What is genetic modification, and how does it differ from conventional breeding?
For thousands of years people have been altering the genes of animals and plants, particularly those that provide food. Until very recently, this has been possible only by ‘conventional methods’. These are selective breeding (taking the animals or plants that have desirable characteristics and using only those individuals for breeding); crossing individuals from closely related species; and mutational breeding (whereby mutations are induced, e.g., with ultraviolet light, and some of the resulting plants are then retained for breeding if they happen to have desirable characteristics). These techniques are time-consuming and very haphazard. Also, conventional methods of altering genes allow only pre-existing desirable characteristics to be enhanced in a plant or animal. If the genes are not already there, it is not possible to introduce them by conventional methods. As a result of this alteration of the genetic makeup of our food plants and animals, apart from seafood that was caught in
