Biotechnology, biotechnics & technology guide

Biotechnology has made some great achievements over the last few years giving us things that at one time we would have only dreamed of being possible. Advancements are being made in many different aspects, such as giving us easier and quicker diagnostic tests making treatments quicker and the prognosis better.

They have given us new ways to diagnose, discover and treat new as well as old diseases, such as better knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Here are just some of the many interesting facts in which biotechnology has helped and is helping to make the world a better place.

• All foods whether they are gathered from the wild or are harvested from crops contain genes which are broken down during digestion, these genes provide all the instructions necessary for the plant to grow and which determine the characteristics of the plant and the food it produces.

Humankind has been altering the genetic makeup of plants such as these for thousands of years and more recently through modern use of biotechnology to improve the characteristics to yield hardier crops that produce more wholesome and nutritious food in large quantities.

• Scientific evidence has shown us that crops resulting from biotechnological methods and techniques are just as safe as those raised by methods that are more traditional.
• All known food allergens are made up of protein but only a very small number of these proteins are allergens, foods commonly associated with allergens are peanuts, shellfish, wheat, soy and eggs.

Today’s biotechnology companies are avoiding the use of genetic materials associated with these allergens and strict regulations are put into place that require any company that does use genes from a know allergen source to make allergenicity tests on the food products produced.

• Currently at least 70% of all the foods which are on the shelves in supermarkets and grocery stores contain ingredients which have been derived from plants such as corn, soy and canola have been enhanced using biotechnology.

Since the introduction of these biotechnological foods nearly ten years ago rigorous testing has ensured that these foods comply with and meet if not exceed the safety of foods that we have been eating for centuries.

• It is thought that today there over 840 million people who do not have access to sufficient food supplies, biotechnology is helping in this field by way of increasing yields of crops in the same amount of land in order to supply the increasing demand for food and fibre in developing worlds.
• Severe vitamin A deficiency is a very serious problem which affects people in third world countries and makes people venerable to infections and blindness. Biotechnology helped to develop golden rice to help address the problem.