ith the antibiotic genes at the same time as you take an antibiotic, the genes could destroy the antibiotic in your stomach. The second thing that could happen is the resistance genes could be transferred to humans making the antibiotics taken when ill useless. Although number two is unlikely with out some kind of scientific mediation, the possibility should be closely checked. CONCENTRATION OF TOXIC METALS Some of the new genes being added to plants have the ability to remove heavy metal, such as mercury, from the soil and concentrate then in the tissues of the plant. The reason, they have added these genes in some plant, is so that municipal sludge can be used a fertilizer. The sludge contains nutrients that are good for the plants, however the sludge is also contaminated with heavy metals. The idea is to make the plant so that they can remove the metals to non-edible parts of the plant. For example, in a tomato plant the metal would concentrate in the roots and in a potato plant, the metal would be in the leaves. To do this they use some kind of genetic on and off switches. The risk is that if the switch is not completely off the edible part of the plant could be contaminated. ENHANCEMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT FOR TOXIC FUNGI It is possible that removing genes from plant could cause problems. The example I found is the caffeine in coffee beans, by turning the gene off or removing it completely to grow decaffeinated coffee they could create a fungal problem. The caffeine in coffee beans actually protects the plants from fungi. If beans are unable to produce the caffeine, they could be coated with a layer of toxic fungi, such as aflatoxin, which is toxic to humans and these toxins can remain in the food through the processes of food preparation. BENEFITS There are manypotential benefits of genetic engineering of organisms. Some of the envisioned benefits are engineering animals for leaner meat, drug-producing facilities, to resist disea...
