Title: TASK: Inheritance or Genetic Modification?
Course: GG 22/23 Leuphana-Copy > Section: 2.3 Food // Local

Living nature has been developing for millions of years creating myriads of varieties of plants and animals. Since the beginning of farming about 10,000 years ago, humans have looked for desirable traits in animals and plants, keeping seeds from those plants that have produced the richest harvests for new crops while discarding the not-so-successful ones. Desired traits pass on from generation to generation by way of genetic heredity and selection. New varieties may be created by mutation. And then there is the process of plant breeding which means that the ovary of a blossom is pollinated with pollen from a closely or distantly related plant so that traits of one plant are introduced to another variety. For example, a type of pea that yields large crops but is susceptible to mildew may be crossed with a mildew-resistant pea in order to create a new high-yielding and mildew-resistant crop.

Today we talk about "genetic modification" - and many people are upset about it. To influence the genome of whatever living species in a laboratory seems unnatural, ethically unacceptable, and in fact is often labelled as 'risky' and 'dangerous.' But is that really so? Could this skepticism be based on a lack of information and evidence?

If you work on the scientific side of this discussion, you can support your arguments by comparing the pros and cons. It is not easy, but here are some ideas. Work in groups to address the different aspects.

- If you are not familiar with plant breeding, try to understand the concepts inheritance and cross-breeding by studying the work of Gregor Mendel first with this video from the German Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology or with the teaching material by the Khan Academy.
- Study the many techniques of genetic manipulation and their scope on the German website "Pflanzen - Forschung - Ethik".
- You can go further and explore which kinds of food have already been genetically modified and for what reasons. The TransGen-Database is a helpful source.
- Optional: There are viewpoints presented in the media that you and your classmates might be interested in, especially when it comes to a discussion with American partners:
  - In the English version of Wikipedia you can read that genetic modification should be taken into account if one wants to support organic farming.
  - The lifestyle and fashion magazine "Cosmopolitan" tries to reveal "10 GMO Myths".
  - The German newspaper "DIE ZEIT" reveals "fake news" in relation to the "glyphosat" discussion and in another article asks "what is the truth? ".

When you think you have done enough research to understand the many-faceted challenges of GMOs or at least an important part of it, summarize your findings in a poster or infographic and discuss them in class.

Upload your poster (max. 2 MB) into the DATABASE: Learner texts.
 (You can submit a PDF or JPEG version of your digital poster or a photograph of your poster.)

[fa-files-o] Materials and resources:

MPI - "Pimp your Brain" video series: First Mendelian Law

German and English versions available - change language at the top of the page
 | Khan Academy: Mendel and his Peas
 | Züchtungsverfahren im Überblick
 | From Corgis to Corn: A Brief Look at the Long History of GMO Technology
- Transparenz Gentechik: Von Kreuzen bis Genom Editing - Wie Pflanzenzüchtung funktioniert
- TransGen Database for plants, food, and addtives
 | Harvard University: Signal to Noise Special Edition GMOs
"Böser, böser Glyphosat"
Ein Gift mit Zukunft ...
 | Cosmopolitan: GMO Myths and Misconceptions
 | Wikipedia (eng.): Role of plant breeding in organic agriculture