Minutes Week 4

Minutes Week 4

Methods. Explain how you collect your method and how you analyze your data. Methods. Your instructions to do your research.


Minh Tri -  Study Area.
WaiYan - Data Collection
Ian, Ethan - Data Analysis

Deadline: Next Lesson

Introduction

GMO, Genetically Modified Organisms, is commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to get new traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. GMO, also can be made by Genetic Engineering, where farmers, can create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy. For example, plant geneticist can isolate a gene responsible for drought tolerance and insert that gene into a different plant. The new genetically-modified plant will gain drought tolerance as well. And they can keep doing that and that eventually leads to our vegetables today. These are some of the popular GMO traits

• Pest Resistence
• Herbicide Tolerance
• Disease Resistance
• Cold Tolerance
• Drought Tolerance
• Nutrition

GMO, have made a big splash in the news lately as it is helping the farmers grow plants well. It is also helping the vegetable products maintain it's consistency in its harvest. Even though Genetically Modified Organisms have the potential to solve the world's hunger and malnutrition problems there are many challenges ahead for governments especially in the areas of safety testing, regulation, international policy and food labeling. There are many concerns about GMO mostly under the categories of Environmental Hazards, Human Health Risk and Economic Concerns. Because of these concerns about GMO many people are protesting against GMO. For example, European environmental organizations and public interest groups have been actively protesting against GMO for months. And this leads to our research: Do Singaporeans know what is GMO is, and if so, what are their attitude/opinion towards it?

We would like to know if Singapore share the same mindset as of the European Environmental Organizations as stated above. Or they are fine with the GMO Foods. If they really do mind about GMO Foods, from the research, we would know what are the measures to be taken(labeling food products) if the Singaporeans mind GMO products. Hence, in order to find out the attitude and opinions of Singaporeans on GMO, we would like to conduct surveys and interviews on Singaporeans of all ages. And from the results, we can do what is best for the Singaporeans and GMO Products.

Literature Review Draft 2 Minh Tri

After reading the article, Jones(2012) writes " The Singapore Government is generally receptive to GMO imports".  They are receptive without the citizens' "permission". Furthermore, the Jones(2012) also writes  "Singapore currently has no labeling restrictions for GMO foods". Hence, consumers would not know what they are eating as written by Jones(2012), "which means that consumers have little way of distinguishing a product that has been helped out by Science from one that has been allowed to go naturally".  By doing this, consumers do not know the difference between GMO and non GMO food. If consumers that do not know GMO and still eats GMO food because of the fact there was no labeling, there might be a protest that the government do not tell what it is feeding the citizens. Hence, our research, would like to know about the citizen's opinion on GMO and how they think of it. And by finding out the opinion of the citizen's on GMO, we would know if labeling is required for foods. We would like to go to the SuperMarkets and ask shoppers whether they know that what they are buying are GMO food or not. From their reaction, we also know that labeling is required for food products. 

Reliability: This article is reliable since it is just posted on 30 September 2012. It is also written by Madison Jones who is a writer for a biology education website and also talks in colleges in the U.S.

References

M. Jones. (2012, September 30) Biology of Food in Singapore. SGGreenDrinks. Retrieved from http://sggreendrinks.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/the-biology-of-food-in-singapore/

Draft 1: Literature Review by Ethan Ng

In the article viewed, Louise Chu starts off mentioning about the effects of GMO produce on human health:

"Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, generally refer to crop plants in which a gene has been introduced from another plant in a technique called gene-splicing to get the plant to express desirable traits, such as herbicide tolerance or insect resistance. Traditionally, getting plants to express desirable traits was done through plant breeding, but that can be time-consuming and produce results that aren’t always accurate."


Next, she goes into the fact that there are no confirmed health risks found although more research should be put into these areas, namely:

• Allergenicity — When genes are transferred from one plant into another, there is potential to also transfer allergens. GMO crops do undergo extensive testing for allergenic effects, according to the WHO.
• Gene Transfer — GMO foods potentially could introduce genetic material to cells of the body that could have adverse health effects, such as antibiotic resistance. The WHO says the probability of such a transfer is low, and it encourages the use of technology without antibiotic resistance genes.
• Outcrossing — When GMO crops are located near conventional crops or crop species in the wild, there’s a potential for seeds to mix by wind or insect pollination, having an effect on food safety and security. For example, the WHO cited an instance when traces of a maize approved only for animal feed use appeared in maize products for human consumption. 

Topics such as increased pesticide use were also explored, such as accidentally causing 'superweeds' which are mutated and adapted weeds resistant to most weedicides to form.

Draft 1: Literature Review by Htet Wai Yan Linn

In this article, editor Deborah B. Whitman highlighted important pointers on GMO related issues regarding human health and environmental concerns. Starting up the topic on GMO, he started off the article with the definition of GMO. This pointer would definitely benefit us when we try to make the public understand what GMO means.
The term GM foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. The enhancement of desired traits has traditionally been undertaken through breeding, but conventional plant breeding methods can be very time consuming and are often not very accurate. Genetic engineering, on the other hand, can create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy. For example, plant geneticists can isolate a gene responsible for drought tolerance and insert that gene into a different plant. The new genetically-modified plant will gain drought tolerance as well. Not only can genes be transferred from one plant to another, but genes from non-plant organisms also can be used. 
Next, he clearly stated the advantages of GMO products to make us discover GMO products' positive areas and it allows us to carefully examine GMO products to use them effectively.

 The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways:

Pest resistance 

Herbicide tolerance 

Disease resistance 

Cold tolerance 

Drought tolerance/salinity tolerance

Nutrition 

Pharmaceuticals 

Phytoremediation 

However, he also highlighted the criticisms against GM foods to make sure both the good and bad side effects of GMO are seen. This way, people would be able to weigh the good effects and bad effects to compare, whether GMO are more towards "good" or "bad" in the overall.

Environmental activists, religious organizations, public interest groups, professional associations and other scientists and government officials have all raised concerns about GM foods, and criticized agribusiness for pursuing profit without concern for potential hazards, and the government for failing to exercise adequate regulatory oversight. It seems that everyone has a strong opinion about GM foods. Even the Vatican and the Prince of Wales have expressed their opinions. Most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories: environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns.

Environmental hazards

Unintended harm to other organisms 

Reduced effectiveness of pesticides 

Gene transfer to non-target species Human health risks

Allergenicity 

Unknown effects on human health  Economic concerns
Bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process, and of course agri-biotech companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment. Many new plant genetic engineering technologies and GM plants have been patented, and patent infringement is a big concern of agribusiness. Yet consumer advocates are worried that patenting these new plant varieties will raise the price of seeds so high that small farmers and third world countries will not be able to afford seeds for GM crops, thus widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor. It is hoped that in a humanitarian gesture, more companies and non-profits will follow the lead of the Rockefeller Foundation and offer their products at reduced cost to impoverished nations.
Patent enforcement may also be difficult, as the contention of the farmers that they involuntarily grew Monsanto-engineered strains when their crops were cross-pollinated shows. One way to combat possible patent infringement is to introduce a "suicide gene" into GM plants. These plants would be viable for only one growing season and would produce sterile seeds that do not germinate. Farmers would need to buy a fresh supply of seeds each year. However, this would be financially disastrous for farmers in third world countries who cannot afford to buy seed each year and traditionally set aside a portion of their harvest to plant in the next growing season. In an open letter to the public, Monsanto has pledged to abandon all research using this suicide gene technology.

Minutes Week 3

Minutes Week 3

Introduction. A brief description of your  Research.

WaiYan will find the articles to give some information on GMO.

Minh Tri will use the information to put them into a description of GMO.

Ian and Ethan will from there explain the relevance of the information to our research.

And please complete your Draft 2.

Draft 1: Literature Review Minh Tri

Literature Review

Source: http://sggreendrinks.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/the-biology-of-food-in-singapore/

The post:

In this contributed post, Madison Jones writes about how genetically modified foods are imported in large quantities by Singapore, but that the lack of consistent labelling of these foods is often overlooked or completely ignored by consumers. 

Over the past decade genetically-modified foods—often known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs—have been making a splash in markets around the world. Singapore does not produce any GMOs, at least not yet. It often imports them from other countries, however, which has led to much debate and political posturing when it comes to safety and consumer choice. The country’s stance is generally liberal, as government officials tend to view GMOs as just as safe as their naturally-grown counterparts. Imports must go through a somewhat rigorous screening process to enter the marketplace, but once there, there are virtually no restrictions.

Nearly any food can be genetically modified, though scientists typically only cultivate “altered” foods for a specific purpose. Rice, corn, and soybeans are three of the more commonly experimented-with foods, all three of which are in high demand in Singapore. Most of the GMOs the country imports in these categories come from the United States, where farmers and researchers have long been looking for ways to make crops more resistant to things like disease and certain pesticides. Resistant crops often cost less to grow and harvest, which results in a lower end-price to the consumer.

The Singaporean government is generally receptive to GMO imports, though the process is not without its checks. Anyone wishing to introduce modified imports into the marketplace must first submit a detailed proposal describing the food and its history to a special “subcommittee on the release of agriculture-related GMOs.” The subcommittee scrutinizes every application under a principle of “substantial equivalence.” This principle assumes that if a modified item is “substantially equivalent” to one that exists naturally, the two can be treated as equals when it comes to safety.

This reasoning follows the teachings of the World Health Organization, which maintains that the majority of GMO foods are safe for consumption. Not all consumers agree, however. While some in Singapore continue to debate the country’s relatively lax import standards, much of the debate centers around labeling.

Singapore currently has no labeling restrictions for GMO foods, which means that consumers have little way of distinguishing a product that has been helped out by science from one that has been allowed to grow naturally. “GM food labeling is a complex issue,” Singapore’s Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (GMAC) has said. “The local authorities will work to ensure that GM foods commercially available in Singapore are safe for consumption, and will also continue to monitor international developments closely to ensure that Singapore’s labeling requirements are up to date.”

Up-to-date rules may be important for safety, but have little impact on consumer choice. “The lack of clear labeling standards for GM foods in Singapore, and in many parts of Asia is worrying,” Bhavani Prakash, an environmental activist, said in an editorial on the Eco Walk the Talk website. “Nearly 90 percent of US soya and 75 percent of US corn are genetically modified. Singapore definitely needs better labeling of GM foods so that consumers can decide what is best for them,” she wrote.

 The debate about GMOs, whether in Singapore or elsewhere in the world, is unlikely to let up anytime soon. There are significant concerns on both sides of the aisle, and a lot of different interests are at stake. Though GMOs are likely to remain a facet of the international market for some time, the on-going debate about safety, choice, and clear identification means that the coming years should bring consumers better information about what exactly it is they are eating and buying.

Madison Jones is a writer for a biology education website where she talks about how biology colleges in the U.S. are preparing students to deal with such issues, in addition to providing statistics and interviews from expert biologists where education in this realm is headed today. 

It says that " The Singapore Government is generally receptive to GMO imports".  They are receptive without the citizens' "permission". Furthermore, the article also says "Singapore currently has no labeling restrictions for GMO foods". Hence, consumers would not know what they are eating as stated "which means that consumers have little way of distinguishing a product that has been helped out by Science from one that has been allowed to go naturally".  By doing this, consumers do not know the difference between GMO and non GMO food. If consumers that do not know GMO and still eats GMO food because of the fact there was no labeling, there might be a protest that the government do not tell what it is feeding the citizens. Hence, our research, would like to know about the citizen's opinion on GMO and how they think of it.

Reliability: This article is reliable since it is just posted on 20 September 2012. It is also written by Madison Jones who is a writer for a biology education website and also talks in colleges in the U.S.

Minutes Week 2

Minutes Week 2

Literature Review.

Find an article related to your research and explain how it is relevant to your research. Wait for Mr Tan to comment and do a draft 2.

Start to do introduction.

Time Line (GANTT Chart)

Roles and Responsibilties

Roles and Responsibilties:

Minh Tri:
He is the leader. He will review and see all the survey and interview questions for the investigation. He will also analyze  the investigation results and put them into a statistics chart.  He will make the decision together with WaiYan, the administrator.

WaiYan:
 He will be the administrator, we will generate ideas and will mainly write the survey and interview questions. He and the Minh Tri will make decisions together to help the team progress. He will also analyze the investigation results with Minh Tri. For the presentation of the results, he will be the person to organize the results into a presentation slide and generate the script.

Ethan Ng:
He is the IT Manager. He will be in charge of videos and the blog (Media)etc. He will update the blog regularly and would mainly be the one in charge of the survey questions online. He will also gather the results and report it to Minh Tri.

Ian Kang:
He will be the Public Relations Manager. He will be the one interviewing the people and the person in the videos(actor). He will do the talking and be the face of the team. 

Minutes Week 1

Minutes Week 1

Things to do:

GANTT CHART

TABS:

Home, Cover Page, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Bibliography, Acknowledgements.
Annex A Research Proposal.
Annex B Research Justification
Annex C Multimedia Presentation
Annex D TimeLine(Gantt Chart)

Data Collection

• Preparation for Data Collection
• Data Collection

Tabs on E-Journal

• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussions
• Conclusion
• Abstract
• Bibliography & Acknowledgements
• Preparation Report
• Buffer Week for Corrections
• GANTT Chart

VIVA

• Preparation for VIVA
• VIVA

Others

• Insight/Reflection
• Buffer Week