Allergies, Autism, Cancer, and many other serious diseases are becoming more and more common in the United States. As scientists and doctors try to find reasoning behind the drastic incline of some of these diseases, most seem to respond with a similar answer, GMOs. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms and are created by mixing nature with science. Although it does not sound horrible, the outcomes are extremely negative. Over 60 countries have banned GMO crops and seeds because of the horrible effects of ingesting the food produced. Therefore, genetically modified organisms should be banned from the United States as well. They should be banned because they cause several health issues including gluten disorders, the sudden increase of autism diagnostics, and the unexplainable agitated behaviors of children and animals. Some other effects include the harm to the environment and the increasing usage of pesticides. 18 million Americans …show more content…
GMO crops initially started out to be resistant to bugs and weeds without pesticides because of the chemical makeup of the seeds. This was found to be a major benefit of GMOs because there was no longer a need to use pesticides on crops in order to keep the plants alive. However, this slowly started to change, the bugs and weeds eventually created a tolerance towards the GM chemical fields and were no longer dying off naturally. In fact farmers today are becoming more dependent on using pesticides and are “spraying up to three coats of pesticides this year” (Stauffer). These pesticides being used are far more toxic than before because the weeds are bigger and stronger after being exposed to GMOs. The weed growth is what people say to be “nature’s strike back to science.” Not only are GMOs alone bad for the human body but also adding extreme toxic pesticides to the picture creates more health issues for the environment and
The United States needs to ban deadly genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Maggie Cadwell has a very suitable explanation of what GMOs are. “Genetically modified organisms are plants or animals that have undergone a process where scientists alter their genes with DNA from different species of living organisms, bacteria, or viruses to get desired traits such as resistance to disease or tolerance of pesticides” (Cadwell). GMOs are destroying our food system and our human bodies. “People who eat GMOs have shown to have a higher risk of cancer, birth deformities, and tumors verses people who eat organically. GM crops and their associated herbicides can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable. For example, GM crops are eliminating the habitat for monarch butterflies, whose populations are down 50% in the US. Roundup herbicide has been shown to cause birth defects in amphibians, embryonic deaths, and endocrine disruptions, not to mention organ damage in animals even at very low doses” (Smith). Several countries like Austria, Hungary, Greece, Japan, Luxembourg, France, Germany, including fifty-three other countries, have banned these life-threatening GMOs. Why have they done this? Each country has run trustworthy tests, experiments, and systematic tests on almost every Monsanto product. That is sixty reasons why we have to ban these products. The United States needs to ban
Professor Richard Lewotin said “An ecosystem, you can always intervene and change something in it, but there is no way of knowing what all the downstream effects will be or how it will affect the environment.” Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not healthy and they shouldn’t be put in our food. Our nation does not know the full extent of GMOs. GMOs are used in almost all of our food, and for the most part there are no regulations for these GMOs that food companies are using now a days. They have been used for years without telling us the full background and side effects they could have. As a nation we need to take the right step in learning the facts about them and making our food truly healthy. GMOs should be made illegal due to the fact that studies have shown them to be unsafe and harmful to consume.
In conclusion, GMOs and pesticides are harmful and alarming to producers and consumers. They cause animals pain and harm humans when consumed. Many animals live short and painful lives, while humans now must suffer with long term diseases or damage to their bodies. Although some argue that Genetically modified produce is benefiting producers and consumers, I still argue that genetically modified organisms harm animals and
GMOs should be banned and prohibited from being in the United States. Due to the GMO products not being labeled, people are consuming something that they thought was something different. People are buying things that they think are natural and fresh when they really could be infiltrated with chemicals and things to make them last longer. If America bans GMOs from being sold in the country, being produced in the country, and if Americans become more educated about the harms of GMOs, America can be a lot safer and not have as much unknown problems. People shouldn’t eat foods that are not natural, that can cause unknown problems. When something is being consumed, they should be allowed to know what they are eating. If thirty-six countries have already banned Genetically Modified Organisms, America should be the thirty-seventh country to do
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), have turned into an exceptionally questionable theme here in our reality today. GMOs are life forms that have been developed through a quality joining methodologies of biotechnology or genetics building. This is a moderately new type of science which permits DNA from an individual species to be injected into another species in a research center. This produces blends of plant, creature, microscopic organisms, and viral qualities that don 't show up in conventional crossbreeding systems or found in nature. GMO’s have been liked to several health-related issues, and should be banned by the FDA (Genetically Modified Organisms, N.D. ).
According to Andrew Pollackmay in his article “Genetically Engineered crops are safe, Analysis finds”, "Use of insect resistant crops has clearly led to a decrease in the spraying of chemical insecticides. These are corn and cotton containing bacterial genes that make up the crop resistant to certain insects" (Pollackmay 2-3). This infers that GMO crops are resistant to insects, which helps to prevent cancerous insecticides, it means that it is safe to the consumer. In conclusion, GMO crops are safe to the consumer, since it prevents the use of harsh, cancerous chemicals in farms and houses.
One of the great things about GMOs is they’re more economical. They can reduce the cost of certain foods, farmers use less pesticides, and farmers get more out of the land while still conserving it. Genetically modified crops are already resistant to
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
It has been shown that some GM crops can be less nutritious and possibly toxic in comparison to natural food. Because of this, many large countries such as Japan have put bans on GMO containing foods. GM foods are not labeled in the US and other countries so consumers are not monitored for health conditions that may result from long term use. Some reports have also linked GMO to possible cancers. In addition to the health effects, GMO crop technology can affect smaller farmers and our environment. GM crops are too expensive for the smaller farmers to grow, forcing the smaller farms into debt or off their land. This hurts the economy, as farms are disappearing while large GMO food companies are taking over. In addition, the initial drop in herbicide use on GM crops that was reported has now been followed up with a large increase in use due to the resistance that has developed, and farmers have had to use more and more powerful chemicals on crops. These chemicals are toxic to people, livestock and may possibly contaminate the
The main proponent to use gmos was to increase food production to feed the world's impoverished and to use less pesticides in farming. Gmos have not achieved any of its goals as world hungry still exist and pesticide use continues to be used at the same rate. The heavy use of pesticides is not good for the earth people or other life forms that come into contact with them. They are polluting our water and land and if we continue to use them heavily we will make our land infertile. Just off of these facts I believe the use of gmos should be reduced as we are fighting fire with fire. You can't help feed people of today by poisoning the land and water for the people of tomorrow it is an inefficient and illogical
When it comes to the topic of whether Genetic Modified Organisms (GMO) are safe or not, most of us will readily agree that it has become an issue. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of is it really safe to consume them. Whereas some are convinced that GMOs are safe and improve the production of crops, others maintain that GMOs are not safe and should be eradicated. I disagree that GMOs are safe for human consumption because as a recent research has shown they can cause severe organ damage and fatal diseases. GMOs should be banned and remove from all food sources until they are proved safe for consumption.
There are two types of GMO; herbicide tolerant and self-generating insecticide. “The herbicide tolerant variety are designed to survive high doses of toxic weed killers” (Must-Avoid Foods: Linking GMO to Toxicity and Disease, 2012). When the toxic weed killers get used on these crops, some of the toxins end up in the weed in the food. What is alarming is that the toxic weed killers are actually linked to birth defects, cancer, and hormone disruption (Must-Avoid Foods: Linking GMO to Toxicity and Disease, 2012). The self-generating insecticide such as corn, produces their own insecticide in each and every cell (Swanson, Genetically Modified Organisms and the deterioration of health in the United States, 2013). When insects eats the corn or any other food with the insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) toxin, the insecticide breaks open the stomach of insects in order to kill them. Although this supposedly applies only to insects, studies have shown that the BT-toxin can also break the wall of
Not only are GMOs harmful to humans they affect many other communities. “GMOs are also responsible for killing off bees, bats, butterflies, and other pollinators, whose bodies are unable to handle the onslaught of altered DNA and chemicals that are characteristic of GMO technologies”(Bensen). This shows that GMO is not only an issue for humans but it directly affects the insect and animals communities around the plants. These are living organisms that these plants need for pollination. GMOs and the pesticides used on these crops to fight off the insects and weeds is creating more powerful weeds and insects called “SuperWeeds” and “SuperBugs.” “And this built-in resistance has allowed farmers to indiscriminately spray chemicals like Roundup on their crops without worrying about killing them. But this system is now failing, as the weeds and pests targeted by GMO technologies have mutated and developed resistance to crop chemicals and Bt toxin” (Benson). These chemicals are effective for a short period of time However these chemicals become ineffective, the offspring of the insects can be immune to the chemical. This creates a need for a new and stronger chemical mix. GMO seeds and destroy the soil and kill beneficial
There are also many cons about genetically modified organisms such as that fact that they can cause allergic reactions. Genetic modification mixes or adds proteins that weren’t indigenous to the original animal or plant, due to this, allergic reactions can take place in the human body. “In some cases, proteins from an organism that you're allergic to may be added to an organism that you weren't originally allergic to, prompting the same allergic reaction experienced from the first organism” (Livestrong.com). Another con of GMO’s is that there is a constant risk that the modified genes may escape into the wild. Herbicide-resistant genes from commercial crops may cross into the wild weed population. This would create “superweeds” that are impossible to kill with herbicides.
GMO can negatively affect the environment because many of the transgenic crops are produced by using pesticide and herbicides. Farmers who grow GE crops may see it as being beneficial to the environment, because they may have fewer issues with controlling pest and decrease chance of pesticide/herbicide exposure. On the other-hand, since the long term effect are not known there is a possibility that the crop may build up a resistant to the herbicide glyphosate; therefore, creating a domino effect, by producing more weeds and those weeds may in turn develop a resistance to the glyphosate (Science Daily, 2010). According to the Science Daily (2014), there has been as many as nine species of weeds in the United States that has involved since