Genetic engineering has been a topic of interest in the media for its ethical issues. Tinkering with the blueprints of life… playing God. In general the public approves of the possible benefits for transgenic plants but still suffer from the N.I.M.B.Y complex (Not In My Back Yard). Public fear of what they do not know or understand can keep people from adopting the technology. Until all of the effects of edible vaccines can be fully documented, people will be wary of using them.
Public fear causes confusion, rumors, and sometimes hysteria. There are still many questions remaining for genetically engineering plants to carry vaccines. How much is a dosage? Can the vaccine survive in stored foods? Does the vaccine survive in the digestive system? Can the possible induction of the vaccine cause an immune tolerance? What about causing disease mutations? What happens if someone likes that particular kind of fruit, can he or she misuse or overuse the food?
These questions cause apprehension and cloud the public’s eye to the benefits of the horticultural commodity. Horticulturally speaking, the transgenic plants would have to be highly synchronized by a regulating organization. The vaccinated plants would have to be licensed somehow to let people know what it contains. What component of the vaccine would be licensed; the antigen itself, the genetically engineered fruit or vegetable, or the transgenic seeds? The public has the right to know what they are consuming.
Still, science fiction could play a role in the fear factor. Let’s say for example that a scientist creates a magnificent transgenic plant that carries a vaccine for polio, but in his enthusiastic haste he discovered that the same plant could also be a carrier for that disease. A terrorist group or a demented profit-seeking business hell bent on a creating a monopoly can start introducing the disease-carrying transgenic commodities to the public to spread the illness. Then that group will have created a demand for their vaccinated plants and therefore have the power to change whatever it wants to supply the cure. It may not be ethical, but it is possible.
Genetic engineering possesses awesome power for good and evil. Without understanding all of the aspects of the technology then the scientists are wielding the technology like a child that has found a loaded gun. The wildness of the technology needs some taming before it will be completely accepted in the horticultural community and general public.
Positive Impacts on Horticulture
Negative Impacts on Humanity
Positive Impacts on Humanity
References
Home
