Bacillus subtilis

Monsanto and Consumer Confidence A Brief History of Monsanto Agricultural Dominance In the early 20th century, Monsanto began as a chemical company, producing hormones, fertilizers, pesticides, and toxins. In the 1980’s, their focus switched from chemical production to seed, bio-genetic research, and agricultural products (Anderson, 2014). It was only in trying to enter the British and European Union markets in the late 90’s that there was a significant backlash against the company, the effects

Corn (Zea mays) is one of the most widely produced crops in the United States and it provides more than 40% of the world’s corn (Benson and Gibson). The history of maize dates back to around 5,000 - 6,000 years ago due to the Native Americans domesticating the maize ancestor. In recent years and after countless research, scientists are accepting the theory that corn comes from a wild plant called Teosinte. The reason behind the skepticism is due to the traits of both plants; teosinte possess smaller

Based on the results, there are fitness costs to Bt resistance which could answer why the frequency of resistant to Bt is low. Moreover, the two indicators for reduces fitness of resistant T. ni were slower larval growth and smaller pupal size. The average pupal weight of the resistant strain was 20% lower when compared to the mean weight of the untreated populations. The mean larval weight of the most resistant population was 3.45mg, while the moderately resistant larvae had an average weight of

As the spread of commercialized genetically modified foods (GMF) products rise, the number of people exposed to genetically modified foods incline globally. The term genetically modified foods can be used interchangeably with transgenic foods, genetically engineered crops (GE) and Recombinant DNA technology and therefore defined as the enhancement of foods in which a gene of interest from one organism is extracted and inserted into the target organisms. (1) The genes of interest may be cells from

How are pesticides and herbicides important? A pesticide is used to kill targets and kill insects, While herbicides are used to kill undesirable plants or weeds. They help stop the spread of diseases and insects. What are pesticides and herbicides? A pesticide is a substance used for destroying insects or other living organisms harmful to discriminating plants or to animals, and a herbicide is a substance that is toxic to plants and is used to destroy unwanted vegetation. The majority of pesticides

In contrast, even though many recent surveys reveal that more than 70% of packaged foods contain GMO in the US market, there are no regulations to mandate the labeling of GM foods by the US government. Currently, the US federal government does not require any mandatory labeling of GM foods, unless the nutrition of GM foods has been changed or some toxins and allergens have been added to the GM foods (McLure). According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), there are also no mandatory

Out of the journal articles I used I found “Milkweed loss in agricultural fields because of herbicide use: effect on the monarch butterfly population,” by John M. Pleasants and Karen S. Oberhausen to be the best fit for my project. Their article is divided into nine sections which are as follows: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, Author contributions, Competing financial interests, and References. Pleasants' and Oberhausen’s abstract is divided further into

I have learned about the basics of DNA fingerprinting and what its main purposes are. Cloning relates to your DNA and twins to name a few things. You can use genetic engineering for many things including food, medecine, people, and more. Activity 2: Rank the following Resources #1.) Cloning - I ranked this source first because this source gave us access to multiple sources that helped me learn quite a bit about cloning. #2.) Risks of Transgenic Crops - I ranked this source second because it is important

Widmer and Associates has been a dealer for Stoller products for the last 30 years. The Stoller company started out as a micronutrient and fertilizer manufacturer. Jerry Stoller realized there was something more to increasing crop yields than just proper fertilization alone. It seemed that the stress that weather places on a plant can be more profound than adequate fertilization of a crop can overcome. Natural plant hormones and their roles and effects that seem to have as great of an effect on yields

Guns, germs, and Steel is written from a materialist approach to describe the history of societies and explain why some societies are more advanced than others. Some of the main points he blames this issue on include the geography surrounding the society, their food resources, the people’s immunity to germs, their use of steel, and training animals to be domesticated. I would give this book a rating of 3 stars due to the fact that it was informational but focused too much on specific materials rather