07/19/2018
If you're interested in the status and future of genetically modified food, this is a good read...it only features one perspective, as the author visited a lab that is using Crispr to make edits, but does a good job of citing all of the issues around the topic!
"The old conversation was acrimonious and emotional. The initial GM foods that Monsanto introduced in the 1990s were “transgenic,” meaning that biologists used genetic engineering to introduce foreign DNA, from an unrelated species, into the plant. Gene editing is much more analogous to older forms of mutagenesis such as irradiation and chemicals, though much less scattershot. Rather than creating random mutations, Crispr targets specific genes. (Editing that misses its mark is possible, though Lippman hasn’t detected any in his work.) That is why plant scientists have been so eager to use it, and why the USDA regards gene-edited knockouts as similar to earlier mutagens and thus not requiring special regulation. (In the case of “knocking in,” or adding, a gene to crop plants, the USDA has indicated it will assess on a case-by-case basis.) Some European countries have banned GMOs, and the European Union has yet to issue a final judgment on gene-edited plants."
It took thousands of years for humans to breed a pea-sized fruit into a beautiful beefsteak tomato. Now, with gene editing, scientists can change everything.
