Ithaca, NY

"Oh synthetic biology? We talked a little about that in my science class! It's super cool because smart scientists can use synthetic biology to insert jellyfish DNA into pig DNA. Do you know what happens then? The jellyfish DNA is able to make pigs glow. That way, farmers can keep track of their pigs at night time. With this new technology, farmers won't need to worry about losing pigs when it gets dark out!"

Ithaca, NY

"What do you think about GMOs?"

"I think that it depends on the situation. I think synthetic biology is definitely something that we can't really turn back from anymore because we are always trying to progress as humans, but I think in a lot of cases we should be really cautious and not use it necessarily just because it's there. When I'm talking about food, a lot of times GMOs aren't really unsafe food, but it's still the idea that we are constantly trying to be better and progress and I think as with anything else, sometimes we should stop. For example they made crops that are herbicide resistant so that they could spray more herbicides onto the crops so that they could grow more, and they really didn't need to grow more of those crops but they would save money if they did, so they did that and now they are spraying more chemicals. So the GMO resistance isn't really bad for us, but it encourages us to do more industrialized farming that isn't really necessary. "

"So where is the 'line' between appropriate and inappropriate GMO applications for you?"

"I thought that nutrient enriched crops were okay and good in poor countries; I thought that certain pest-resistant crops are neutral. . . ., but then there are other crops that are herbicide resistant and I think that that is too far because you are encouraging the use of more chemicals."