I want you all to look at these all of
these USDA certified organic fruits you
know banana watermelon all that good
stuff but what if I were to tell you
that all of these fruits have been
undergoing centuries of selective gene
editing what if these are what they
naturally originally were now am I
telling you that these fruits have been
inserted with a foreign gene to make
their genome different not quite but the
truth is is the process that got us from
those fruits to these fruits is a
primitive form of genetic modification
and by definition that means that these
fruits are GMOs but before anyone jumps
to conclusions let’s back up a little
the definition of a GMO is to
genetically modified organism that just
means that we have somehow added in some
genes or taken some out or emphasized
some or de-emphasize some or just done
something to change the genome of the
organism in order to give it some
particular traits
now even though a lot of us don’t know
what a GMO is they’re actually already a
gigantic part of a society but even so
here’s what people had to say about GMOs
when asked but in reality when we asked
them what did GMO stands for this is
what they said I believe the reason why
the term GMO has become so stigmatized
is because it’s been put into the food
industry is this negative term for the
mistreatment of produce in animals and
because of that it’s been undergone a
huge stigma for example force-feeding
chicken with hormone enriched diets is
not genetically modifying when I say
genetically modifying that means we’re
changing something within the coding of
how we work in the DNA now if we were
talking about a plant that was
engineered to produce its own pesticides
– genetically engineering but simply
spraying pesticides or pumping in
hormones is not so when we’re force
being the chicken with hormone all we’re
really doing is force-feeding the
chicken
with hormones now the process that got
us from old-world fruits to new world
first is just one section of genetic
modification the other section has to
happen in a lab and this includes things
like rice engineered to produce vitamin
A or microorganisms that manufacture
polymer is quicker and more efficiently
we tend to think of these two fields as
completely different however both of
them are still editing the genome of an
organism and therefore both of them are
still genetic modification the only
difference is the place it’s done and
the time it takes while the process that
got us to new rolled fruits is a hundred
year waiting process the science that
gets us to modern synthetic biology if
done correctly it’s just a matter of a
couple of days just like the science
behind modifying fruits
the only thing modern genetic
modification really is doing is just
giving a boost up to evolution to humans
favor instead of waiting centuries or
something can modify or evolve itself to
our liking we’re just speeding up the
process and in the end the only true
purpose if synthetic biology really is
to make our lives easier simpler and
better already
scientists have engineered rice to
produce beta-carotene the precursor to
vitamin A with GMO technology the rice
that’s made will have very high amounts
of vitamin A the vitamin that is also
correlated with a decreased chance of
blindness and with this rice scientists
want to implement it in countries where
produce and nutrients are not as readily
available as in ours not only to curb
hunger but also vitamin A deficiency and
eventually blindness and I think that’s
pretty cool but even so there’s a lot of
stigma behind GMOs and honestly I can
understand a lot of it putting foreign
genes into bacteria can seem pretty
unsettling and combined with the fact
that ecoli is such a common chance to do
so it kind of turns into the fact that
we’re making like some sort of sci-fi
mutated version of the Chipotle
situation and I completely understand
some people are weirded out by that but
first let me give some insight on that
unsettling feeling I think a lot of
people are unsettled by the fact that we
put in genes are not actually from
bacteria into bacteria
after all there are countless horror
films we’re like one scientist we’ll
take one animal and smash it with a next
and then chaos ensues and the world goes
crazy and I am glad to report that is
not the thing to have the GMOs when we
do insert foreign genes into bacteria
they’re almost always miniscule for
example the system that codes for
vitamin A or the system that makes a
rubber from rubber trees and then after
that scientists have countless tactics
that they use to make sure only the gene
that we actually want to be inserted
gets inserted and after that there’s no
ridiculous consequences or any
Frankenstein it’s alive moments I
believe the reason why genetic
modification can’t expand as a field is
because the entire food industry has put
this gigantic stigma on the term GMO
because of that the entire field itself
is burdened I remember in high school
every year we’d have this Fair where we
would introduce different fields of
science young kids and of course my
colleagues and I had it fair there but
time after time again we would talk to
children some of them not even five
years old and hear them exclaim that
GMOs are bad and dangerous and harmful
to society without even knowing what
GMOs are and that’s the thing that
frustrates me GMOs are so promising
they’re also so stigmatized right now
scientists are trying to engineer a
microorganism to produce all the
nutrients that a human child would need
in one day and then putting that into a
pill if this pill ever succeeded we
could implement this in countries and
famine giving starving children the
vitamins minerals and calories they need
every day in the form of just one tablet
and the craziest thing about GMOs is is
that this is just one example of the
potential future products we can make
imagine engineering ecoli to produce
rubber that’s found in rubber trees that
way we wouldn’t even need half the
amount of rubber tree plantations in the
world we could cut a gigantic chunk off
of deforestation not only in South
America but southern Asia what about
protecting endangered species of animals
and plants by engineering yeast to
produce the drugs that they need for
scientists and they expensive and rare
medications out of them what about even
helping to repair the holes in the ozone
layer but getting a coli or some other
microorganism to make it can make ozone
itself
genetic modification can do that we just
need the mindset to let that happen so
undeserved stigma that GMOs have makes
us so that none of these things will
ever come into fruition to the extent
that the human race needs it to this is
where you all come in now I’m not just
saying that we should go out and mutate
everything without any regards like
public safety or health or ethics
because you know even I don’t think that
would work out terribly well
but 181 percent of stem professionals
think that genetic modification is
already safe but only 31% of the general
public thinks that it even has potential
to be safe that says something that says
we might need to reconsider as a 17 year
old girl talking at you all on a stage I
can only plant this idea in your head
you know I can’t like engineer some
plasmid and then inject it into your
brains and change your genome maybe make
you guys ask if I wanted to because that
doesn’t work but if I plant this idea
into your head and then you choose to do
something that’s where things start to
get moving because in order to change a
global predisposition it starts with a
new generation it starts with us kids
and if we recognize genetic modification
not only as a legitimate but powerful
field that’s when things start to gain
momentum maybe it’ll be education reform
maybe it’ll be policy reform but
regardless something in our generation
needs to change
in order to let genetic modification
take root and grow progress is
inevitable but it’s the youth who really
decide when that progress will start as
society’s new generation we have the
responsibility to decide what will be
acceptable and what won’t be acceptable
and genetic modification can start
saving lives in working near miracles at
least publicly until we say it’s okay
so maybe it’s just telling your friends
and family that GMOs won’t make you grow
a third arm maybe it’ll be pushing for
education reform or policy reform even
joining some associations like bio
builders or ijen but regardless it’s now
our responsibility to take on the
stigmas of genetic modification so let’s
get started
you
[Applause]
these USDA certified organic fruits you
know banana watermelon all that good
stuff but what if I were to tell you
that all of these fruits have been
undergoing centuries of selective gene
editing what if these are what they
naturally originally were now am I
telling you that these fruits have been
inserted with a foreign gene to make
their genome different not quite but the
truth is is the process that got us from
those fruits to these fruits is a
primitive form of genetic modification
and by definition that means that these
fruits are GMOs but before anyone jumps
to conclusions let’s back up a little
the definition of a GMO is to
genetically modified organism that just
means that we have somehow added in some
genes or taken some out or emphasized
some or de-emphasize some or just done
something to change the genome of the
organism in order to give it some
particular traits
now even though a lot of us don’t know
what a GMO is they’re actually already a
gigantic part of a society but even so
here’s what people had to say about GMOs
when asked but in reality when we asked
them what did GMO stands for this is
what they said I believe the reason why
the term GMO has become so stigmatized
is because it’s been put into the food
industry is this negative term for the
mistreatment of produce in animals and
because of that it’s been undergone a
huge stigma for example force-feeding
chicken with hormone enriched diets is
not genetically modifying when I say
genetically modifying that means we’re
changing something within the coding of
how we work in the DNA now if we were
talking about a plant that was
engineered to produce its own pesticides
– genetically engineering but simply
spraying pesticides or pumping in
hormones is not so when we’re force
being the chicken with hormone all we’re
really doing is force-feeding the
chicken
with hormones now the process that got
us from old-world fruits to new world
first is just one section of genetic
modification the other section has to
happen in a lab and this includes things
like rice engineered to produce vitamin
A or microorganisms that manufacture
polymer is quicker and more efficiently
we tend to think of these two fields as
completely different however both of
them are still editing the genome of an
organism and therefore both of them are
still genetic modification the only
difference is the place it’s done and
the time it takes while the process that
got us to new rolled fruits is a hundred
year waiting process the science that
gets us to modern synthetic biology if
done correctly it’s just a matter of a
couple of days just like the science
behind modifying fruits
the only thing modern genetic
modification really is doing is just
giving a boost up to evolution to humans
favor instead of waiting centuries or
something can modify or evolve itself to
our liking we’re just speeding up the
process and in the end the only true
purpose if synthetic biology really is
to make our lives easier simpler and
better already
scientists have engineered rice to
produce beta-carotene the precursor to
vitamin A with GMO technology the rice
that’s made will have very high amounts
of vitamin A the vitamin that is also
correlated with a decreased chance of
blindness and with this rice scientists
want to implement it in countries where
produce and nutrients are not as readily
available as in ours not only to curb
hunger but also vitamin A deficiency and
eventually blindness and I think that’s
pretty cool but even so there’s a lot of
stigma behind GMOs and honestly I can
understand a lot of it putting foreign
genes into bacteria can seem pretty
unsettling and combined with the fact
that ecoli is such a common chance to do
so it kind of turns into the fact that
we’re making like some sort of sci-fi
mutated version of the Chipotle
situation and I completely understand
some people are weirded out by that but
first let me give some insight on that
unsettling feeling I think a lot of
people are unsettled by the fact that we
put in genes are not actually from
bacteria into bacteria
after all there are countless horror
films we’re like one scientist we’ll
take one animal and smash it with a next
and then chaos ensues and the world goes
crazy and I am glad to report that is
not the thing to have the GMOs when we
do insert foreign genes into bacteria
they’re almost always miniscule for
example the system that codes for
vitamin A or the system that makes a
rubber from rubber trees and then after
that scientists have countless tactics
that they use to make sure only the gene
that we actually want to be inserted
gets inserted and after that there’s no
ridiculous consequences or any
Frankenstein it’s alive moments I
believe the reason why genetic
modification can’t expand as a field is
because the entire food industry has put
this gigantic stigma on the term GMO
because of that the entire field itself
is burdened I remember in high school
every year we’d have this Fair where we
would introduce different fields of
science young kids and of course my
colleagues and I had it fair there but
time after time again we would talk to
children some of them not even five
years old and hear them exclaim that
GMOs are bad and dangerous and harmful
to society without even knowing what
GMOs are and that’s the thing that
frustrates me GMOs are so promising
they’re also so stigmatized right now
scientists are trying to engineer a
microorganism to produce all the
nutrients that a human child would need
in one day and then putting that into a
pill if this pill ever succeeded we
could implement this in countries and
famine giving starving children the
vitamins minerals and calories they need
every day in the form of just one tablet
and the craziest thing about GMOs is is
that this is just one example of the
potential future products we can make
imagine engineering ecoli to produce
rubber that’s found in rubber trees that
way we wouldn’t even need half the
amount of rubber tree plantations in the
world we could cut a gigantic chunk off
of deforestation not only in South
America but southern Asia what about
protecting endangered species of animals
and plants by engineering yeast to
produce the drugs that they need for
scientists and they expensive and rare
medications out of them what about even
helping to repair the holes in the ozone
layer but getting a coli or some other
microorganism to make it can make ozone
itself
genetic modification can do that we just
need the mindset to let that happen so
undeserved stigma that GMOs have makes
us so that none of these things will
ever come into fruition to the extent
that the human race needs it to this is
where you all come in now I’m not just
saying that we should go out and mutate
everything without any regards like
public safety or health or ethics
because you know even I don’t think that
would work out terribly well
but 181 percent of stem professionals
think that genetic modification is
already safe but only 31% of the general
public thinks that it even has potential
to be safe that says something that says
we might need to reconsider as a 17 year
old girl talking at you all on a stage I
can only plant this idea in your head
you know I can’t like engineer some
plasmid and then inject it into your
brains and change your genome maybe make
you guys ask if I wanted to because that
doesn’t work but if I plant this idea
into your head and then you choose to do
something that’s where things start to
get moving because in order to change a
global predisposition it starts with a
new generation it starts with us kids
and if we recognize genetic modification
not only as a legitimate but powerful
field that’s when things start to gain
momentum maybe it’ll be education reform
maybe it’ll be policy reform but
regardless something in our generation
needs to change
in order to let genetic modification
take root and grow progress is
inevitable but it’s the youth who really
decide when that progress will start as
society’s new generation we have the
responsibility to decide what will be
acceptable and what won’t be acceptable
and genetic modification can start
saving lives in working near miracles at
least publicly until we say it’s okay
so maybe it’s just telling your friends
and family that GMOs won’t make you grow
a third arm maybe it’ll be pushing for
education reform or policy reform even
joining some associations like bio
builders or ijen but regardless it’s now
our responsibility to take on the
stigmas of genetic modification so let’s
get started
you
[Applause]
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