Human Practices
As our project deals with alternatives to antibiotic use in plasmid maintenance, we wanted to learn how and why others avoid using antibiotics in their industry. As a large majority of antibiotics used in the united states are used in animal farming, we decided to meet directly with farmers who choose to avoid antibiotic use and become educated about their reasoning and alternatives. This helped inform the possible applications of our alternative plasmid maintenance work.
Grand view farms is a certified organic farm in the state of Maryland that does not administer any sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to their animals, use no pesticides, and grow as little genetically modified food as possible. Instead of using pesticides and antibiotics the owners of the farm employ crop and animal rotation to keep the soil healthy. They explained that since different animals consume different types of plants, rotating them through the land naturally maintains a healthy balance of growth and soil nutrients, while suppressing harmful weeds. Additionally avoiding monoculture, repeatedly growing the same crop on one section of land, prevents depletion of nutrients in the soil.
Interestingly, regarding their stance on GMOs, the owners of Grand View Farms did not express any particular ethical or health concerns with GMO crops. Rather they informed us that for a farm of their size, having an organic label through using these techniques is more profitable and allows them compete with larger industrial farms which do not have the appeal of an organic label.
Some hungry members of our team sampled the farms ribs, eggs, and vegetables, and according to them, the farms practices have only improved the taste of the food.
In mid-August, we sent some members to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair to canvas the site. The MoCo Fair witnesses the annual meeting and celebration of farmers, artist, craftsman, carnival rides, and pie cooking contests. We interviewed the fair-goers – farmers, high school students, county executives, and everyone in between – about their opinions and concerns about GMOs using a carefully crafted electronic survey. In keeping with our dedication to sustainable practices, and in response to our conversation with the owner of Grand View Farm, we gathered information from the general populace to better understand and navigate the misconceptions and ethical limitations our local community associates with bioengineered consumables.
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We hosted a meetup this summer of several iGEM teams. More details to come.
We sent out surveys to analyse the public's knowledge on GMOs. More details to come.
We visited the Wilmer Eye Institute of the Johns Hopkins University to learn about the current conditions of macular degeneration, its symptoms and treatments.
We met with a researcher who studies, among many things, macular degeneration.
We also interviewed an ophthalmologist from a branch of the Wilmer Eye Institute.
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