2. Below are two sources used for an essay titled ‘Should
genetically modified (GM) foods have a role in future
agriculture?’
Read the sources first, then the essay extract.
Source A
Genetic modification (GM) is the most recent application
of biotechnology to food, which can also be called
genetic engineering or genetic manipulation. The phrase
‘genetically modified organisms’ or GMOs is used
frequently in the scientific literature to describe plants and
animals which have had DNA introduced into them by
means other than the ‘natural’ process of an egg and a
sperm.
New species have always evolved through natural
selection by means of random genetic variation. Early
farmers used this natural variation to selectively breed
wild animals, plants and even micro-organisms such as
yogurt cultures and yeasts. They produced domesticated
variants better suited to the needs of humans, long before
the scientific basis for the process was understood.
Despite this long history of careful improvement, such
procedures are now labelled ‘interfering with nature’.