Bioengineering is a Strong Step
             In a small village in Africa, a one year old boy named Kwame is exposed to the bacteria, neisseria meningitidis. Three years earlier, the same agent had infected his sister. The difference is that she developed meningitis. A week later she died. Kwame was protected, because he had received an anti-meningitis vaccine, but he got his vaccine in an unusual way. The bananas that he eats have been modified to express the gene (DNA) for the vaccine protein. (Purves, 351)
             Little anecdotes like this would not be possible without biotechnology, in this case, plants that are genetically modified. Advanced discoveries in the field of biotechnology, found in the 1960's and the 1970's, have fueled many changes in agriculture. I work in a warehouse that sells vegetable seeds to farmers all around the world. Many of the customers are organic growers and request seed that has not been treated with chemicals. According to one of my co-workers who has been in the business for almost a decade, D. Chavez says that consumers thrive on organically grown products, thus they prefer their product to grown and developed without toxic chemicals. (Chavez) The only difficulty in modifying plants in a lab is that some people are very skeptical to change and wary of the
             facts. However, biotechnology is one of the most extensively researched agricultural advancements. The FDA, USDA, and EPA all work together to ensure that these techniques are safe. In 1992 the FDA determined that crops produced by biotechnology must meet the same standards as those created through traditional ways. (Federal Register, 104) The FDA recently complimented several companies for taking extra steps to protect consumers. This combination of efforts to ensure safety indicates a high level of care administered in bringing food products using biotechnology to market. Although these advances have raised several issues, pr...