However, so far, this technology is still in the primary stage, and food containing genes has not been grown from other animals and plants, realizing large-scale economic planting. At the same time, many people insist that the food cultivated by this technology is "unnatural".
The first transgenic crop in the world is a kind of tobacco containing antibiotics, which was cultivated in 1983. Ten years later, the first market-oriented genetically modified food appeared in the United States, which is a tomato crop that can delay ripening. It was not until 1996 that tomato cakes made from this tomato food were allowed to be sold in supermarkets.
Everything has two sides, so does genetically modified food. First, you can: 1. Solve the problem of food shortage. 2. Reduce the use of pesticides and avoid environmental pollution. 3. Save production costs and reduce food prices. 4. Increase food nutrition and increase added value. 5. Increase food varieties and improve food quality. 6. Improve production efficiency and promote the development of related industries. However, it also has great defects: 1. It may cause harm to insects such as butterflies. 2. It may affect the growth of surrounding plants. 3. It may increase the resistance of insects or germs in evolution, or produce new species, which may also cause harm to crops later.
Safety assessment:
At present, there is no unified view on the safety of genetically modified foods in the world. The focus of the debate should be whether the genetically modified food will produce toxins, whether it can pass the protein allergic reaction of DNA, and whether it will affect the antibiotic resistance.
Is genetically modified food safe?
Frankenstein is a physiologist in the novel written by British writer mary shelley in 19 18. He was finally destroyed by the monster he created. Now Europeans call the food provided by genetically modified crops "Frankenstein food", which means that genetically modified plants will cause ecological disasters and threaten human survival. This metaphor is a bit exaggerated, but their fears are not completely unreasonable.
The development of life science industry has been nearly 20 years, and it has attracted more and more attention because of its great hope. In 1990, transgenic crops were not officially planted in western countries, and by 1999, the planting area had reached 40 million hectares. 1995 global sales of genetically modified seeds was only $75 million, but 1998 has soared to1500 million.
On the other hand, although more than 4,500 kinds of transgenic plants have been planted in various countries, only 40 varieties have been approved for listing by the government, which is less than 1%. This shows that governments all over the world are still cautious about this. In addition to technical factors, there are also ecological health and social ethics to be weighed.
In the United States and Canada, public acceptance of genetically modified foods is relatively high. Some processed foods on the market, such as soft drinks, beer and breakfast cereals, already contain ingredients of genetically modified crops, and have not encountered much doubt. But the situation in Europe is different, and there is great resistance. The public will have doubts about the new food varieties approved by the government. Since the incident of mad cow disease and dioxin pollution, the public has become more worried. According to a poll, 79% of the British public are against trying to grow genetically modified crops.