Bio-tech-nol-o-gy

CURRENT AND FUTURE BENEFITS:

• CROP YIELDS: Future biotech crops will allow farmers to greatly increase the amount of crops produced.
  
• IMPROVED FOODS: Biotech foods will improve convenience for consumers, for example, by creating foods with longer shelf lives and less spoilage.
  
• MORE NUTRITIOUS MEALS: Biotechnology will improve the nutritional quality of foods. For example, Purdue researchers are working to move a cholesterol-lowering protein from oat bran into corn or wheat.
  
• CLEANER ENVIRONMENT: Biotech crops are very specific about which pests they kill and where that happens. Compared to spraying a general pesticide on a field, using biotech crops results in less damage to the environment. Purdue researchers are also developing biotech microbes that can clean up chemical spills.
  
• HEALTHIER ANIMALS: Purdue scientists are developing pet and animal feeds that contain low-level vaccines to fight common illnesses.
  
• SAVE WILDLIFE: Purdue researchers are using biotechnology techniques to prevent small populations of endangered animals, such as pronghorn antelope and Pennsylvania elk from becoming so inbred that the population dies out.

Success Stories:

The first biotechnology products were medicines designed to address human diseases. For example, insulin for diabetics and blood clot-busting enzymes for heart attack victims are now produced easily and cheaply by microorganisms modified through biotechnology.

"Yellow rice," a variety genetically modified to boost vitamin A levels, was recently introduced in the Philippines. Currently, some 18 million children in developing nations suffer from vitamin A deficiency, which often leads to blindness. But soon, thanks to the enhanced yellow rice, there will be a readily available source of vitamin A in these areas. (This breakthrough would not have been possible without the laboratory work of Purdue University plant scientist Tom Hodges.)

What is Biotechnology?

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