The case of engineering our food
In this video we learn about Pamela Ronald a plant geneticist which involves making genes that make plants resistant to disease and tolerate harsh conditions. Pamela believes both a plant geneticist and an organic can always agree since they both have the same goal, which is having more produce and less destruction of the environment. Genetic modification is the modification of the genes of a plant to produce a better plant. These techniques include grafting, and random mutagenesis. Grafting is the process of mixing two species together, an example of that is grafting a tomato and potato. Random mutagenesis on the other hand is uncharacterized mutations of the plant, a good example is development of the rice mixed with the cereal babies feed on.
There has been continuous research on plant genes that are susceptible to disease. Pamela, in her lab researched on the genes for resistance of the rice for a bacteria affecting rice in both Africa and Asia. They were also able to engineer a variety of rice which was resistant to various infections. Later with Kenong they researched and proved that a genetically modified rice called Sub1 could survive when it was submerged in water and thus helped rice farmers who were affected by floods. The Sub1 was developed be breeders through precision breeders. Viral genes is another method where viruses and bacteria genes are introduced to the plant. For example, papaya in the 1950s was affected by papaya ringspot which almost wiped out the existence of papaya. Dennis Gonsalves inserted a snippet of virus to the papaya and this helped to fight the disease. Another case is the egg plant being infested by the brown color. To eradicate this, the farmers from Bangladesh have been spraying the plants regularly which is harmful to the consumers and people in the surrounding areas. Therefore, the Cornell and Bangladesh scientist came up with B.T., an insecticide that is a genetic technique which is also nontoxic to humans and animals.
Finally, the Rockefeller foundation supported scientists to come up with golden rice that reduce malnutrition in less developed countries. Golden rice produce beta-carotene which is a vitamin A and just one cup of the rice can save thousands of lives. Activists who are against genetic modification are against the rice and in Philippines they destroyed a field trial.
The doomsday vault
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault came to be in 2008 where people have been entrusted with safe keeping of the most priced varieties of seeds from all over the world. Climate was an issue and therefore the governments discussed on the danger of crops and decided on coming up with a seed vault. Norway, was entrusted by developed and developing countries since it glacial and no plants can grow there apart from wild flowers and grass. The vault was to be always -18°C and seeds would be used in times of pandemic like drought, pestilence, climate change, and war. The late Wangari Maathai, the environment activist and holder of the Nobel Prize was the first to deposit a box of rice seeds. The benefit of the seed vault was genetic diversity, and have breeds that can endure high temperatures.
The vault is a warehouse with bare walls and utilitarian metal shelving. The vault is on a disaster free site, 130m in case of sea level rise, resistance to earthquake, and the inside permafrost to ensure the place is always frozen for years to come. The vault contains seeds from almost all countries in the world with exemption of a few like China and Japan. Some of the seeds in the vault include soy, rice, legumes, lentils among others which are half of the world’s known seeds. Some particular seeds are not stored in the vault since they require certain conditions. With the continued warming, the vault will offer diversified seeds to the farmers. Research done, shows that national and international seed banks will be the only survival of the seeds in the coming future and its not all about storing them but they have to be kept alive.
References
Seeds battles-The Doomsday vault-VPRO documentary-2013. (2017,May21). Retrieved from URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=scP4L4bOPA8&feature=emb_logo
Pamela Ronald. (2015, May 4). The case for engineering our food. Retrieved from URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=wZ2TF8-PGQ4&feature=emb_logo