Introduction
What are GMOs?
Now that you have done your own research about GMOs for one selected fruit and vegetable (GMO Project), you will now explore a little deeper. Through the linked Google slides outlining various ways biotechnology and genetic engineering and your own research, you will now put what you researched AND the information provided in this WebQuest into a formalized debate paper. Upon completion of this debate/argumentive paper, you will take one side or the other to argue your case, with fellow classmates, as to why GMOs are safe or not. REMEMBER the slides on genetics, heredity, etc. can be important to which to refer when making your argument, not to mention the recent GMO project research. Be as concise and thorough as possible!
Biotechnology in plant agriculture has come to mean the process of intentionally making a copy of a gene for a desired trait from one plant or organism and using it in another plant. The result is a GMO (genetically modified organism).
From cucumbers and carrots to white rice and wheat, we humans have altered the genes of almost every food we eat. For almost 10,000 years we've been engineering plants by keeping the seeds from the best crops and planting those the next season. Following this practice year after year has resulted in a slow but steady change -- and a substantial cumulative effect. We've been altering the genetic makeup of crops by cross-pollinating, too. About 8,000 years ago, for example, farmers in Central America crossed two mutant strains of a weedy-looking plant called Balsas teosinte and produced the first corn on the cob.
We've had success with the methods mentioned above (especially cross-pollinating), but because they rely on the random mixing of all of a plant's tens of thousands of genes, the odds of producing a crop with a desired trait are akin to winning a lottery. Today scientists can produce a change quickly by selecting a single gene that may result in a desired trait and inserting that gene directly into the chromosome of an organism. Amazingly, genes from organisms as dissimilar as bacteria and plants can be successfully inserted into each other.
Task
You will now watch the following DEBATE videos and two provided articles (linked below videos) from PBS.
DON'T FORGET YOUR RECENT GMO PROJECT RESEARCH AND PREVIOUS ASSIGNED DINBs ...
Then pick either an opposing side (against GMOs) or a supporting side (for GMOs).
Write between 400-500 words to support your argument (create your own Google Document).
Please include at least four different points to support your argument
Submit and Turn in to Google Classroom when completed
Process
GMO DEBATE (watch BOTH videos)
GMO RISKS:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/viewpoints/risks.html
GMO BENEFITS:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/viewpoints/benefits.html
Credits
Adapted from WebQuest original content.