Genetically modified foods – a socio-scientific issue

Humans have been manipulating living organisms for thousands of years. Examples of early biotechnologies include domesticating plants and animals and then selectively breeding them for specific characteristics. However, the discovery that genes are made up of DNA that can be isolated, copied and manipulated has led to a new era of modern biotechnology.

Rights: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

Marker-assisted selection in apples

DNA markers can be used to determine whether a seedling carries an allele of interest. Here, the marker for the red-flesh allele is detected as an additional DNA band on an agarose gel. Breeders use information like this to decide which seedlings to grow and which to discard.

Modern biotechnologies involve making useful products from whole organisms or parts of organisms, such as molecules, cells, tissues and organs. Increasing understanding of living organisms, cells and genetic material has greatly extended the range of biotechnologies that are and will be possible. These more recent advances are frequently associated with genetic technologies. They include the ability to genetically modify organisms in much shorter timeframes than required by selective breeding and to achieve outcomes not possible with selective breeding.

The scientific advancements of genetically modified organism (GMO) technology has the potential to increase food production, limit environmental damage and reduce disease and genetic abnormalities. There is, however, much public controversy, and there are many different views about how acceptable GMO technology is. For example, big business controlling the production of GMO crops could potentially control world food supply. And what about ‘designer babies’?

Socio-scientific issues

A socio-scientific issue is an issue that has both scientific and social implications. Because of this, people hold different viewpoints about how it might be addressed.

The reporting of GMO research and its processes and implications has resulted in varying knowledge and understanding by the general public. Our views can also be affected by the values we hold.

Rights: Public domain

Genetic modification public protest

An understanding of the nature of science can help to inform our decisions on socio-cultural issues such as the GM-free issue in this 2003 protest on Queen Street, Auckland.

Genetically modified organisms

A genetically modified organism is an organism that contains DNA that has been altered using modern genetic technologies. For example, the DNA may have been altered to enhance or change a particular trait. In some cases, genetic material from another type of organism has been added.

In 1996, the New Zealand Government introduced regulations in the form of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO Act). This legislation regulates research into and release of all living things that do not already exist in New Zealand, which includes those that are genetically modified. The HSNO Act applies to anything that can potentially grow, reproduce and be reproduced, whether or not it is also a food or a medicine. The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is the New Zealand authority that considers applications to import, develop, field test or release any new organism (including a genetically modified organism).

Scientists working to breed a new red-fleshed apple using genetic technologies to combine two different apple varieties, had to get approvals from the EPA to carry out this research. They were subsequently unable to get authority to taste test the apples within New Zealand and had to travel to America where eating fresh foods that have been genetically modified is allowed.

Note that many genetically modified foods – like flour produced from genetically modified wheat – are not themselves living organisms. Their presence in New Zealand is regulated by Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

The Flavr Savr tomato

The Flavr Savr tomato was the first genetically modified food crop that went to market in the United States. The tomato was produced by Calgene, a Californian company formed in the early 1990s. Their scientists altered the process by which a tomato softens while ripening. They discovered how to turn off the gene that makes tomatoes soft. They did this by adding an antisense gene made from the tomato’s gene sequence to slow the tomato’s production of the enzyme polygalacturonase. The result is a tomato that has a longer shelf life, keeping its firmness for longer.

Rights: Public Domain.

Tomatoes with bioengineered gene

Plant physiologist Athanasios Theologis compares Florida-grown Endless Summer tomatoes to his greenhouse-grown fruit. All contain the bioengineered ACC synthase gene.

Photo by Jack Dykinga and released into the public domain by United States Department of Agriculture.

Supporting students to form personal viewpoints

Students should have access to a wide range of sources while developing their own personal viewpoint on any one issue. The skills they will develop include:

• critiquing sources of information
• analysing the relevant biological knowledge
• identifying the potential social implications and multiple perspectives about these
• articulating and justifying their own positions.

Being able to form and justify a personal position is a critical skill in the scientific community as well as in everyday life.

Below are a selection of both academic and non-academic publications about the Flavr Savr tomatoes that students could use to form a personal position about this innovation. Watching the New York Times video would provide an interesting starting point for students to explore how information from both scientific and non-scientific sources is packaged and communicated to the general public. How does this influence understanding and knowledge for people to be able to make informed choices?

Other genetically modified foods that have since been commercialised could also be investigated, including golden rice and herbicide-resistant corn.