[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.96]this is the Agriculture Report.
[00:05.51]The World Food Prize has been awarded to three developers
[00:09.31]of genetically modified crops,or GMOs.
[00:14.14]Mary-Dell Chilton, Marc van Montagu and Rob Fraley
[00:19.14]received the award on October 17th.
[00:22.74]The award praises the technology they created
[00:26.14]for being able to increase the quantity
[00:29.30]and availability of food,
[00:31.91]it also says GMOs help deal with a growing world population
[00:37.52]and changes in weather patterns.
[00:40.27]But the selection of the three scientists
[00:43.27]has been criticized by people
[00:45.53]who question the safety and value of GMOs.
[00:49.88]In the 1970s, Marc van Montagu,
[00:53.44]a Belgian scientist discovered bacteria in soil
[00:57.55]performing a kind of natural genetic engineering.
[01:02.05]He found that the bacteria placed a piece of
[01:05.21]their genetic material, or DNA inside the plant cells,
[01:10.47]the cells then produce chemicals
[01:13.45]that work good for the bacteria.
[01:15.81]"Once we [saw] bacteria can insert DNA
[01:19.22]to give a new property to a plant,
[01:21.87]we were able to replace that part of the DNA [with] DNA
[01:26.93]that we want that gives new,
[01:29.09]useful properties to the plant," van Montagu said.
[01:31.78]His work was the beginning of plant biotechnology.
[01:36.24]Mary-Dell Chilton and Rob Fraley both Americans,
[01:40.64]produced the first genetically modified plants using that technology.
[01:46.08]Ms Chilton was studying a common plant infection called crown gall
[01:52.19]when she witnessed the same thing as Mr van Montagu.
[01:56.40]She discovered that it forms when a germ called Agrobacterium
[02:01.09]puts a piece of its own DNA into the plant cell's genes,
[02:06.38]the plant then makes food for the bacteria.
[02:10.04]Ms Chilton, Mr van Montagu and Mr Fraley
[02:13.84]along with the Monsanto company created the technology
[02:17.65]to reproduce plants while changing their DNA.
[02:22.46]Genetic engineering can add information to plants
[02:26.62]to produce different kinds of things,
[02:29.41]such as a protein that kills insects.
[02:33.08]Farmers quickly accepted and supported the new technology
[02:36.88]first used in 1996.
[02:40.64]Nearly all the corn and cotton
[02:43.19]grown in the United States is made with GMOs.
[02:47.45]The World Food Prize organization in the American state of IOWA says
[02:53.29]17 million farmers worldwide grew GMO crops in 2012.
[02:59.89]It says the technology increased production
[03:03.33]and reduced the usage of harmful chemical on crops.
[03:07.83]Doug Gurian-Sherman is a scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
[03:13.89]He says the technology could be useful,
[03:16.64]but as there is no proof it is necessary to feed the world.
[03:22.10]"My understanding of the prize is you should be giving it to people
[03:25.09]that have shown major positive,
[03:26.80]unequivocally positive accomplishments in world agriculture.
[03:30.62]And I don't see, so far,
[03:32.52]this technology being anywhere near that yet," Gurian-Sherman said.
[03:35.92]Opposition to GMOs is also spreading.
[03:39.47]In the Philippines, protesters destroyed test fields of rice
[03:44.37]that had been genetically engineered to produce vitamin A.
[03:49.91]And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English.
[03:55.33]I'm Christopher Cruise.