them from illnesses which are incurable today. Moreover, there also will be fans of exotic things in the field of cloning. Somebody will wish to see his or her own copy during his or her lives. Others wish to revive during another historical epoch: 50 - 100 years later.