What are Transgenic Organisms?

Many of the GMO/transgenic species do not really pose a threat to wild populations, so they say, because many varieties are sterile, which gives rise to the concern over patenting. But the idea that an escaped transgenic fish could escape should be the last of our worries regarding industrial agriculture.

Remember that not all scientists are evil, but when science is funded a certain way, you have to use your product in a certain way. I'm sure the scientist working in the lab wasn't planning some attack on developing nations. That was the doing of the large companies and marketing.

this is all pretty bogus. i just need to know how people use transgenetic organisms in contrast to gene therapy for school.

@ Istria and FrameMaker- you do bring up valid concerns, but I would like to point out that the science behind transgenetics is intended to be beneficial. The pros of genetic engineering have in fact saved lives, and have the potential to alleviate some of the stress that the burgeoning human population is putting on the planet.

I agree that the marketing and money behind transgenics can be unsettling, but we should not abandon such a promising technology. Rather, we should work to improve the way the technology is applied, address the issue of right of ownership of a genetically modified organism, and work to establish bioengineering institutions in developing countries through technology sharing. If the science of genetically modified organisms were shared like the human genome project, then there would be more great minds who could improve transgenic species, and less of a divide between those that have the technology and those who do not.

@ Istria- Another ethical question surrounding agricultural biotechnology involves dependence and equality. Genetically modified plants and animals are beginning to dominate the agricultural landscape and we should all ask ourselves if a few multinational companies that operate purely for profit should dominate global food supplies. What happens when unforeseen consequences arrive from integration of a transgenic species into the wild? If you think that problems from invasive species are bad, imagine what happens when an invasive species that is bioengineered to be unstoppable wreaks havoc on our environment. Even the wealthiest nations and companies will not be able to mitigate such a problem.

As for the question of equality, we must consider the impact of not sharing bioengineering technology between the private and public sector. The way the industry is currently regulated, bioengineered foods will only best serve the industrialized nations. It would be more profitable to bioengineer rice that would fight obesity than it would to bioengineer rice that vaccinates against malaria. People would literally starve and die of malaria in the third world while the industrialized world eats to lose weight.

The concern over transgenic species extends far beyond concerns about interbreeding and the safety of the product. There are great moral and ethical concerns surrounding transgenics and genetic engineering. Many of the multinational bioengineering firms claim that transgenic organisms will help reduce poverty, malnutrition, and undernutrition in developing countries, but this is debatable.

The reality is, in some places like India, the opposite is true. The constant application of hardier transgenic seeds allowed farmers to abandon proper land management practices to the point that the only seeds that will grow are transgenic seeds (which are designed not to bear germinating seeds to protect "patents"). This forces the farmer to buy new seeds every year rather than cultivating part of their crops for seeds. The farmers are now committing suicide across India because they can no longer afford the very products that were "designed" to lift them out of poverty.

Transgenic seeds have turned into nothing more than a way to make developing nations further dependent on multinationals and industrialized nations.