Agriculture And Its Impact On The World

Genetic modified organisms, or GMOs, are living organisms that, through the genetic engineering process, have been altered to withstand certain chemicals and increase the nutritional value of the product. In fact, the majority of the foods found at the grocery store are genetically altered. Genetic modification is becoming increasingly popular on farms throughout the United States and moving into other parts of the world due to their increasing yield capabilities and pest and weed control. However, this has been, and continues to be, an extremely controversial topic of discussion in the world of agriculture and biotechnology, as well as health food critics, because of potential environmental and health risks.

In contrast, the counter argument claims that GMOs are unsafe for human consumption. However, GMOs actually improve human health by reducing the amount of pesticides needed for successful crop production. With the use of GMOs in crop production, the amount of pesticide and herbicide application has decreased. To resume, successful crop production is essential to a farmer’s success, which could be why over 18 million farmers throughout the world utilize GMOs. The successful production of crops can be achieved by genetically modifying crops with resistance against insects, weeds, and other threats. Resistance to different stressors has reduced pesticide applications by 8.1 percent. Additionally, crops that are modified to be resistant to specific

Recently, there has been a huge uprise in reports from all over the world of new diseases that have affected much of the population today. Diseases such as obesity, Alzheimer’s, Celiac Disease, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and so much more have been on the rise. Researchers have suspected the culprit of these diseases to be our food. Along with the diseases, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) has also been on the rise. The more poor food we eat, the greater the potential harm to our health. One of the poor foods we consume is GMO: the altering of genes in food to produce desirable effects. These effects can range from an improvement in nutritional value, texture, flavor, and a longer shelf life. These

The governments and scientists were hoping that the GMO’s will provide to the public such benefits as increased food supply, helping underfed nations, assisting farmers, and better overall food taste. Because the crops are already resistant, this would allow farmers to skip steps in the production process, like spraying herbicides and pesticides.

GMO's are simply an addition to the long list of alterations made to the balance of nature. At its surface, GMO's seem to represent food as it's meant to look ripe, shiny, and never corrupted by pests, and these claims aren't wrong. GMO's bring a variety of benefits to the table. They increase resistance to cold, protect from select pests, and can even be used to transfer vital nutrients to other organisms. Various regions, such as Eastern Asia, have greatly benefitted from the use of GMO's, as prominent food, such as rice, lack nutrients necessary for growth and survival. GMO's have also helped farmers grow crops with more ease and less expense. However, these GMO's pack a price. Genes can be transferred to unintended targets, and pests who grow resistant to these GMO's may breed, causing an epidemic. Moreover, scientists believe that the

With all these advancements in genetically modified organisms, we are on our way to what is becoming known as the Second Green Revolution. The First Green Revolution refers to the successful practices in farm production around the 1950s and 1960s. With higher rates of investment in crop research, infrastructure, and market development, the production of cereal crops was able to triple with only a 30% increase in land area cultivated (Pingali, 2012). This second revolution refers to the use of GMOs as the new innovation that will lead the way to even better advancements in agriculture. The use of GMOs is being adopted and promoted by many developing nations and affluent philanthropists. One such example is Bill Gates who is a big proponent of using GMOs to cure world hunger. He has personally donated millions into researching GMOs for this reason

GMO’s can increase food production because it takes effect very rapidly. “Genetic engineering- actually isolating and inserting genes with the desirable trait into plants- can create plants with the desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy.” (Reyes CR110). The potato blight between the years of 1845 and 1852 was a famine in which GMO’s would have been very helpful. Geneticists could have prevented the famine by genetically modifying the potatoes to be resistant to the disease. In the 1990s the papaya business hit an all time low because of the virulent papaya ringspot virus. Geneticists were made aware of this low and in order to fix this

The impact on food itself by GMOs results in an increase of the yield, almost doubling the amount of agricultural product produced.

It is a common saying, “You are what you eat.” While many may consider this a harmless persuasion to eat healthily, the soaring popularity of GM food in society has prompted consumers to question their food choices. Ever since the initial modification of genetic material in 1972, GMOs have become an increasingly standard component in the advancement of scientific and agricultural research (Statista). However, the benefits of GMOs come at a costly price, one that is not worth paying for. While it remains true that GM foods present with some economic and nutritional advantages, there is immense retaliation regarding their contribution to sustainable development through their controversial issues. This makes them unfit and unsafe for cultivation

Back then, farmers relied solely on the plot of soil they owned to produce fruits and vegetables. Farmers often had to deal with the threat of damaged crops from weather changes and insect pests. However, imagine being able to not increase productivity and protecting crops being ruined or eaten. Now, with advancements in technology and genetics, scientists can genetically modify organisms by altering its DNA in a way that does not occur naturally by mating or natural recombination to introduce desired physiological traits (EFFL 235). In 2000, 68% of all genetically modified, GM, crops were grown by U.S. farmers, with soybeans and corn making up 82% of all GM crops harvested in 2000 (Whitman 5). According to the European Food & Feed Law Review, scientists may transfer simple genes from the DNA from one organism into another, and also between non- related species, such as animals, bacteria, and virus to enhance desired traits (4). The use of genetic engineering was first introduced to aid farmers in an alternative other than using pesticides. Soon after, enhanced traits that improve nutrition were inputted into plants to increase nutritional value. Although the genetic engineering of GM food may create superweeds, GM food should be encouraged since it decreases the need for pesticides, increases food supply, and improves the nutrition of food.

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have taken a new role in the world’s food industry. It is not uncommon for the majority of produce being sent out for the public’s consumption to be genetically engineered. The problem is, no one has proof that genetically modified food is safe to eat. In fact, evidence shows that there is a huge possibility that it is not. With neglected and insufficient testing, and the unknown side effects, GM food is likely to do more harm than good.

GMO’s, also known as genetically modified organisms, are organisms that contain genes from different organisms to try to acquire desirable characteristics. Although this seems like a good idea; There has been more attention recently on the negative aspects of GMO’s. Studies have shown that the presence of GMOs in food causes health risks; GMOs also cause harm to the environment and has a negative effect on farmers.

There is no doubt that GMO’s have helped societies where cultivating food is hard and have financially boost the economy of some developing countries, yet GMOs are not good. The big question still hasn’t been answered, and that is, are GMOs safe?. No one knows for sure. People claim that modification of the genome of the plant or even animal by GM technology may pose unknown and unacceptable risks to the human consumer. Many consumers have

Modern plant modification, or genetic modification, was first achieved in 1973 when Herbert Boyer and Stanly Cohen successfully recombined and replicated genetic material from two different spices (Barnett et al. 2). GM technology has since been commercialized and branched into many areas of use. By 2004, only 9 years after the commercialization of GM crops in the united states, GM crops were being grown on 81 million hectares in seventeen different countries with the support of 8 million farmers (Qaim, 1317). Since its creation in 1973 genetic modification has been used on a wide variety of species including plants, mammals, bacteria and insects. Genetically modifies plants have a wide verity of uses outside of food production including pharmaceuticals and environmental management (Diaz n.d.). The relative safety of genetically modified foods have been a controversial topic over the years and have lead to many policies and regulations levied on them all over the world.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) seem to be one of the most important and controversial issues of our time. In recent years, consumers seem to be more health conscious of the food items they are purchasing. Most, however, know very little about GMOs and the risks involved with ingesting them. There has not been enough research done on the dangers of GMO products in the recent years. Moreover, genetically modified crops have demonstrated themselves as damaging our ecosystem by way of toxic chemicals. Lastly, the lack of proper GM labeling has left many consumers uninformed. Understanding the dangers of GMOs will help consumers make educated decisions on what foods they purchase.