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GMO, genetically manipulated organism — English
A genetically manipulated or genetically modified organism is a “new” living plant or animal that has been created in a laboratory by scientists by means of some deliberate interference with the chromosomes of an existing plant or animal. The chromosomes in the DNA of any organism are the proteins that carry the genetic identity of the organism. Any alteration of the chromosomes of an organism changes it into a different (“new”) organism. GMO technology does not entail an alteration of the chromosomes of a mature individual organism to create an altered mature individual organism – that is what happens in science fiction movies. In reality the chromosomes of DNA material from individual organisms are altered and new individuals are then created from this DNA. GMO technology is relatively new and has only been developed over the last two decades. It is ethically questionable and still very controversial. Deep ecologists find GMO technology totally unacceptable (see “ecocentrism” and “environmentalist”). GMO technology should not be confused with the time-tested, deliberate, breeding and cultivation of new varieties of existing species by propagating the multiplication of a natural mutant (an unexpected variant) of a species or by the crossbreeding of different varieties of one and the same species or different but closely related species of the same organism. These latter processes of variant and species creation might as well have happened in nature without any human involvement. Since time immemorial people have created (bred) variants of existing plants and animals. Since the 1950s scientists have created numerous new varieties of plants and animals that constitute the main varieties of commercial agriculture in the world today. The high-production, pest resistant, drought resistant and cold resistant variants of grain crops currently planted in all parts of the world today have all been bred or refined from existing species. Without these variants we would not be able to feed the world population. Environmentalists do not find it objectional when new variants and species are bred or created without direct interference with the chromosomes of any organisms, but they object vehemently to the creation of GMOs. Whether GMOs are ever going to be generally accepted, is still a strongly debated issue.
