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Answers

Question

Can Gmos be used for something other than agriculture?

Submitted by: Sharmarka Abdiasiis


Answer

Expert response from Community Manager

Moderator for GMOAnswers.com

Monday, 09/04/2018 16:23

The technology of genetic modification or genetic engineering was first developed in the early 1970s, commercialized in pharmaceutical applications in the early 1980s, and then agricultural applications in the early 1990s. You can read more about genetic modification for medical purposes in the article GMOs in Food and Medicine: An Overview  by Richard Green, Former Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Manager. Read more about why GMOs were first created and for what purpose, here.

Britt Lebbing, MBA, Information and Communications Manager, Regulatory Policy and Scientific Affairs, Monsanto, also discusses the first advancements in biotechnology and how recombinant insulin was the first commercial product derived from genetic engineering techniques.

“The first use of recombinant DNA technology, was created by Cohen and Boyer in 1972 with E.coli in 1972 and this article explains this advancement in biotechnology in greater detail. Here is an excerpt: “Their experiments dramatically demonstrated the potential impact of DNA recombinant engineering on medicine and pharmacology, industry and agriculture.”

Recombinant insulin was the first commercial product derived from genetic engineering techniques created in 1976 by the Genetech Company. Virtually all diabetics today use this type of insulin because of its advantages to the animal-derived insulin used before this technology.”

Read about the evolution of GMOs in her full response here.

Steve Savage, Consultant, Savage & Associates, explains what the future of GMOs may be like in this response.

We hope this answers your question, if you have any additional questions, please ask!