Why can’t I splice a gene here or inject a gene there. With genetic engineering, a shortage in our food supply would be impossible, right? There are many beneficial reasons for agricultural genetic engineering, but there is still much to learn before we become reliant on this process.
Genetic engineering can resolve many problems that farmers struggle through every season. We are able to develop crops that are immune to pretty much any environmental aliment that it could possibly encounter. Due to this, we can make every crop invincible to anything preventing it from thriving. How could this possibly purpose any danger towards the human race? It sounds like this could be the cure to world hunger. However, you must consider what would happen if every plant was completely dominant in its environment. In “The Botany of Desire,” Pollan expresses his uncertainty about genetic engineering. He states, “…the reliability or safety of one genetically modified plant doesn’t necessarily guarantee the reliability of safety of the next” (Pollan, 209). If one crop had close to no competition, how would this affect other natural species in the same environment?
I think that we would see other plant species conquered and becoming extinct, disrupting the entire food web. The natural cycle of life would be destroyed and put into our hands to control. Also, evolution would be put in a state of complete chaos. Nothing would be natural and biodiversity would be humanly engineered. I believe that we are in no ways ready to take on such a role of playing god.
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