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Flashcards · Biology · Feeding the Human Race

Benefits and Risks of Gene Technology in Agriculture

17 cards

  1. Give two benefits of GM crops.

    A higher yield and less pesticide, or more nutritious crops, or crops that survive drought.

  2. Why does a Bt crop need fewer insecticide sprays?

    It makes a protein that kills the caterpillars that eat it.

  3. How can GM crops help in drought-prone areas?

    They can be engineered to tolerate drought, so food can be grown on poorer land.

  4. What is gene flow?

    The spread of a gene to other populations, for example by pollen from a GM crop to a wild relative.

  5. Why is gene flow a risk?

    A wild plant could gain resistance to a herbicide and become hard to control.

  6. How can GM crops harm other organisms?

    The toxin or herbicide could harm harmless insects or plants that are not the target.

  7. How can pests become resistant to the Bt protein?

    Resistant pests survive and reproduce, so the resistance becomes more common.

  8. What is a superweed?

    A weed that has become resistant to a herbicide.

  9. Why is GM seed a concern for poor farmers?

    It is more costly, and it is often patented, so new seed may have to be bought each year.

  10. Why do some people want long-term studies of GM food?

    The effects on health and ecosystems might take years to show.

  11. Give one ethical objection to GM crops.

    It is wrong to alter genomes or to move genes between species, or companies should not own life forms.

  12. Give one ethical argument for GM crops.

    It would be wrong not to use a technology that could reduce hunger and malnutrition.

  13. What is the difference between a practical and an ethical consideration?

    Practical: what will work, cost and happen. Ethical: what is right or wrong.

  14. Why might organic farmers object to GM crops?

    Pollen from GM crops could cross-pollinate their crops.

  15. Why can growing one GM variety over a large area be a risk?

    It reduces genetic variation, so a new disease could damage the whole crop.

  16. What should a good evaluation answer finish with?

    A conclusion that follows from the benefits and risks that have been explained.

  17. A GM crop that kills caterpillars, and a bee carrying pollen to a wild relative. Describe one benefit and one risk of GM crops shown in the diagram.

    Benefit: the crop makes a protein that kills caterpillar pests, so the farmer needs to spray less. Risk: pollen from the GM crop may fertilise a wild relative, so the gene spreads into wild plants.