Describe with NAMED examples, the potential risks and benefits Essay

Describe with NAMED examples, the potential risks and benefits involved in the use of genetic manipulation of plants to improve yields of species of agronomic - Essay Example e this problem by modifying plants altering its genetic make up through genetic engineering producing a desired trait they wanted to resolve world economic problem. They are now producing variety that are high yielding , resistant to drought, insect pest and disease resistant, saline and water logged resistant, weed and pesticide tolerant and even improve the its nutritional value. Coupled with these discoveries, there are some potential risks in genetic modification (GM) in plants that are harmful both human and mother earth. In Human, some GM products would cause allergies as a result of new unidentified proteins gene transferred into unrelated organisms (Campaign Web site) that may create new allergen that causes an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals (GMO Web site). Bernstein, et. al. (cited GMO Website) reported that allergic reactions in human occur when a normally harmless protein enters the body and stimulates an immune response to proteins. There are reports that any allergic reaction to food can be serious, even life-threatening, and leads to anaphylactic shock (Campaign Website). The consumption of GMO product will increased cancer rates from Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH). This hormone was injected into cows in order to increase milk production and also human insulin- Like Growth Factor (IGF-1). This IGF-1 was observed to trigger breast, prostate and colon cancer based on reported studies (Environment website). Examples: 3. Bacillus thuringiences (Bt) can be found in corn, potatoes and cotton caused allergic reaction to some people. It will provoke some kind of immunological allergic changes like asthma and other allergic reaction to human based on the study of Ohio crop pickers and handlers as reported in Science News, 1999 (cited Campaign Web site). Second, through genetic modification plants were able to develop Antibiotic Resistance. Plants become resistant to antibiotics when genes that confer antibiotic resistance are inserted