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Submitted by Learner (not verified) on September 13, 2012 - 8:22pm.
A quote from the 3rd paragraph: "The riskiness of genetically engineered crops comes in part from their ability to cross-pollinate crops in other fields, spreading their genes far and wide." This would be true if the DNA was being inserted into the Chromosomes of the plant. However, the DNA in question is in the form of a "plasmid" which is a ring of DNA the floats freely in the cell and is not in the nucleus. This plasmid is packaged in a virus shell which injects the plasmid into the target cell. The plasmid then reproduces itself inside the cell and also produces the protein it is programmed for. It will pass itself along to all future generations of that plant.
The most serious problem is that this plasmid does not restrict itself to the species barrier. If you or any other organism ingests part of a plant infected with this plasmid, the plasmid is released as the food is digested and can find its way unaltered into the cells of the organism that just ate it. If you just ate a GMO food, that plasmid can find its way into your cells unaltered and start producing the same protein it produced in the original host plant. At this point in the game, it is not possible to tell whether this new protein will have a beneficial or detrimental affect on you. Bacteria can also pick up this plasmid and pass it on to organisms that have had no direct contact with the original host. The risk is much greater than most people have recognized.
Spreading their Genes
A quote from the 3rd paragraph: "The riskiness of genetically engineered crops comes in part from their ability to cross-pollinate crops in other fields, spreading their genes far and wide." This would be true if the DNA was being inserted into the Chromosomes of the plant. However, the DNA in question is in the form of a "plasmid" which is a ring of DNA the floats freely in the cell and is not in the nucleus. This plasmid is packaged in a virus shell which injects the plasmid into the target cell. The plasmid then reproduces itself inside the cell and also produces the protein it is programmed for. It will pass itself along to all future generations of that plant.
The most serious problem is that this plasmid does not restrict itself to the species barrier. If you or any other organism ingests part of a plant infected with this plasmid, the plasmid is released as the food is digested and can find its way unaltered into the cells of the organism that just ate it. If you just ate a GMO food, that plasmid can find its way into your cells unaltered and start producing the same protein it produced in the original host plant. At this point in the game, it is not possible to tell whether this new protein will have a beneficial or detrimental affect on you. Bacteria can also pick up this plasmid and pass it on to organisms that have had no direct contact with the original host. The risk is much greater than most people have recognized.