Note: Because there’s a lot of emotions tied to this topic, I want to make one thing clear. I am not advocating for or against GMO, I simply want to state the facts, the implied motivations, and the concerns. I don’t proselytize science, but I’m a big believer in giving people the facts, and letting them draw their own conclusions. An informed opinion is a valuable one.

In the mainstream conscience of our society, there aren’t many boogiemen as feared as the GMO.

In Darwin’s Cipher, I do talk about GMO, and I even used a few examples where Dr. Juan Gutierrez explains the benefits of GMO, from his point of view.

Before we go into too many details, let’s briefly discuss what motivates scientists to genetically modify anything. Obviously, they aren’t modifying the genetics of organisms on a whim. There is always a goal.

Let’s assume that in the case below, the goal is to fight malnutrition, and more specifically, vitamin A deficiency in some parts of the world.

What are the high-level steps a scientist would go through in the GMO process?

1) A scientist will identify a desired trait exhibited in some form of life, whether plant or animal.

2) The gene(s) that provides this desirable feature is identified, and a copy is made.

3) The copied gene is inserted into the target, with the goal of it producing the desirable effect as well.

4) Finally, lots and lots of testing occurs.

Simply put, scientists have a goal to improve a target organism, whether plant or animal, by editing the genetic code or adding genetic code from somewhere else.

The following section will go into technical details associated with a well-documented case of genetic modification.

Golden Rice (addressing vitamin A deficiency):

When we talk about modifying the genetics of something, what does that really mean?

To answer that, let’s gain a little background on the topic before getting too specific.

Many of you are familiar with the concept of DNA. It’s the blueprint of what we are and how we’re made. But have you ever considered what is DNA really made of?

Well, DNA is composed of a collection of genes. Each of those genes are “coded” to express a certain function. Think of a gene as one of the features that makes you who you are.

Humans have roughly 20,000 genes.

So, what is a gene?

A gene is composed of a series of nucleotide pairs, also known as base pairs. They’re called that because they form the basic building blocks of DNA. For many, base pairs may sound like a bunch of gobbledygook. So, to better explain what a gene is, I’ll give two analogies: