Behind the science of GMOs lies human achievement

corn
Bob Demers / UA News

(Summary)

In a fiery debate over GMOs, it’s often forgotten that there are people behind the science, writes Steve Savage in his newest blog post. Savage is an agriculture scientist specializing in plant pathology and has worked in agriculture technology for over 30 years. In his newest blog series, “The People side of GMO Crops,” Savage aims to remind readers that behind the monolithic names like Monsanto is a rich history of scientific discovery and human achievement.

In this first post, Savage starts the story in 1976, around the time when Stanford professors Paul Berg, Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer inventedย DNA recombinant technology, the cornerstone of GM technology. Savage then documentsย his own graduate work at the University of California at Davis, where plant scientists were studying the various mechanisms whereby viruses and bacteria insert their own DNA into a plant cell’s nucleus. He stresses that from the beginning of the technology that would eventually lead to GMOs, scientific organizations were dedicated to ensuring its safety.

Read the full, original story here: “The People Side Of GMO Crops: Part I”

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