More approaches on GM Tomatoes after Flavr Savr

Note

All the blog posts are in chronological order, so go on the column called

EnviroGirl's Posts on GM Tomatoes

[in chronological order]

It's underneath the about the EnviroGirl and Tomao and EnviroGirl column.

Back to the blog,

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Craziness never seems to end eh? As I said before too.

This blog post will contain a brief information on the all the Tomatoes that have been genetically altered in the recent years by various Organizations and Universities since the invention of Flavr Savr. I have chosen to blog about 3 tomatoes that I researched on and found quite interesting.

1. Purple Tomato

October 2008

No, I'm not talking about the Cherokee purple Tomato, but an actual purple colored tomato. It would help prevent cancer as well as heart related diseases.

British plant biologist, Cathie Martin created the tomato by "adding anthocyanins (red-blue plant pigments with disease-fighting antioxidant properties) found in blueberries, blackberries and cranberries."

(The picture below shows you how the purple genetically modified tomato looks compared to a normal one)

One of the environmentalist groups in follwing video says that, it's unnecessary since the same antioxidants can be obtained from "normal" fruits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs-DYWt0I0s (fast forward till 1:26 to watch the environmentalist groups comments)

Who really would want to eat tomatoes everyday? Not me. I would prefer a blueberry or a black berry over the "purple" tomato.

On the other hand, the creator herself mentions that" we can get the same benefits from eating berry rich diets".The following video shows where Cathie mentions about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIJMpKnDiIY&feature=related (Fast forward till time 0:24 to watch Cathie mentions that)

Why waste so much research time in coming up with this?

HYPOCRITES is all I can say.

(yes, Tomao would walk away from this nonsense)

2. Another relative of Flavr Savr?

January 2010


I stumbled upon this article that mentioned "extend the shelf-life" and I thought to myself- "another flavr savr?"

However,for this tomato, no antisense gene was added like Flavr Savr, but instead two genes from the original tomato are being "silenced". It is also claiming that it going to remain fresh for "45 days" and does not need refrigeration.

(I made the same face expression, like Tomao)
Moving on into the details of how it was done. So, apparently the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi (in India) have discovered two unknown genes within the tomato- "the alpha-Man and beta-Hex genes" . They say that these two genes get accumulated in the tomato as it's ripening. So why not "silence" it? And that's what they have done, "and found that those in which the alpha-Man enzyme was suppressed were 2.5 times firmer than conventional tomatoes, while those lacking in beta-Hex were two times firmer."
(Look at the picture below)
Asis Datta, the researcher says, "We lose a lot of harvest all over the world. In India ... we grow tomatoes which cannot last more than 10 to 15 days. But if you can enhance (them), you don't need any storage system and you can transfer from place to place,"

Should I take pity on this particular tomato? since India is still a developing country and has a huge population. The article says that the whole cultivation, approval of it and etc might take about "two years". So let's wait for 1 more year now, and then decide.

3. Miraculin gene in tomatoes

Jan-Feb 2011

It's called the Miracle Fruit grown in West Africa. However , since it's was discovered by Chevalier des Marchais , it has been widely known, grown and used by other countries.

Some of the uses include- selling it in the form of dried fruits or tablet form that can help Diabetes in Japan, inserting its protein gene into Lettuce as the Japanese have done (torture doesn't end eh). They do so because "a protein in the fruit works by binding to taste buds and altering the tongue's so-called sweet receptors to activate when sour foods are eaten"

The mighty Americans had to copy the idea right? (I'm obviously over exhareting this)

So,The University of Florida have inserted the "miraculin gene" into the tomatoes.

My question: why are you even trying to change the original flavor of the tomato? by inserting a different flavor/gene into it? What's is the difference going to be if they did that, between the actual miracle fruit and the a tomato?Where has common sense gone ? No one seems to have it now-e-days especially the GM Foods industry. I think that common sense is not being used at all. Just go eat the actual miracle fruit!

or if you really want it to look like a Tomato but taste sweet,Just try the Japanese Persimmon.

LOOK! It looks just like a Tomato

In conclusion, this blog post was done by me to show how I think that so much time is being wasted is being wasted genetically modifying food industry. We could always use that same amount of time, by coming up with things that can acutal help this world from this such as global warming, or even help the third-world countres/developing countries.

Plus, to DO all this non-sense is not free right? It's costs a lot of money. So use that reasearch money for a better cause. As well, be fair and equal. If you are going to sell your genetically modified product in a country, LET the country know about it, through food labellings.The consumers by all means have the RIGHT to know, if it contains genetically modified food.

Do not base your company like the company,Monsanto.I'm not saying not to stop the whole concept of Genetic Engineering, but use it rather for a USEFUL cause and BETTER purpose.

(Tomoa says, "I totally agree with the EnviroGirl")

So, I h

ope this blog gave you an insight to how genetically modified tomatoes stand in the industry as well as reflects upon the insanity of it.

GOODBYE SCIENCE GEEKS AND CHEERS TO YOU ALL!

-The Enviro Girl & Tomao

p.s: Mr. Vink- As for the references,I'll print it and hand it to you.

Abstract & Religious Views

This blog post is very abstract, but I think it relates to GM Foods. I know you geeks would think, how does this relate, but I think it somehow does.

Okay so,

My friend got into a car accident in Mississauga yesterday. He had to get stitches on his head, it wasn't severe. I went to visit him and he was telling me about how he didn't realize that his life was so important to him until this accident. He took life for granted, he was saying that he really wants to thank God for teaching him about the importance of life through this accident.

Suddenly as I was listening to him, I said to him "BIOLOGY ASSIGNMENT!"(and yes this assignment is stressing me out since it's a weight of 5!!). He gave me the "Are you okay?" expression. Nonetheless, he gave me an idea! The idea about God who is the creator of a thing called "life".

Do you get where I'm going now, I'm relating this incident of my friend to God and the importance of life and living things.

You never realize how precious ones life is until you actually experience it yourself. We must thank God for everything, especially for the life we are living. He has created all this for us. HE HAS CREATED LIFE.We must accept it and live our life normally NOT genetically modify them! We are not God!! Remember that. Nor will we ever be.

As I was discussing this project with my mom, she said she knows this biblical quote, that would convey this though even more clearer. -

“Ye shall keep my statutes...Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed.” (Leviticus- Chapter 19, Verse 19)

It's not directly telling us not to modify food genetically but is rather sending the message out indirectly. Scientists and Geneticists are trying to be God in a way through Genetic Engineering. Don't you think so?

I thought that the biblical quote must be on the internet too. So, I researched upon it and found a good website.

The website actually expanded on the quote, it said: "Let me assure you that when DNA genes are taken from one organism and inserted into another, it too is a defilement of the land

and a violation of God’s law! Furthermore, when we eat foods grown in violation of God’s law, they become a defilement to our ––bodies whether we know it or not. Who, other than Satan, would want to defile and corrupt every aspect of God’s earth and in the process defile and corrupt every person’s body?" I think that Monsanto and other companies, WOULD get some sense in them by reading the Bible.

Of course, not everyone is Christian. But, I'm pretty sure other religions would also see this whole issue in the similar aspect. Hence, my point from this blog is to BE NORMAL. DON'T TRY TO BE "GOD". APPRECIATE LIFE AND GOD.

(that reminds me of my schools motto- Act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our GOD!)

Tomao totally agrees.

Goodbye for today Science Geeks,

Tommorrow, I'll post the blog that I'm currently working on which is about more tomatoes that have been genetically modified since Flavr Savr.

Humera Zonash.A

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OH and LOOK WHAT I FOUND... on the lovely company that everyone is so fascinated about. Don't we all love Monsanto?

"Monsato Claus"

Greenpeace Canada-GM Foods

Hello Geeks,

As I mentioned in my previous blog post: "GM Tomatoes in CANADA!!" that I'll talk about Greenpeace. So here goes!

This blog will give you information regarding genetically modified food in Canada through Greenpeace, and also would tell you about the bill that was going to be passed but failed for labeling genetically modified foods in Canada.

Greenpeace is a non-governmental organization. They have several campaigns through out year, and one of them includes, "GMO Foods". This is what their website says about GM Foods:"Genetically engineered foods pose unknown risks to human health and could cause irreversible biological pollution. The government must better regulate this experimental industry and support sustainable, organic agriculture."

I thought that this organization relates a lot towards my role, so why not research more into it?

SO I began researching intensely.

In Canada, all the GM Foods aren't labelled. So, we as consumers have no idea about what or how or if the product was genetically modified.

Bill (C-517)

On April 2008, a bill (c-517) was proposed in order to have mandatory labellings on GM Foods. Unfortunately, the bill "was defeated in the House of Commons by a vote of 101 to 156.

The defeat of Bill C-517 effectively protects the economic interests of GE companies like Monsanto over the rights of Canadians to know what they eat". There was a link of a list of votes by different provinces. I clicked on Ontario saw that 64 MP's had voted NO where as only 27 MP's voted YES for the bill. I am utterly disappointed by the politicians!

( Although,I'm glad that my area which is- Mississauga East-Cooksville/Port Credits MP had voted YES!)

Back to the bill, WOW. Talk about ones lack of humanity. Don't we- Canadians have the right to know about GM Foods labelling? It's like just covering up a mess so that it does not grow bigger...that's exactly what they are doing. Because if it grows bigger, Monsanto and several other biotechnological companies are going to go into huge loss.

As well as that, in the same year of September 2008, a documentary titled"The World According to Monsanto" was made. The documentary was primarily made and focused on Monsanto and their all bad deeds. In addition, It also talked about why the most MP's voted against the bill ignoring "the warnings of scientists from the Royal Society of Canada as well as the wishes of over 80 per cent of Canadians".

The Canadian government wouldn't be happy if the bill was passed, because they are the ones who are "funding the bio-tech industry".

Ofcourse, Greenpeace wont just sit there and do nothing right?

Through their campaigns website I found that,they had a whole list of the guide of what has been genetically modified or what hasn't.I think it's very informative as it shows a list of foods that are genetically modified to the"80% Canadians" too,for whom this list would be VERY USEFUL and HAVE the right to know!

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http://gmoguide.greenpeace.ca/shoppers_guide.pdf- this is a PDF file, that you can download and always refer to whenever you for shopping as well as BE AWARE of the "abnormal" foods. The PDF file contains all the information that one would need to know regarding GM Foods. Information from "what is GE Food?", "The Health and Environmental Risks of GMOs", information about Organic Farmers in Saskatchewan who are fighting Monsanto, as well as the main guide of the labels of GM Foods for shoppers.

In addition,THEY ALSO HAD A LIST FOR TOMATOES! SO I'm going to take it directly from the website (and source it in my references).

Have a look at the Tomatoes that you probably never thought was part of the whole issue (i.e was being genetically modified) and you might still have it in your kitchen, not knowing.

NOW YOU HAVE THE GUIDE BELOW TO HELP YOU NEXT TIME YOU GO GROCERY SHOPPING especially for TOMATOES!

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Green products are notmade with any GE ingredients Eden Foods Inc. Eden Organic Pizza/Pasta Sauce Eden Organic Spaghetti Sauce (All Varieties) Eden Organic Tomatoes Le Commensal Spaghetti Sauce Mayacamas Fine Foods Green Olive Pesto Toss Olive Pesto Toss Pesto Garlic Skillet Toss Spicy Skillet Toss Muir Glen Balsamic Roasted Onion Cabernet Marinara Chunky Tomato Sauce Garden Vegetable Garlic & Onion Garlic Roasted Garlic Garlic Vegetable Sauce Green Olive Italian Herb Mushroom Marinara Pizza Sauce Portabello Mushroom Roasted Red Pepper Sauce Sun Dried Tomato Tomato Basil Tomato Basil Sauce Tomato Paste Tomato Sauce Tomato Sauce (Salt Free) Organic Food Products Inc. Pasta Sauces- All Varieties Simply Natural Pasta Sauces- All Varieties Walnut Acres Marinara & Zinfandel Marinara w/ Herbs Tomato & Basil Whole Foods Market 365 Brand- All Whole Foods Brand- All `

I TOOK THIS PART OUT BECAUSE THERE WASN’T ANYTHING THERE ON THE WEBSITE. This one on the website says: "Yellow products are made by companies that are committed to removing GE ingredients from their products, but have not yet completed the process."

Red products are likely to contain GE ingredients. Catelli Family Favorites Pasta Sauce (All Varieties) Garden Select Pasta Sauce (All Varieties) Garden Select Pizza Sauce Meat Sauce Thick and Chunky Pasta Sauce (All Varieties) Classico 4 Cheese Sauce Alfredo Sauce Mushroom and Ripe Olive Sauce Portobello Mushroom Sauce Spicy Red Pepper Sauce Spicy Tomato & Pesto Sauce Sweet Basil Marinara Sauce Hunt's Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce Sloppy Joe Traditional Spaghetti Sauce Tomato Sauce Kraft Foods Del Monte Tomato Sauce Maple Leaf Consumer Foods Ltd. Olivieri Pasta Sauces (All Varieties) No Name Pasta Sauce Pasta Sauce w/ Mushrooms Pizza Sauce President's Choice Fire Roasted Tomato Original Pasta Sauce Original Sauce w/ Mushrooms Roasted Red Pepper Spicy Roasted Garlic Ultra Creamy 3 Cheese Alfredo Sauce Ultra Creamy Tomato & Herb Sauce Primo Foods Thick & Zesty Garlic & Herb Pasta Sauce Thick & Zesty Hot & Spicy Pasta Sauce Thick & Zesty Original Pasta Sauce Thick & Zesty Romano Cheese & Basil Pasta Sauce Thick & Zesty Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce Thick & Zesty Tomato & Onion Pasta Sauce Thick & Zesty Tomato Sauce Ragu Chunky Garden Style Pasta Sauce Old World Pasta Sauce Ragu Robusto Pasta Sauce

Links to previous blog posts:

• History and Introduction to the gene insertion
• Flavr Savr Gene Modification
• Disadvantages/Issues of Flavr Savr...(oh and few advantages too)

GM Tomatoes in CANADA!!

As I was researching, I came across Health Canada's website and choose to see what information they had regarding GM Tomatoes on their website.

So, they actually had a list of all the GM Food/Animals that are approved in Canada. Some of them have a link that you can click on for specific transgenic item, and have detailed information on it such as How it was modified, Product Information, Nutrition, Safety and etc.

ALSO,

guess what I found?First of all, I actually thought that Flavr Savr was the end of gene insertion in tomatoes. BUT Health Canada has 3 different tomato links which are all genetically modified, approved and used in Canada.

BUT all these products aren't really labelled in Canada!

(Tomao is tired of this non-sense)

So,There are three different links of transgenic tomatoes that I found on their website. I will directly post the websites of the 3 tomatoes on this blog below. Go through the link and see the details on each of them:

1) Insect Resistant Tomato - By Monsanto Canada

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/gmf-agm/appro/2000-tomato-tomate-eng.php

2) Delayed Ripening Tomato- By DNA Plant Technology

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/gmf-agm/appro/ofb-095-306-a-eng.php

3)Supressed Polygalacturonase Activiy Tomato Hybrids- By Zeneca Plant Science

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/gmf-agm/appro/ofb-096-180-a-eng.php

Did you Canadians know about this this?

- The EnviroGirl

p.s:I'm working on a blog post relating TO the organization,Greenpeace and a Bill that was about to be passed in Canada for GM Food labellings, BUT FAILED.

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Links to previous blog posts:

• History and Introduction to the gene insertion
• Flavr Savr Gene Modification
• Disadvantages/Issues of Flavr Savr...(oh and few advantages too)

Disadvantages/Issues of Flavr Savr...(oh and few advantages too)

"GM foods don't just exploit human rights, animals are also exploited, and so is our planet."

What do you think of that quote geeks?

So, today's blog will talk about all the pros & cons & issues that Flavr Savr had reflecting on GM Foods as well.

Let's ofcourse start with the good things about Flavr Savr.

The Flavr Savr had its advantages at the beginning of it's entrance to market. The main would be obviously the gene insertion becoming sucessfull and letting the tomatoes stay longer on the shelves for consumers. As well as , some sources that I was researching on mentioned how the Flavr Savr had a better taste than the original tomato. Doesn't it have to taste weird since it's not "normal" anymore? How can that better tasting seriously?

Now, lets move on to the disadvantages

First of all, Flavr Savr was discontinued as I mentioned before in the previous blog "Flavr Savr Gene Modificaton" mentioned that one of the misunderstood disadvantage was that they though that Flavr Savr would make humans become resistant towards Kanamycin-an antibiotic. However this isn't true.

But, let's IMAGINE, if it was true and that Calgene did not prove it true. What could the consequence be? I wonder if the health related occupations like the Doctors would have done something about it IF this was true.

Moving on to the "actual" disadvantages

Some Nutritional sources also say that the "original" nutritional value wasn't being consumed due to the fact that the genes were altered within the tomato. This caused the tomato to lose its original value of all the nutrients that it contains.

(Well, isn't it common sense that if you alter a gene in an organism, it's going to lose something that it possessed from before?)

Another disadvantage was because the tomatoes were apparently getting damaged as they were being handled for shipping and transporting. My question- Aren't they suppose to be more stronger? Since the gene to make it soften and ripen fast was blocked? And this was FDA approved too? Really??

And so, due to this as well as the loss of Calegene company, this genetically altered fruit disappeared from the market in 1997.

More disadvantages

As i further kept researching for the disadvantages/issues, I found out that Flavr Savr was tested on ANIMALS!! specifically Rats. Calgene used Rats as part of their experiment and testing. They were fed the genetically modified tomatoes through a tube. (so, it's basically shoving food down the animals throat forcefully, how cruel!) The poor Rats. Why am I taking pity on them? It's because they did not come out with good results on the Rats. The "rats that were fed genetically modified tomato developed stomach lesions, bleeding stomachs, 7/40 died within 2 weeks and the tomato was approved"by the FDA!. This is said Jeffrey Smith executive and founder of Institure for technology in the video that I watched on GM Foods.

( talk about how the physilogical thing was normal)

Not only that but according to the video Rats were used to test for "Soy(mishape in nuclei of the liver cell), Canola(livers became heavier), and Corn(problems with development of their blood cells)"... all this is because of the lack of humanity within the geneticists. Who really bothers about Rats, since they are dirty, unhygienic, and NOT human but ANIMALS.

HOLY !!! (excuse my language with all due respect) BUT Where's the justice here for animals here? Why were all the genetically modified foods being tested on RATS!? + It's not like the rats showed positive results right?

Not only that, according to the video, Chicken, Cows and Hogs were also used for other GM Food experiments.

I get furious personally in real life, if animals are made to suffer for all the non sense, just to progress in the technological world.No one has any mercy on the poor animals.

ALSO,

There's a limit to stupidity!... If the animals are/were showing negative results towards the genetically modified food, it shouldn't be approved!! or if you really want your product to be succesfull...why don't you see how can you solve the problem by further researching and letting your experiment animal surive? Rather than just fool the government and introduce your product in the consumer market?"It's like saying you make a car and say that you want to test it, and you know let some people get killed driving the car to see if safe or not."

With loads of anger filled,

- The EnviroGirl & Tomao

Links to previous blog posts:

• History and Introduction to the gene insertion
• Flavr Savr Gene Modification

Flavr Savr Gene Modification

NOTE: Mr. Vink! as I previously told you about the font, and you probably would have already forgotten. So, I wanted to remind you about the font being uncooperative and annoying in this blog post. You'll see some paragraphs font are larger than the other. I think it's because I wrote this blog on MS word and then copy pasted it on here. So,Please excuse the organizing component for this blog post.

Next time I'll directly post my blog through blogspot, Sorry for the inconvenience.Cheers to you and read on.

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As my previous blog post: "History and Introduction to the gene insertion" introduced the concept of how the gene insertion in Flavr Savr was done. This blog will explain of how the insertion was done on Flavr Savr in more details.

Botanical Details

Beginning with the basics of a “normal” tomato, every cell

wall of a plant contains a complex carbohydrate

known as Pectin. It helps the plant to be firm

and strong as well as help the flow of water in and out of the cell walls.

Why did I mention Pectin? It is because pectin is found in tomatoes and that is what makes the tomatoes to ripen an

d become softer or basically lose its freshness “normally”. An enzyme called Polygalacturonase triggers Pectin to do this.

So guess what the geneticists would need to do

in order to help preserve the tomato? THE EXA

CT OPPOSITE

How is the torture done?

It begins with the process of genetic modific

ation where a different/opposite gene is inserted in the happy and normal tomato.

Biological Details

So, what and how the geneticists do it?

They create an antisense oligonucleotide that does the exact opposite role of Polygalacturonase. They then insert it into the tomato as it's growing in the fields.

What is an antisense oligonucletide?

According to the Nelson 12 Biology Textbook, “an antisense oligonucleotides are short stretches of RNA that recognize and deactivate complementary mRNA molecules. If antisense RNA is produced that is complementary to the pronociceptive transmitter mRNA and then introduced into the cells. It will hyberdize to the mRNA and prevent Ribosomes from translating it into the protein” ( in our tomatoes case, the protein is polygalacturonase)

The figure below is a similar way of how the inhibition process occurs for the protein:

(“One way of visualizing this is to imagine how hard it would be for people to function if we each had a mirror image of ourselves stuck to us.”)

Back to the process, so the mental people (geneticists) insert the antisense gene into the tomatoes as they are in the process of growing. The antisense oligonucleotide does its job by interrupting the job of polygalactunorase and the result is that pectins job is slowed down causing the tomato ripening and softening process to become more delayed . The following picture shows how the process undergoes within the tomato:

(poor Tomao, he's very upset with this)

Kan-r gene against Kanamycin

As well as that, to confirm if the product is successful, another genetic modification was made. They wanted to make it resistant towards the antibiotic kanamycin. Kanamycin is used to treat bacterial infections.

(more torture ?)

So, to conform if the Flavr Savr would actually work, they created a marker gene. The marker gene is called kan-r. This gene creates a "natural occurring protein" that makes the tomato resistant to antibiotic kanamycin. So, the geneticists test it by exposing it to kanamycin and the ones with no effect are the Flavr Savr ones.

Misinformation regarding Kanamycin

It was thought that Kanamycin would cause humans to become resistant towards the actual antobiottic. However, Calgene then proved it wrong by providing some "data" showing that the kan-r gene from Flavr does not "travel to the human gut" while consumed by human "nor by the bacteria in the soil."

Calgene should have also proven that this did not cause any side affects on human...but of course they wouldn't. They only proved this because it was probably a causing them problems.

Of course, there has to be cons / issues to this whole topic of gene insertion. I will talk about that in another blog post.

THE END...for now!

-The EnviroGirl

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MY ROLE

ME BEFORE !

I think I know what role I will portraying in this project!!

I was as usual confused about this project, but suddenly as I was lying almost dead (not literally) with my head laid down on the table in the library of our school, the idea just "poofed" in my mind. Almost like a revelation, but not fully. I'm not a saint.

ME LATER ON (except that I'm a Human, not a Dog)


Okay so,I think it's abnormal to do all this gene insertion and what not (unless it's for a good cause , that's fine)
BUT Tomatoes don't seem to be genetically modified for a good cause but rather a selfish, economic cause, or at least that's what I'm interpreting so far.

So, I am going to be an environmentalist group person. I'll name myself as "The EnviroGirl©"!! (and yes, it's copyrighted by me)





This is a random quote I found, by Dr Mae-Wan Ho, head of the Bio-Electrodynamics laboratory at the Open University in Milton Keynes. I am going to quote this directly from the website, and source it in my references.

"Gene technology is driven by bad science. It may well ruin our food supply, destroy our biodiversity."

I completely agree!

Biotechnology in Agriculture - a video

As I was researching I discovered this video on youtube,

It's reflects on my blog post yesterday of Calgene BUT mostly is in a Mexican perspective, and it reflects production of Flavr Savr and the importance of agricultural jobs, back in 1990's. It also reflects upon the importance of biotechnology and how it helped Mexico's economy as well as U.S. back then.

In addition, It also highlights on the social issues that the introduction caused by environmentalist groups such as GreenPeace.

This video is by all rights made by the Youtube User.

WATCH IT!