1. AP Environmental Science Genetically Modified Food
Mr. Grant
Lesson 62
Pests and Pollinators
&
Genetically Modified Food

2. Objectives: Define the term seed banks.
Discuss the importance of pollination.
Describe the science behind genetically modified food.
Evaluate the debate over genetically modified food.
TED - The varieties of wheat, corn and rice we grow today may not thrive in a future threatened by climate change. Cary Fowler takes us inside a vast global seed bank, buried within a frozen mountain in Norway, that stores a diverse group of food-crop for whatever tomorrow may bring.

3. Define the term seed banks.
Seed Bank: Place where seeds are stored for short-term use in farming or for long-term preservation.

4. Discuss the importance of pollination.
Insects and other organisms are essential for the reproduction of many crop plants.
Conservation of pollinating insects is vitally important to our food security.

5. We depend on insects to pollinate crops
Not all insects are pests; some are absolutely vital
800 crop species rely on insect pollinators
Pollination = male plant sex cells fertilize female sex cells
By wind or animals
Pollinators include:
Hummingbirds
Bats
Insects (bees, wasps, etc.)
Flowers are evolutionary adaptations to attract pollinators

6. Conservation of pollinators is vital
Bees pollinate over 100 crops and contribute $15 billion in services/year
Populations of pollinators (e.g., bees) have plummeted
Colony collapse disorder = entire beehives have vanished
Unknown causes—Insecticides? Parasites? Stress?
Reducing or eliminating pesticide use and planting flowering plants will help preserve bees

7. Describe the science behind genetically modified food.
Genetic modification uses recombinant DNA technology to move genes for desirable traits from one type of organism to another.
Genetic engineering is both like and unlike traditional selective breeding.
GM crops may have ecological impacts, including the spread of transgenes, an increase in chemical pollution, and indirect impacts on biodiversity.

8. Genetically modified organisms
Genetic engineering = laboratory manipulation of genetic material
Add, delete, modify DNA
Genetically modified (GM) organisms = organisms that have been genetically engineered by …
Recombinant DNA = DNA created from multiple organisms

9. Biotechnology is impacting our lives
Biotechnology = the application of biological science to create products derived from organisms
Transgenic organism = an organism that contains DNA from another species
Transgenes = the genes that have moved between organisms
Biotechnology has created medicines, cleaned up pollution, and dissolved blood clots

10. Some genetically modified foods

11. Genetic engineering versus agricultural breeding
Traditional breeding = changes organisms through selective breeding of the same or similar species
Works with organisms in the field
Genes come together on their own
Uses the process of selection
Genetic engineering = mixes genes of different species
Works with genetic material in the lab
Directly creates novel combinations of genes
Resembles the process of mutation

12. Biotechnology is changing our world
GM foods are a big business
Most GM crops are herbicide and pesticide resistant
Large-scale farmers grow crops more efficiently
Most U.S. corn, soybeans, cotton, and canola are genetically modified
Globally, 14 million farmers grew GM foods on 134 million ha

13. What are the impacts of GM crops?
As GM crops expanded, scientists, citizens, and policymakers became concerned
Impacts on human health
Concerns over escaping transgenes
They could harm nontarget organisms
Pests could evolve resistance
They could ruin the integrity of native ancestral races and interbreed with closely related wild plants

14. Genetic engineering has benefits and risks
Environmental benefits of genetic engineering:
Reduced use of chemical insecticides
Increased no-till farming
Decreased irrigation, deforestation, land conversion
Negatives of genetic engineering:
Increased herbicide use affects health and habitats
Some GM fields support less biodiversity
Precautionary principle = don’t undertake a new action until the effects of that action are understood

15. Evaluate the debate over genetically modified food.
Many people have ethical qualms about altering food through genetic engineering.
Opponents of GM foods view multinational biotechnology corporations as a threat to the independence of small farmers.
Nations have adopted differing stances on GM foods.

16. The GM debate involves ethics
People don’t like “tinkering” with the food supply
With increasing use, people are forced to use GM products, or go to special effort to avoid them
Multinational corporations threaten the small farmer
Research is funded by corporations that profit if GM foods are approved for use
GM crops have not eradicated hunger
GM crops do not focus on increased nutrition, drought tolerance, etc.
The GM industry is driven by market considerations driven by financial interests of corporations

17. GMO producers are suing farmers
Corporations go to great lengths to protect their GM investments
Monsanto has launched 112 lawsuits against 372 farmers, winning an average $385,000 per case
Monsanto sued Percy Schmeiser of Canada for using its GM seeds without paying for them
Schmeiser said the seeds blew onto his field from adjacent fields
The courts sided with Monsanto, saying that Schmeiser had violated Monsanto’s patent

18. The future of GM foods Europeans demand that GM foods are labeled
U.S. consumers have mostly accepted GM crops
They don’t realize most food contains GM products
The U.S. sued the European Union before the World Trade Organization for hindering free trade
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety lays out guidelines for open information about exported crops
The U.S. has not joined
Brazil, India, and China approve GM crops

19. TED Video
Biodiversity warrior Cary Fowler wants to save the world from agricultural collapse, one seed at a time.
"For individual crop varieties, doomsday does come every day. We want to put an end to that."
Cary Fowler: One seed at a time, protecting the future of food (17:06)