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8,000 years ago, the first GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) was created. The “creator” was a type of soil bacteria that would infect Sweet Potatoes. The bacteria would plant its DNA into the potato, and that would alter the potato plant's DNA, making a GMO. This new GMO potato plant spread very quickly because the ancient people of the world would plant them, and replant them for many years because they found out that potatoes were edible. The Sweet Potato plant infection would also send the bacteria through the dirt, spreading to other potatoes. “Given that this crop has been eaten for millennia, it may change the paradigm governing the ‘unnatural’ status of transgenic crops…. People have been eating a GMO for thousands of years without knowing it” (Blakemore).
Pesticides were first invented when the Romans figured out that if you crush olive pits, a type of oil will come out that they can sprinkle on the plants, and it would kill the pests. From there, the use, and functionality, of pesticides has only increased. The Romans are like the pesticide pioneers. “In the span from the Middle Ages to the Victorian era, science moved from the realm of religion and magic to practical study. The disciplines of chemistry and biology were embraced, opening up studies into chemical compounds, reactions, and chemical synthesis.” This is the time that chemical pesticides started being discovered, and the experimentation process started. “The earliest documented chemical Pesticide compounds were elements such as sulfur, heavy metals, and salt…. Elemental sulfur is believed to be one of the earliest chemical pesticides.” The heavy metal compounds were first used because they were super toxic to insects, bacteria, and fungi. The 19th century was when chemicals first start being extracted from plants to make better pesticides, and it has just progressed from there ("The Evolution").
Artificial selection was like the very first kind of GMO, except artificial selection doesn’t deal with inserting, or modifying, any DNA in organisms. Artificial selection is when you breed two certain species, with certain traits, and hope that there will be a good outcome. It was used to breed many animals and plants, thousands of years ago. “One of the most dramatic and prevalent alterations in plant genetics has occurred through artificial selection of corn. Corn, or maize, began as a wild grass called teosinte that had tiny ears with very few kernels. Over the hundreds of years, teosinte was selectively bred to have larger and larger ears with more and more kernels, resulting in what we now know as corn.” The breeding of corn was a very big stepping stone towards the discovery of GMOs. “An enormous breakthrough in GMO technology came in 1973, when Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen worked together to engineer the first successful genetically engineered (GE) organism.” They had figured out how to take DNA from one organism and put it into another one. With the birth of the new GMO technology, there was a lot of controversy between the government, media, and other scientists. They were worried about the potential of it, and the effect it could possibly have on humans. In 1975, there was a big conference, called the Asilomar Conference. Scientists, researchers, and government officials debated on the safety of GMO research for 3 days. “Finally, the established guidelines were expected to be fluid, influenced by further knowledge as the scientific community advanced." Because of the Asilomar Conference, many of the world's governments had started to move towards the new GMO research (Rangel).
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