GM FOOD

EXERCISE AUDIO

A - Listen to a short text about GM foods and assign T (for True) or F (for False): 

  1. (  ) GM foods is another name we can call transgenic foods.

  2. (  ) Genetic modification makes plants more resistant to herbicides, insects, and pesticides.

  3. (  ) Transgenic foods are obliged to have labels.

  4. (  ) There is a large variety of transgenic plants on the market, including soy, corn and cotton.

  5. (  ) There is very serious control on the GM food crops.

 

B - Listen to the recording again and fill in the missing words: 

Whether you realize it or not, several foods you eat today are products of _______________ modification. By inserting genes from one plant into another, scientists have succeeded in creating plants which are _______________ to herbicide and insects or have a higher _______________ to heat, cold and drought. Soy, corn, cotton, _______________, and tomatoes are only some of the crops that have already been modified. This _______________, however, has caused a lot of _______________.

One side argues that genetic modification of food can help the _______________ because transgenic (or GM – genetically modified) foods reduce the use of _______________ and pesticides. Besides, these GM foods can have a higher _______________ value. Consequently, they can make it easier to _______________ the world.

The other side questions the real _______________ of the new technology _______________ that there isn’t _______________ testing and regulation of GM foods, and _______________ us about the risk of unexpected _______________. They point out, for example, that GM _______________ resistant to insects kill not only the _______________ insects, but also the _______________ ones. And what if the insect resistant crop _______________ the weeds and the weeds, in turn, became resistant to _______________ herbicides?

Despite all the _______________, GM foods are already on the market, and _______________, sometimes you won’t even have the _______________ of not buying them because the _______________ of GM foods is not required in all countries. And then you won’t know if the product has been _______________ modified.