Name: 遺伝子組み換え植物とは？ (What are GM plants?)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T04:57:28.000Z
Duration: 3 min 48 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

Hello, my name is Claudia, I am a scientist and

I work in EFSA, the European  Food Safety Authority.

I'm here today to talk to you  about the work we do

on genetically modified organisms,  and why we do this work.

Let's start from the beginning of the story.

It is an organism in which  the genetic material

has been altered or changed in a way that does not occur naturally.

And by naturally, we mean,  for example in the case of GM plant

when we combine a father plant with a mother plant to obtain a new plant.

Scientists are developing  many different types

of GM plants to achieve  different objectives.

For example, they have developed plants which are called

‘drought-resistant’, meaning that they can

survive well also when  water availability is quite limited.

Other types of plants  are called ‘insect-resistant’,

and this is the example we will  be using today to explain a few things.

Here you see two drawings  – we have the non-GM maize plant

On the non-GM maize plant we have insects  that can feed on it – on its leaves

– whereas these are absent here  because this plant is resistant

and the insects cannot feed on its leaves.

The job of EFSA is to assess  whether this plant

is as safe as this one – the non-GM counterpart.

Now the question is how does EFSA do this assessment?

Using a comparative approach, which is basically a comparison between

the GM plant and its conventional counterpart.

We do that by asking a whole series of questions.

For example, is this plant as nutritious as the non-GM counterpart

for animal and humans  when used in food and feed?

Another question:  does this plant cause any allergic reaction

in humans or animals when used,  in comparison to the non-GM counterpart?

Or is this plant toxic for animals  or humans in comparison to their

In addition to that, we also ask a  whole series of questions

to assess whether this  plant causes any harm to  the environment when cultivated.

After we collect all this  amount of scientific information,

we use it to compile a document which in EFSA we call a scientific opinion,

and this scientific opinion is  then delivered to policymakers.

This document contains all the information

and the evaluation  of the safety of the GM plant.

In such respect, EFSA is not in  favour nor against GMOs

because it does purely a scientific work,

and its opinion is used then  by policymakers who are

the ones ultimately responsible  for the decision-making process

and can authorise or not a GM plant on the European market.