NOTE!

Mr. Vink,

I did not do the 4 previous blogs in 1 day, if you are wondering about the date.

I had made another blogger account, but it seemed to not work well due to peculiar reasons, So I remembered that I had also made a blogger account for Summer School back in July, so why not use the same account right? So, I did.

History and Introduction to the gene insertion

Hello Science Geeks,

Today I'm basing my first blog on the history of Flavr Savr. I'm going to be talking about the bio-technological company-Calgene, the inventors of this tomato as well as giving you a peek into the gene insertion of the tomato.

Calgene and Flavr Savr

Calgene was a Californian biotechnological company. It was one of its first introduction of genetically modified food into the growing industrial/biotechnological world back in 1990's. Calgene later got taken over by The Monsanto Company due to the unprofitable accomplishments. We all know who Monsanto is today...don't we?

Genetically modified Tomatoes known Flavr Savr was introduced in 1992 by Calgene, but was approved by the U.S- FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in 1994 (18th May). The making process of the Tomato took approximately 10 years.It appeared to the consumers soon after the approval by FDA.

However, the FDA thought that it was unnecessary to put a GM label on the product. (stupid move) "The FDA reasoned that as there was no obvious health risk and the nutritional content and characteristics were the same as conventional tomatoes, there was no need to identify this tomato as different from the non-modified ones."

In addition, Flavr Savr was tested on rats, and found out that the rats grew abnormal tissues in their stomach causing them to die.

(Tomoa feels bad for the poor Rats)

I think that this was a bad move by the FDA by thinking that it was unnecessary, because back in the 1990's, genetic engineering was still in the process of evolving. SO why would they not want to maybe further clarify and test the side affects of Flavr Savr? Plus, I don't think that the public back then would think this was a normal thing to do since it's not like any farmer or the economy was suffering due to less production of tomatoes.

Calgene said that the genetically modified tomatoes ripening process would become slower, not "soften" easily in the inner tomato, as well as remain "long-lasting" . Farmers spray ethylene gas on the normal tomatoes to help it remain long-lasting on the shelves, so Flavr Savr does not need any spraying.

Brief Introduction to gene insertion in Flavr Savr

In a brief view,the insertion of genetically modified was done by adding an enzyme called oligonucleotide. Oligonucleotide would counteract against the original enzyme(polygalacturonase) in the tomato. This means that by adding oligonucleotide, it's going to interrupt a the original enzymes function.

( I'll explain more about the process in another blog post)

In contrast, the tomatoes were not much of a success. It had its disadvantages (which I'll explain more in the issues blog)

Going back to Calgene,

Fall of Calegene

Gradually, after 3 years of the production of the tomatoes, Calgene began to notice a trend in their comapanys economy. Instead of making profit, they seemed to be going in a loss. That gradually caused the company to shut down as well as the removal of Flav Savr from the consumer market. Soon after, the companys shares was bought by the Monsanto Company in 1997, and was discontinued from the consumer market(LOSS LOSS LOSS)which is now the leading biotechnology agricultural company. (as well as the most hated company)

Misinformation regarding Flavr Savr

A misinformation about Flavr Savr was that it caused health issues such as stomach pains in humans. However, this is not true. That is because the product itself was never tested on humans, and the product didn't remain on the market much longer for it to cause it.

Okay Science Geeks,

I'll take your leave...

Goodnight for now,

I NEED TO SLEEP

The EnviroGirl

p.s: How's my blogs main picture geeks? I edited it myself, since I wanted my blog to look appealing and not boring. Ofcourse, the credits goes to my brother who came up with the idea.

AND, I need to choose a ROLE for this project.

Change of topic

I have decided to change my topic.
Why?

That's because I felt my old topic- Golden Rice was not as interesting as I further researched. There's a lot of social/ethical issues that I can talk about. However,it does not seem to be as much as interesting- in the biological prespective.
+ I'm having a hard time choosing my role (as my last blog post was about)
+ I chickened (yes, that's a word) out from asking Mr. Vink about it.

Right now in Biology, we are doing the whole topic of molecular genes. I wanted to relate and find similar information much on it, but I was not attracting me towards the information provided.
I also read on Wikipedia that they came up with Golden Rice 2, since the last one they modified did not contain enough vitamins in a daily diet requirement. This puzzled me even more.I do not want to dig myself a grave by doing a hard topic that has sequels to it.

So,
As I was researching for Golden Rice, I came across a website that also talked about genetically modified tomatoes. So, I might as well do that right?
Some pictures of GM Tomatoes look amazingly GROSS.

Also, I found that they modified a tomato into a " purple tomato" Purple Tomato that could help for cancer.PURjnjsdajsj

Pretty interesting eh?
I might have to research more on it, and post it later on in my blog.

YAY! here comes Tomao...he'shappy! since I'm going to be talking about his family of tomatoes.

OH and look

Did anyone of you see this movie? It's called Attack of the killer tomatoes, released in 1978. The movie was "about a high-level government experiment gone terribly awry when a group of giant, mutated tomatoes roll through suburbia on a spree of mayhem and murder."The irony is that 14 years after, Flavr Savr was created. (which I'll talk about in details in my next blog)

Until next time,

The EnviroGirl

Confusion Confusion Confusion

First of all, I finally figured out how to put the collage of GM FOODS I made underneath my title.HIP HIP HOORAY! I did know how to do last July for my summer school blog but I forgot how to do it. Who remembers all this small details? not me.
Anyways...

I have researched partially upon my topic, and I think that I am going to do Golden Rice.
First I thought, what a "lame" thing to name a rice golden, but when I actually goggled ( website for researching stuff, who does not go on it? Other than the teachers) it. It seems to be quite interesting.
However, I AM SO CONFUSED.

The whole way of actually inserting genes is not hard to find... BUT, I also came across the social issues regarding this topic.
There's two views to this topic, one view is obviously WITH the use of Golden Rice and the other view is AGAINST it.
Awesome! isn't it? Nothing ever seems to be easy. So, I researched even more and saw that this topic is quite debatable.
My role can either be, consumer rights group BUT then I have support this whole topic.
OR
If I become, environmentalist group, I am AGAINST it.
BUT again,
I would like to do both the aspects of it...so whose role can I really take?
Member of Parliament, yeah sure, VOTE FOR GOLDEN RICE campaign. No, won't do.
Well, how about a nutrionist OR a doctor?
I am confused.
I might need to talk to Mr. Vink (my biology teacher & the inventor of this assignment) about this... and see if there is any role that can do both the views to a specific audience.

Great!
I think I have a plan or I hope I do.

Till then ADIOS Science geeks!


- The EnviroGirl


WOW.talk about the lack of humanity the farmer has.

First day eh & brief intro to genetically modified foods

As I was researching upon GM Foods in Canada, and what topic, I think I might do.
I found this website, which has an interesting video in it. The video is from CBC. It's Canadian yeah!

The video seems to be old, released in 2002. It starts off by showing how in Europe specifically London, England, everything is labelled if its genetically modified or not. (when I lived in England as well, I remember seeing those labels, GO ENGLAND!)

The video gives a good starting point of view on Genetically Modified (GM) Foods in Canada, since when it all began, and how it WAS viewed by the Consumers' Association of Canada (CAC) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) claiming that the labelling for GM foods is not mandatory. However, on the other hand, Canadian Health Coalition argue against them.

http://archives.cbc.ca/economy_business/agriculture/topics/1597/ - Check out the video on the website, it's duration is about 9:25 mins.

After, checking out this video, I later went on the website of Consumers' Association of Canada, and found this poll that was done in 2003, asking Canadians about what they felt about GM foods-http://www.consumer.ca/pdfs/2003.12.03-press_conference_slides.pdf

Do the Consumers' Association of Canada really care about what most of the Canadians think?

________________________________________________

Brief introduction on Genetically Modified Foods

I noticed that I'm blabbing on about genetically modified foods in Canada, but haven't told you about what Genetically modified foods are?

It's when different genes from another species or organism is inserted into another organism. Everything is done on a molecular basis of the cell (DNA, RNA etc). This is all done with several biotechnological technologies, also known as the field of Genetic Engineering.

Now, I NEED to pick a topic so that I can extend this project further. I can also then tell you about it's pros and cons, ethical issues, and any misinformation regarding it.

Adios for now,

The EnviroGirl