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Transgenic Crops Summary

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Submitted By wkarimi
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Transgenic Crops Summary
Technology has been a big part of our lives, and as it increases, new innovations are introduced. Agricultural innovation plays a key role in agricultural productivity. One such agricultural innovation, transgenic crops--otherwise known as genetically modified crops--is one of the most important issues in today’s society, raising a concern of whether the innovation is good or bad. Vern Grubinger, author of the article “Concerns about Transgenic Crops,” affirms that transgenic crops are created when genes are artificially inserted into a plant from another species, instead of the plant acquiring them by itself. According to the article “The Good, Bad, and Ugly about GMOs” written by Quinn Wendland, there are many positive and negative aspects regarding the production of transgenic crops. Wendland discusses some of the positive aspects of transgenic crops, which include a decrease in pesticide and herbicide use, a rapid increase in crop productivity to reduce world hunger, improvements in the nutritive value of crops to combat malnutrition, inexpensive production of medicine, and a reduction in the use of fossil fuel. However, production of transgenic crops comes with many possible risks. Genetically engineered genes introduced into wild plants could reduce biodiversity and create super-weeds (Grubinger 1). Transgenic crops can interfere with the natural environment. Contamination of organic farms and food can occur. In the article “Can a Growing World Feed Itself Without Genetically Modified Crops?”, Brian Heap suggests that the production of transgenic crops can have a big economic impact on farmers, as an increase in seed cost can lower farmers’ profit margins. Thus, “the rapid adoption of transgenic crops possesses some significant risks to ecosystems, as well as some economic risks to farmers” (Grubinger 1). This new technological

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