morals of gm foods essays

morals of gm foods essays In this essay I intend to explore the ethical implications of developing genetically modified plants and analyse if the advantages out-weigh the disadvantages. However before I start to discuss the ethical implications of this type of work it is first necessary to clarify exactly what is meant by ethics and genetically modified foods. Ethics are, The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by a person; or the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession: medical ethics. (dictionary.com). In simple terms ethics are the moral code by which we live our lives. They tell us what is right and what is wrong and form our moral conscience. Genetically modified foods are foods where, Desirable genes can be transferred from an organism to a crop plant. (Inge, Rowland and Baker, 2000). This can lead to plants being resistant to viruses and in the case of the corn plant, making it resistant to drought. These are the evident advantages of genetically modified plants but there are disadvantages such as plants being modified so that they become resistant to herbicides and pesticides. If these plants cross-pollinate with other plants then this resistance could spread making plants resistant to all kinds of pathogens. So what are the implications of genetically modified plants? The main concern of many people is the safety of genetically modified plants. This concern arises from the implantation of animals genes into plants and from possible allergic reactions caused by implanting, for example, the genes from a Brazil nut into another product. This did actually happen with the development of a soybean which included a Brazil nut protein however the research was immediately stopped when an allergen problem was detected and the plant was never grown outside of a greenhouse. (Marchant ...