Ask A Scientist© Molecular Biology Archive

> >   name        leila
> >   status      student
> >   age         20s
>
> >   Question -  Are biotech foods better that organic? what exactly are 
> the diffinitions of both? is one harder to produce than the other?
>
>
>The definition of biotechnology is using living organisms to make things
>easier for human beings.  Biotech has been used since the beginning of
>recorded time.  For example, making wine, bread, cheese and fermented dairy
>products such as yogurt are examples of biotech.  I think what most people
>think of as biotech is actually genetic engineering which is only a part of
>biotech.  Genetic engineering involves the change of the genetic makeup of an
>organism by either inserting genes or deleting genes.  For example, Bt corn
>is corn that has been engineered to contain a gene for a toxin that kills the
>european corn borer which is highly destructive to the corn crop.  This toxin
>comes from a bacteria that is found in the environment and naturally repells
>this organism.  Organic farmers and gardeners have been using this in
>powdered form for years.  Scientists found a way to insert the gene right
>into the plant so that the plant produces the toxin and when the corn borer
>takes a bite out of it, it gets a mouthful of toxin.  Some environmentalists
>are concerned that other organisms such as monarch butterfly larva can also
>become poisoned by the toxin.  Yes, genetic engineering is much more time
>consuming and expensive to do the research.
>
>van hoeck


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