The term transgenic is an adjective that is used to designate all those living beings that have been born with their genetic information altered. Normally, this term is used to indicate those animals or plants that are artificially altered, either because there are scientific or commercial objectives behind those modifications. Transgenic organisms are a characteristic phenomenon of the latter part of the 20th century, at which time Western scientists managed to decipher the complete structure of DNA and therefore establish from there a basis for future transformations of that particular information.
Usually, transgenic elements are much more present in our daily lives than we know. This is so because many foods and edible products are made based on genetic alterations that have various objectives: to ensure greater preservation of the product over time, to highlight its colors, textures or flavors, to produce higher quality products, etc. However, although some of these purposes can be beneficial, genetic manipulation is always dangerous since it can end up generating new unknown organisms and therefore not accepted by the human body that consumes them.
However, the idea of transgenic does not apply only to food. Thus, many animals are also genetically altered in order to ensure a species, obtain better products for human consumption, etc. Some particular and significant cases are those animals that are genetically transformed so that their line of inheritance generates higher quality specimens (for example, as happens with cattle or sheep). Also, some animals are usually genetically altered to be sold as pets or special domestic animals, in which case we are already talking about genetic manipulation for commercial and economic purposes, which can be severely punished by law and highly dangerous.
The specialists establish that although some types of genetic manipulations are harmless and can contribute to the improvement of a species (for example, when working to provide endangered species with elements that allow them to better survive certain conditions), the activity it must be strictly controlled to avoid problems and negative results in any type of action.
