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Dangers Of Gmos

Decent Essays

Why GMOs are Causing More Harm Than Good Ever since the incorporation of GMO crops into the modern diet, they have been hotly debated as evidence continues to surface indicating they may not be the miracle crops many scientists hoped for. There is sufficient evidence to indicate that GMOs pose an unnecessary risk to human health and the environment. Detrimental impacts of GMOs are seen from increased pesticide use, cultivation of harmful traits, and a general exacerbation of the very problems they attempt to solve. When determining the safety of a product, it is critical to look at direct and indirect effects. In the case of GMOs, proponents often fail to do this, creating misleading data that fails to show many of their dangers. The …show more content…

When GMOs are created new traits are cultivated in them. It is not uncommon for very little to be known about these new traits or what effect they may have when consumed. This means that many GMOs have further adverse effects in and of themselves on top of any pesticides they were exposed to. A series of experiments conducted by Joel Vendomois on three varieties of GMO corn show abnormal liver and kidney function in the mice after being fed a GMO diet for ninety days. The decreased function only appeared in the mice fed two out of the three varieties of corn, showing it was the GMO itself, not pesticides responsible for these adverse effects. Proponents of GMO use argue that through stringent regulation by the FDA, consumer safety is ensured. This view unfortunately is just factually incorrect. Romona Bashshur, a lawyer specializing in federal regulations explains that the FDA leaves the responsibility of ensuring GMO safety up to the producers. This means that only private studies are conducted that are often rigged and cheery-picked creating only an illusion of safety. So, if all of this is true, why do we still have GMOs? One of the major arguments in favor of GMOs asserts that the increased efficiency of the crops is necessary to help feed developing countries. Unfortunately, this misconception too, doesn’t hold up under analysis. Timo Kaphengst, a Senior Fellow at the Ecological Institute

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