Genetically Modified Organisms

By Chelsie Vandaveer

July 16, 2001

For thousands of years, humans have been modifying the other life forms on this planet. It strikes me as odd that we have never thought about what we have done to the others or to the places where they live. We have changed animals and plants to suit ourselves, to suit our ideas of beauty, strength, speed, or productivity. In any generation, though, we don't really notice the difference. Secretariat looks much the same as Man O' War; poodles look much the same as the poodles did fifty years ago; and corn-on-the-cob is still corn-on-the-cob.

What we do not have is a sense of perspective. We have never seen the grains that grew a thousand years ago, so we cannot compare them to the grains that grow today. We seldom see wolves in the wild, yet the poodle has traits that were present in wolves. And the heart that makes the thoroughbred a champion was there in the shaggy horses of the steppe. The changes have been so gradual that we have accepted them as if they were natural.

An ecosystem is functional because of the traits of the individuals that make up that system. Change a trait and all of the system must change to deal with that trait. If enough traits change, then the ecosystem becomes a different ecosystem. Some of the individuals leave or die-out, others may be killed out, and others adapt or leave progeny adapted to cope with the changes. It was all about traits and natural selection.

We live in human-made ecosystems. We have created urban ecosystems, suburban ecosystems, and agricultural ecosystems. We have tied these life-style systems together with other systems—communication, transportation, and socialization. What we are, the traits that we possess became the driving traits that changed the world. The tall grass prairies have become wheat fields or pastures. Bison have given away to cattle. Wild horses have become valued bloodlines. Wolves have become about 200 cherished breeds of dogs. And many of those things that we could not adapt to our ideals got lost along the way. It was all about human-desired traits and artificial selection.

And now we stand at the point of designer selection. We manipulate viruses to pick up a trait from one species and insert it into another. We can make plants that glow where heavy metals are present, corn that kills borers, and soybeans unperturbed by herbicides. We know what traits we desire, but do we understand all the ecological impacts of those traits? What of the chance encounter when an individual of the natural world crosses over the artificial world and runs into the designer world? What will the world be like if migrating Monarchs succumb to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and corn borers become adapted to it? Are we any smarter than the people who drove the passenger pigeon, Carolina parakeet, and dusky seaside sparrow to extinction?

It is so easy to miss the world when you are looking down a microscope.