Biotechnology is making great news in every filed. It is used in producing the effective therapeutic medicines and many other useful medicines which are made with natural elements. It is also used in genetically engineered foods. The new world of genetic engineering produced therapeutic foods like tomatoes and broccoli which has large amount of cancer-fighting chemical and vitamin-enhance crops of rice, sweet potatoes, and root vegetables to help and nourish the poor people. Soy, wheat and peanuts will make free of allergies. Many vegetable oils are useful to produce the useful therapeutic ingredients that doctors prescribe them for patients who are suffering from cancer and heart disease. Many biochemists believe that genetically engineered foods are the key to the next wave of advances in agriculture and health.

Many professional believe that there is a great potential for Biotechnology in producing the efficient and useful medicines, but they also fear for uncertainty and dangers genetically engineered products could cause to human life. They say that people should not make a haste decision in buying them as soon as they are released in the market first they should understand the product and then take a decision in using them or not. Some products which are genetically modified may not recommended to use they may cause severe health problems to the people if they are not fully aware of the product. Many countries like North America and Europe are having a debate on using the genetically engineered food crops as they may cause severe damage to the people.

Many people are not aware of consuming the genetically engineered foods; it has been in use since mid 1990s. The great country like America, where people don’t realize that they are eating these genetic foods, 60% of all processed foods have been in the market in United States of America like pizza, chips, cookies, ice cream, salad dressing etc. In the past decade or so, the Biotechnology plants that go into these processed foods have increased from nursery phenomenon to crops planted on a massive scale like 130 million acres in 13 countries. More than 50 products have passed through a federal review process and another hundred are undergoing field trials.

Agricultural biotechnology is any technique in which living organisms, or parts of organisms are altered to make or modify agricultural products, to improve crops, or develop microbes for specific uses in agricultural processes. Simply put, when the tools of biotechnology are applied to agriculture, it is termed as “agricultural biotechnology”. Genetic engineering is also a part of agricultural biotechnology in today’s world. It is now possible to carry out genetic manipulation and transformation on almost all plant species, including all the world’s major crops.

Plant transformation is one of the tools involved in agricultural biotechnology, in which genes are inserted into the genetic structure or genome of plants. The two most common methods of plant transformation are Agrobacterium Transformation – methods that use the naturally occurring bacterium; and Biolistic Transformation – involving the use of mechanical means. Using any of these methods the preferred gene is inserted into a plant genome and traditional breeding method followed to transfer the new trait into different varieties of crops.

Production of food crops has become much cheaper and convenient with the introduction of agricultural biotechnology. Specific herbicide tolerant crops have been engineered which makes weed control manageable and more efficient. Pest control has also become more reliable and effective, eliminating the need for synthetic pesticides as crops resistant to certain diseases and insect pests have also been engineered. Phytoremediation is the process in which plants detoxify pollutants in the soil, or absorb and accumulate polluting substances out of the soil. Several crops have now been genetically engineered for this purpose for safe harvest and disposal, and improvement of soil quality.

Modern agricultural biotechnology has now become a very well-developed science. The use of synthetic pesticides that may be harmful to man, and pollute groundwater and the environment, has been significantly lessened with the introduction of genetically engineered insect-resistant cotton. Herbicide-tolerant soybeans and corn have also enabled the use of reduced-risk herbicides that break down more quickly in soil. These are nontoxic to plants or animals, and herbicide-tolerant crops help preserve topsoil from erosion since they thrive better in no-till or reduced tillage agriculture systems. Papayas resistant to the ringspot virus were also developed through genetic engineering, which saved the U.S. papaya industry.