Insight Plus - Part 17 – GM crops | Текст песни

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• Part 17 – GM crops

NB: Please note this is not a word for word transcript of the audio programme
Группа Learning Engllish. Транскрипт:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/scripts/insight/tae_insight_17_12bs_081113.pdf

Abigail: Genetically modified, or GM crops are grown in various parts of the world.
But GM food is the subject of very heated debate in the media. Some people
see GM as the answer to world hunger, while others think they'll bring
environmental disaster. But as you’ll discover - the media debate on GM
wasn’t always so heated - we’ll look at the way GM crops appear in the
media later in the programme.
But first, what are genetically modified crops? I asked BBC Science Unit
producer Roland Pease to give a simple definition:
Clip Roland Pease
Genetically modified crops are where genes have been taken from different species and put into
other plants - e.g. fat grain etc. in genetically modified ones scientists have found genes -
blueprint for life - drought tolerance, resistance to herbicides - and they can take them from
any plant and put them in any plant.
Abigail: Farmers also cross breed plants, using the pollen from one plant to fertilize
another. The new plant that results will then hopefully have the good
characteristics of both its parent plants - which might be fat juicy seeds or it
might be plants which don’t need too much water - drought tolerant plants.
But that traditional farming technology is seen as being very different to
laboratory-based genetic engineering. I asked Roland Pease what the
difference is:
Clip Roland Pease
There are two major differences with genetic engineering - you remove the element of chance.
Natural mutations are random, you look for chances - 'ah I like that mutation, I'll cross that
into my plant for next year'. This takes a long time. With genetic engineering you can identify
the gene - it's very expensive but in principle you can take the gene and grow it in much
quicker time, you've got the result you're looking for.
___________________________________________________________________________
Abigail: Many plants have natural resistance to pests, such as insects or fungus or
bacteria. But crop pests are still a major problem to farmers round the world.
This BBC report from Spain shows the impact a pest like the corn borer can
have on a field of maize:
Clip Report from a field of maize in Spain
The field of maize has been destroyed by a bug called the corn borer. They reckon they’ve lost
75% of the crop.
Abigail: Pest-resistant plants mean farmers can use less pesticide chemicals on their
crops. But herbicide resistance was the other GM characteristic which
Roland Pease mentioned there. Herbcide-resistant plants are designed to be
unaffected by a particular weed-killing chemical, which means that farmers
can spray their crops heavily, reducing the number wild plants in the GM
fields. Many people fear that this means that GM crops will lead to a loss of
wild plants, which will mean fewer insects. And fewer insects means a
reduction in the birds and animals that eat them.
Clip Roland Pease
Recent trials in Britain showed weed, bird and insect population in GM fields had been
damaged. It's not the crops themselves. It's the fact that they allow more herbicide, and that
has knock-on effects.
Abigail: Increased use of herbicides is only one of the criticisms of GM crops that we
hear in the media. You might have heard phrases like ‘playing god’ or
‘meddling with nature’. Language like that shows a strong belief that
scientists don’t have the right to change nature in this way. It’s a belief that
many people share and it leads to the fear that we'll lose control of these new
genetically modified organisms.
Clip Roland Pease
It's dramatic when you take genes from Arctic fish who don't freeze and put them into plants
so they're cold tolerant.
.

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