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Annotated Bibliography

How are GMOs Helpful?

Luz Vazquez

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1103-H01

17 October 2019
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Jacqueline Ronson. “Will Genetically Modified Plants Save Us?” ​Inverse,​ 11 Jan. 2017,

https://www.inverse.com/article/26296-bunzl-genetically-modified-plants-geoengineerin

g-climate-change. Accessed 16 Oct. 2019.

The following article talks about a panel discussion Martin Bunzl a professor at Rutgers

University, who studies the philosophy of science and climate change policy. The panel

discussion was hosted by the ​American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. ​Martin

believes that technology has the potential to pull more carbon out of the environment and

lucky for him he is not alone, but he is the only one suggesting that trees might have the

answer to that problem. In the subject of the discussion was the role of aerospace

industries in geoengineering projects. Such as solar radiation management schemes that

would seek to find a way to block out some of the sunlight to cool the planet. Bunzl is

skeptical with messing around with the sun and does agree that will cool the planet but it

won’t undo what has already been done thus far. Along with bringing more uncertainties

into the climate system. He adds that it could buy us some time while we come up with a

way to permanently remove carbon out of the air. He isn't just skeptical about solar

radiation management schemes, he also questioned the idea of pulling carbon out with

chemicals and machines because it is expensive and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be

cheap enough to use it in a massive scale. Bunzl continues by mentioning the idea of

using techniques of modern genetic engineering, including CRISPR. CRISPR is a tool

used for editing genomes, allowing researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and

modify gene functions. Those techniques could be used to modify plants to take carbon

out of the air more efficiently. Bunzl says “This is a seductively interesting option,
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because you get a self-replicating system which will continue once the changes propagate

through living organisms to improve carbon dioxide uptake.” The author begins to

mention that biological systems are already more effective than chemical systems are to

remove carbon from the air. She continues by stating that if GM plants were in use

around the world they wouldn't just be pulling the carbon from the air for biofuel but also

help gain by capturing and storing. Of course there is risk involved with GM plants, such

as negatively impacting the ecosystems and communities, but those risks may end up

being more manageable than the risk of not doing anything. Which is something the U.S

government has acknowledged formally. There was also mentions of how to get the

public to agree and stand behind GM plants. A M.I.T. professor named Kevin Esvelt says

that “is absolute transparency and communication, and it’s a philosophy he’s putting into

action through regular community meetings with the people of Nantucket Island,

Massachusetts.” The article ends with a quote by Esvelt which states that fear shouldn’t

stop us from trying to save the plants with GM plants and that we shouldn’t think that

everything is going to be fine. The Author of the article is a freelance science writer and

has written many works. Some which include ​Rising Sea Levels Could Unlock the

Seastead Era​. There is not much I could find about the author but I do believe that this

article is a reliable source. I think that their might be somewhat of a bias towards the use

of GM plants because Bunzl is well informed about GM plants. The article will allow me

to provide a well informed argumentative essay. I truly believe that this article is

beneficial to me in the processes of writing my EIP.

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Laura H. Kahn. “A Plant That Could Save Civilization, If We Let It.” ​Bulletin of the Atomic

Scientists​, 11 Sept. 2018,

https://thebulletin.org/2018/06/a-plant-that-could-save-civilization-if-we-let-it/.

Accessed 16 Oct. 2019.

In the article, the author talks about the positive effects genetically modified plants have

on our planet. The author begins by stating that the levels of carbon dioxide in the

environment have increased dramatically over time, and as a result of that the Earth has

warmed up one degree celsius above the pre industrial temperature. This can bring drier

weather, rising sea levels and damaged ecosystems. Those changes can terribly impact

our agriculture, by affecting the amount of crops produced. The author mentions that

reducing carbon emissions could be one way to stop global warming. Along with

research from energy researchers who are looking for a way to capture carbon before it is

released into the atmosphere and converting it into something useful or potentially store it

deep underground. This is called carbon capture, utilization, and storage. The only

problem with this technology is that it is too expensive to develop and implement. The

author then begin talking about plants, she mentions that plants can capture, utilize and

store carbon through photosynthesis. The only problem is that they don’t store it for a

long period of time, resulting in much of the carbon being released. She continues to say

that plants such as perennials that live year after year have the potential to be genetically

modified to fight climate change. That can be done by a scientist named Joanne Chory.

She is a plant biologist and geneticist, and is the director of the plant molecular and

cellular biology laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences and a
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Breakthrough Prize recipient. Joanne has created a plant that has the potential to provide

food and store carbon dioxide in its roots. She calls it the super plant. One of her goals is

to modify plants to produce more suberin, a carbon rich compound also known as cork.

Suberin protects the roots and resists decay. She mentions that she plans on using that

include beans, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts because that are perennials and adapted to

semi-arid climates. She also hopes to breed plants with extra deep roots and a high

amount of suberin for long-term carbon storage. The author mentions that with Chory's

plan there are some hurdles she might have to overcome, but those hurdles can be passed

by educating the public about GM plants and their potential benefits to our planet. Chory

is aware that these hurdles will be hard to jump over. Which is why her plan for creating

the super plant will involve using cross-breeding. Cross-breeding was used long ago,

which allowed farmers to select desirable traits in domestic plants and animals. The

article brings up the question as to why Chory is using cross-breeding instead of

CRISPR, which has become cheap and easy over time. Chory's response is that she wants

to avoid political opposition form activist opposed to GMOs. The article also goes into

detail as to why the public is so against the use of GMOs. It all began when “Roundup

Ready” crops were created to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, but they

encouraged the use of glyphosate. Which is a ​probable carcinogen something that has the

capability to cause cancer in living tissue.​ That was the GMO that tainted all of the

subsequent ones for the public, despite their benefits. The article ends by mentioning all

we have to lose if we don’t push towards the use of GMO plants to save our glaciers,

coral reefs and our food security and that developing Chory’s super plants should be a
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global priority. ​The author of the article has a research scholar with Princeton

University’s program on Science and Global Security. She has written many articles,

some have been published by John Hopkins University press. Princeton University has

awarded her an undergraduate course “Hogs, Bats and Ebola: An Introduction to One

Health Policy” and in 2016 she was awarded the K.F. Meyer-James H. Steele

Gold-Headed Cane Award the highest honor from the American Veterinary

Epidemiology Society. Overall the author cited all her information throughout the article

and did a good job while presenting it. There does not appear to be any bias towards

Genetically modified plants. I believe that this article will help me convey my point that

GMOs are not something bad and that they can help better our environment. The article

offers lots of information that is beneficial to my topic, it will allow me to provide facts.

It has helped me feel more confident and sure about my topic, now I think I can be

successful in the process of writing about GMOs.

Li, Jinshan, Jing Qi, and Anjiang Jin. "GM Food, A Better Life."​ Agricultural Biotechnology​,

vol. 7, no. 2, 2018, pp. 155​. ProQuest​,

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2135491374?

accountid=14605. Accessed 16 Oct. 2019.

In the scholarly article authors cover the needs and the benefits of GM plants and foods.

The article begins by talking about the history of biotechnology. They mention because

of it chinese scientists have expanded the production of sea-rice. They say “it's the right

time to look back on history and look forward to the rature, and it's the right time to find

a better way for food supply and people's life.” There is also the mention of how our
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population is growing steadily and we are beginning to face many problems. Some of

which include climate change, air pollution, and a lot of people don’t know where their

next meal will come from and are being threatened by starvation. The question of what

should be done about those problems is brought up. The author says that GMOs are the

best answer to most if not all those problems. Crops can be genetically modified to yield

more and withstand droughts and floods. They can be bred to resist pests and viruses and

weeds. Throughout the article there are descriptions of how GMO are going to help. Like

in Africa and in the Antarctic food production will spread and be multiplied so that the

world can produce enough food for the people. Farmer will no longer use pesticides that

contaminate our waters. In the end the authors advise us to allow the use of GMOs for a

better life. There are three authors to the article and there is no information about their

credentials. Which makes me believe that this article might be reliable but I’m not to

sure. I also think that there may be some bias towards GMO foods and plants. I do think

that the article talks about important things that I can use in my EIP but it might not be

enough. Despite that I still feel confident in my topic.