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Genetically modified (GM) organisms have become an established part of the American landscape. GM plants, for example, are used in farming to produce more than 92 percent of all corn and 94 percent of all soy in the United States. Even in the pharmaceutical industry, innovative technologies involving GM yeast are being used to economically produce commercial drugs, such as hepatitis B and malaria vaccines, that are otherwise too costly. Yeast-based synthesis of hepatitis vaccines costs around $1 per dose, compared with $20–$40 per dose for standard hepatitis vaccines. GM yeast is now also being employed to produce ethically contentious drugs, such as cannabinoids and, most recently, opiates—a market estimated to be worth more than $8 billion.
Although yet to reach the market, such technology ...