UNIT
4: LESSON 4
FARM OR PHARMACY?
SUBJECT: Social Studies, Current Events
OBJECTIVE: Students will become aware of the fact that cornfields
could become factories for medicines and vitamins, and they will begin
to notice the media coverage.
MEASUREMENT: Students will be aware that the potential exists
for medicines and nutrient supplements to be produced in cornfields.
BACKGROUND FOR TEACHERS:
"Nutraceuticals" are health supplements or vitamins delivered through
food. The potential benefits for the world's populations are awesome,
especially in malnourished regions where daily diets are often low in
adequate vitamins or proteins. Supplementing needed nutrients through
common grains such as corn, wheat, or rice could greatly improve the
health and stability of entire nations.
If antibodies or vaccines could also be inserted into plant-based products
they could be produced more cheaply, and also administered more attractively.
Who wouldn't rather take medicine in a bowl of corn flakes than by an
injection?
Large companies are investing billions of dollars into research. Farmers
are watching closely to see if they will be able to benefit economically.
They also wonder if regulating agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration
will restrict on-farm production of these products.
STUDENT ACTIVITIES:
1. Ask students to read the story Elizabeth
Learns Why She Has Blue Eyes, paying close attention to her dreams
of saving the world by creating corn supplemented with vitamins, and
her idea of getting a "patent" on the improved corn plants. Ask students
if they think her ideas are realistic, ethical, or if they're only science
fiction.
2. Ask students to discuss a comment by Bill Gates in which he calls
the genetic code the "software of life." (See Unit
4, Lesson 2 and 3 for more information on
the genetic code.) Do they agree? Should private companies be able to
develop, and then get a patent, on "software of life"?
3. Encourage students to keep their eyes and ears open for articles
in the newspaper, or reports on the television, about these issues,
and to bring them to the classroom.
4. Ask students to read those articles to the class. Discuss how biotechnology
could make their lives better.
5. Students may also read and complete the assignments suggested in
this AgEd Network article. It has an introductory discussion of public
concerns over use of this technology, as well as specific agricultural
examples already in the marketplace. (See Unit 4,
Lesson 3 for more information on biotechnology and genetic engineering.)
