genetics

Did you know that the every day chicken that you could be eating right now is actually two times the size of a chicken that someone might have been eating 23 years ago? It’s an interesting and a heavily argued topic. These chickens are able to grow so much bigger because of selective breeding (basically tampering with the natural process of breeding so that the chickens with the gene that makes them larger prevail more then the smaller chickens’). the benefits of doing this are that more meat is produced with less chickens, which means less chickens to take care of and less space to hold them in. economically, this is very beneficial, however, many people are very concerned about the chickens wellbeing because with the chickens weight increasing so much, their legs cannot take the extra stress. There is great controversy over this because many people say that the chickens are suffering because of this, but many people also say that the chickens are experiencing nothing different from when they were smaller.

Another area of controversy with genetics is GM Foods (genetically modified foods). These are foods that have been genetically modified to produce their own natural insecticide, enhance quality/taste, and grow faster. It is a very thing to have plants that do this because it means that there will be less harmful chemicals used to keep insects away, the plants will taste better, and they will grow at a faster rate resulting in more food. However, the concerns that things could go wrong in doing this such the plants having an impact on human health and the potential of the plants impacting the environment. Another concern is the probability of the companies that have these technologies will ultimately gain a monopoly over the crop business because these methods are so efficient.

In the 1800s, Gregor Mendel discovered the idea of heredity and genetics by breeding mice and cross pollinating pea plants “just for fun.” I believe that he had no intention of his discovery turning into what it is today with selective breeding and GM foods. However, I believe that he would be very happy to see that it is creating so much more food.

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