UNIT 7: Plants

Textbook Article

Genetically Modified Foods — Do Potential Problems Outweigh Benefits?

Updated June 16, 2010 — There is a food fight going on, and you may need to choose a side. Genetically modified (GM) foods have been on the market since the early 1990s, and today most foods in U.S. grocery stores have GM ingredients. But the wide availability of GM food also raises concerns on topics ranging from health to the environment. Should you be worried about eating GM foods?

January 26, 2009Genetically-Modified Fuel

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have grown poplar trees that contain a gene from a very different plant: a green bean! The green bean gene causes changes in the makeup of the poplar tree’s lignin. Lignin is a material that...

December 21, 2007Will Europe Open Its Doors to Genetically-Modified Crops?

For the last decade, much of the corn grown in the United States has been Bt corn, a genetically modified type of corn that is resistant to pests. Bt corn carries a gene from a bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, to produce...

September 24, 2007Pharm-Fresh Medicine

If one British researcher has his way, tobacco would be grown to save lives.