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COMMENTARY 12, 2004 T he C lackamas P rint • 3 Senetics gives food for thought , kinder, gentler hamburger irough genetic modification Robb Egan; T he C lackamàs P rint Senetic engineering and modification food; sources in its current implcmen- m may be misguided and even dan- >us, but that doesn’t mean we should :go the practice completely. I'hcl genetic modification of food rceij such as plants, and genetic engi- ring in general, is an important and calInext step in human scientific elopment. Modern genetic science is de at best, using bacterium or the ro engineering of DNA segments to oduce genes from one species into ther. I Because of the still limited >ugh vast) nature of genetic testing, the; accompanying research and ly of the effects these modifications duceJ modern scientists are often lpletcly clueless as to how an organ will I react to the introduction of ;e foreign genes. Because of our lack >uch understanding, and due to a fair )unj|of negative campaigning on the : ofBelf-serving multinational corpo- mSte Greenpeace and a few organ-' igricultural concerns, genetic engi- ring has caught a bad rap with the cral populace. ‘Thdfp’s a vast body of data and erieriic, accompanied and preceded i vastfbody of analysis, which shows the frisks of crops and foods and s (^Biotechnology are not different :ind from those we are experienced ) from traditional foods. If there are s associated with these new foods crops, the data ¿nd experience seems ndicatc that they are equal to or less i what we’ve seen in the past,” said Giddings, genetic scientist and Vice ddent of the Biotechnology Industry anization. jen^tic modification of crops has its 1 siBccss stories, too. For example, ionsjbf acres of bio-modified cotton grown throughout China. This has to mjuch higher crop yields and the (ificantly reduced application of pes- les. Vith the continuing population vth, if we ever hope to rid the world amine and hunger, something needs to* be done . to drastically increase the yields of food crops. While modern agri cultural techniques may technically be sufficient to provide everyone with just enough to survive and be healthy, the lack of any Sort of agricultural surplus would be disastrous, as one bad season; one drought or even just a slightly;cold er winter could result in ; shortages.' Consequently food costs would escalate, pretty much putting us back to square^ one again, with \ the rich being overfed while; the \ poor are left- to; \ starve. . Genetic engineer ing of food sources may not be some magical answer to ¡. the problem of world hunger, but it’s* defi nitely a step in thè right direction. If nothing else, it may ser w as a temporary measure until a more permanent and natural solution can be found. And genetic research of any kind can’t help but further the advancement of other scientific fields. Even if genetic engineer ing doesn’t cure the world’s hunger prob lem, it will almost certain- i ly be, the, answer to rid-; ding ourselves’ of disease. In terms of med ical science < alone, there is a W lot that can be IB l learned from 'M researching how organisms will react to gene splicing and such. Who knows, a cure for AIDS or cancer could very well lie dormant within the subtly altered genes of those fish-apples (see oppos ing article). Altered steaks: Frankenfood may not be the right answer Joel Gaynor T he C lackamas P rint The advent of genetic engineering offered an exciting potential to increase and; improve food sources, but its -shoddy implementation and numerous health, risks, heavily outweigh the prospective upsides. Genetic 'engineering is, by definition, an unnatural process. As detailed in an article by Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher of the Women’s •Environmental Network, the process of genetic engi neering is to remove seg ments of DNA from one species (such as a fish) and put them. into a second species (such as a jflKyi tomato) in an effort alter the genetic Jk behavior of the second species. The aforemen- ioned example of putting fish genes into a tomato is xuJne to lower the freezing point of the engineered toma toes to aid their ability to grow in cooler climates. Unfortunately, fish genes aren’t designed to work in tomatoes, and cater pillar genes weren’t intended to be found in apple trees, and to rem edy. nature’s unco operative rules, scientists place a gene extracted rrom one species ito a sort of viral ¡ing and inject that composed virus into a different species. The r result is an oft-unpre- dictablc infection of the newly modified gene recipi ent. If all goes well, the desired effect occurs and the procedure is a suc cess. Frequently, however, the new gene either doesn’t work correctly, doesn’t WorE at all, or will work for a period of time and then inexplicably stop working. Assuming a gene is successfully ported from one organism to another, there are a plethora of other possible negative impli cations. Consumption of genetically engi neered products cant strengthen the abili ty of a bacterium to resist antibiotic treat ment. According to John E. Peck, execu tive director of Family Farm Defenders, in Madison, Wise., many dairies regularly inject their cows with Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH). Along with boosting milk production by 10 to 25 percent, cows recurrently injected are 50 percent more likely to suffer udder infection. Farmers then administer high levels of antibiotics that in turn are pres ent in the cows’ milk and fast-food ham burgers made from dairy cows. Many sci entists have warned against this practice, as strains of bacteria that can survive the implemented antibiotics multiply and become harder to kill with conventional medicines. In addition to the problems passed via their milk and beef, cows treated with rBGH experience shortened . life spans and an increased rate of birth defects, per a report published by Americans for Safe Food. Genetically engineered foods are also likely to contain nonnative allergens. Tests performed by scientists at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln found that soy beans—modified by genes from Brazil nuts for the purpose of providing certain nutrients the soybean naturally lacks—— acquired proteins that could trigger potentially deadly allergic reactions in people who are. allergic to Brazil nuts. Given the ability t(> transfer p()tentiajly fatal genes from food to food, and the average consumer’s naivety concerning the ingredients of what he or she choos es to-ingest, someone allergic to Brazil nuts but not soybeans could easily become seriously impaired as a conse quence of simple midday munchies. The fact is, as a science, genetic engi neering has not evolved far enough to have its altered products available on the consumer market. Perhaps, if safer meth ods werè developed and then thoroughly tested, there would be no reason to object to the practice. Until then, there is no reason not to. most modern road warriors show more dollars than sense Jeff Sorensen C lackamas P rint a People spend too much money trying to make, their cheap cars look, feel, or sound faster than they are, but it’s' all a point less and offensive waste of time. So many of these cars have popped up as a resort of bad. rac-. ing movies [that I llustration by JESSE LAMOND they’ve become a nuisance for people who just want to enjoy the benefit of driving a small, fuel conscious vehicle. This is why I’ve compiled a short list of traits to watch for when figuring out whether that small import deserves the respect of any con siderate motorist or a dirty look and a noise complaint. After all, the things these cars go through should often be considered a crime*. The first offensive trait is a sound system that empha sizes the subwoofer(s) over any other speaker in the car. These, are the fools who think louder is better. The problem is the sound frequencies produced by sub woofers are omni directional, or can be heard from all direc tions. Acoustically, this can create a phenomenon where the music from the jerk with the sub- wo/)fer reaches the ears of passersby on the sidewalk before the rest of the frequencies. This makes the music sound like it’s coming from two really expensive stereos that had the play button pushed at separate times. In my professional opinion,- these stereos simply sound like trash. Turn it down. There are also a lot of people who will spend almost $2000 for a set of nice, shiny rims that don’t do anything at all. The only thing new rims do (other than look hideous on a car that’s otherwise stock) is make the speedometer lie and force the transmission to work harder than it should thanks to the extra weight and larger circum ference of the tire. My solution: these drivers should take them back and hire someone to re teach them one of the high school physics lessons they fell asleep in. Finally there are the cars with the cheap “Autozone” mufflers that sound like my old 2-cycle chainsaw. These cars, like the sound system ones, are heard long before they are seen, and usually trick their owners into believing the “coffee can upgrade” makes their car faster. That’s okay; I’m sure the extra horsepower and lower fuel econ omy will impress somebody. I recently pulled up next to one of these high school punks that wanted to race at a stop light. Maybe he wanted to race because my $1,400 Hyundai came with a cheap spoiler, or maybe he was trying to impress his little girl (RD =1.6 Liters C lackamas P rint friend. Sure enough, the light turned green and off he went. According to Maddox, author of www.thebestpageintheuni- verse.com, this guy proved one of four .things: A) His car is so fast and pow erful that he can even beat people who aren’t racing him. B) He’s a wise investor for buy ing those rims, because the ones he had just weren’t cutting it. C) Those stripes on his car look sharp and hide the fact that it’s still just a Civic. D) That he’s a [dipstick]. Everyone else has had to put up with this for far too long, and someone needs to explain to these kids that it’s time to grow up. No matter how loud or low a guy made his “ride” in high school, it’s still a cheap car. = 2 Liters? I llustration by JEFF SORENSEN C lackamas P rint T he C lackamas P rint 1%()() S Molalla Ave. Oregon City, OR 97045 (503) 657-6958 ext. 2309 fre Clackamas Print is a weekly student publication and is distributed every Wednesday except during finals week. Co Editors-in-Chief: Cyridee Mady and Cory Price Ext. 2576 (Mady) or ext. 2447 (Price) Copy Editor: Katie Funk News Editor: Karlin Johnson Opinion Editor: Ben Maras Feature Editor: Karen Hill A&E Editor: Isaiah Creel Sports Editor: Nie Delzell Photo Editor: J esse Lamond Sports Copy Editor: Frank Jordan Staff Writers: Robb Egan, Joel Gaynor, Hilliary Ferguson, Jessica LeClaire, Bethany Monroe, Jeff Sorensen, Jennifer Trank Production: assistants: Michaele Cooper, Brian Hill, Sharon James, James Tombe Photographers: Truman Anderson, Angela Gerhart Adviser: Linda Vogt Department assistant: Lauren Vuylsteke Goals: The Clackamas Print aims to report the news^aft boncs^ unbiased, professional manner. |The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the student|iiody, |i>llegc administration, its faculty or Tw Print. I’^Tpail comments to chiefed@clackamas.edu. 77%? Clackamas Print © 2004
