Imagine that Sunday morning bacon smell is crafted in a laboratory by gene splicing and corn on the cobb was sprayed by herbicide that just created a new mega weed that might destroy all wheat on earth. Most of the food people eat in this world contains genetically modified organisms. If you haven’t thought about what was in your last meal, then you may need to start thinking about it. 92% of corn in America is genetically modified, and 94% of soybeans are created or modified in a lab. An estimated 75% of processed food is genetically modified (United States Department of Agriculture). In other words, most of the food the average American eats is altered from its natural state. GM foods are created when scientists take traits from specific animals or plants and add them to other animals or plants. For example, add a specific type of growth hormone to a pig and one has more pig than without.
However, the pure complexity of this can increase the risks that must be taken into consideration when consuming GM foods. The FDA allows companies to do their own testing of safety on foods (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). Essentially, companies can produce their own safety studies on their food. Overall, companies have an obligation to consumers to be label genetically modified foods because consumers have a right to transparency, there is a question of safety in modified foods, modified foods cause environmental problems, 64 other countries require labeling foods, and Americans
People nourish themselves by consuming three meals each day. Eating is essential for survival, but what is actually in food we eat? Many are oblivious to that. People should be very informed to what is actually going into their gastrointestinal system because it significantly impacts their health, and it can between life or death. Gone are the days when people saw every step of how their food was manufactured until it got onto their table to eat. With increased human population on Earth, consequently, mass production is ubiquitous. The commonality of mass production, has led to genetically modified foods. Genetically modified foods are foods that have been genetically engineered to produce effects that make them more desirable. It is also worth noting, that GMOs are not on food labeled when sold to the public. Many people are unaware of genetically modified foods as they have significant negative effects on humans in conjunction and the environment.
Arvanitoyannis and "Safety Assessment and Countermeasures of Genetically Modified Foods," by Bin Du and Feng-Mei Zhu. With the two sources, I will provide the necessary information my audience needs to understand the health risks behind GM food along with the potential ways to counteract GM food, such as labeling before I attempt to present my claim to my audience. Lastly, in a source by Hiyam Al-Rousan, et al., will provide information that GM food is everywhere. Although we can pass a law to label GMOs, it would still be possible GM toxins and chemicals would still exist in label non-GM produce without a proper monitoring policy that checks if the labels on food are correct. All the sources will give more reason to why my audience should believe my claim and to continue
We all as Americans eat food every day to maintain our homeostasis balance of nutrition. We eat our veggies, meats, dairy, and so forth. We buy our produces from local markets and grocery stores all around the country, but do we really know what kind of products we are purchasing? Where our foods come from and how they are grown? There are many products around us and amongst these foods are some that have been genetically modified. Genetically modified foods (GMOS) are also known as bio-engineered. They are usually available to the public for consumption. Whether that organism is an animal, a plant, or a microorganism. Most of the time, GMOs are recognizable as being plants, which is the one of the biggest concern,
Did you know that in the United States alone, we consume 70-80% of genetically modified foods most of which are processed? A genetically modified organism (GMO) is defined as any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques, also referred to as a genetically engineered organism. A good example of a genetically engineered organism would be tomatoes, more in particular, what was invented in 1994 called Flavr Savr tomatoes and their impacts on ecosystems, economics, and human health. Since Flavr Savr was commercially grown, environmental bacteria might uptake the antibiotic gene segment affecting the ecosystem.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms whose DNA has been modified with another organism’s DNA using different methods of gene splicing. Genetic modification is used on both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Your average citizen knows about genetically modified plants with the purpose of resisting insects, and rot in the hopes of creating more produce that lasts longer. What isn’t commonly known is that according to the Journal of Agrobiotechnology Management and Economics in 2008, Glyphosate-resistant (GR) crops represent more than 80% of the transgenic crops grown annually worldwide.(Duke & Powles 2009) Basically most of the produce we buy has been genetically altered.
Food is genetically modified to taste better, to have a better texture, and even look better to buyers. Think about when you are in your local grocery store. Walking through the food, you are going to pick the best looking food to buy; that is just one of our natural instincts. For example, corn is a food I look at and pick the better piece. If the end is all brown and kernels are missing, I go on to the next piece of corn. Scientists have started to make corn more yellow, they are now able to fill the whole corn with kernels so none are missing, and the corn is lasting longer than ever before. The first GMO crop to be put on the market was BT-corn. The corn was made to produce pesticides, which helps it last a lot longer. The genetically modified foods are the ones that are made to look better to the buyer, which increases sales. Plants have been created that need
Genetically modified foods (GM foods) are derived from organisms that have been artificially altered in labs in order to achieve specific attractive characteristics that the organism would have not naturally had (AbbyMediaRoots, 2009; Griffins, 2009). A gene is inserted into the organism that would make it more productive, for example, in the agriculture setting. Highly harmful products that are normally used in farming (such as pesticides) may originally have killed the organism in its natural state. Through the genetic modification, the organism
“Genetically Modified organisms as they are commonly known, are organisms that have been created using a certain gene-splicing techniques”. The organism is created in a lab environment, and their foundation, or make up is derived from a combination of other beings; thus Genetically Modified Organism. Creating a GMO carries dangerous consequences. When companies mix the genetic makeup of another species, sometimes unrelated, the fallout and detriment is massive. Several issues that come from altering a natural food source is an onset of toxins, allergens, and the effect has the most affect, the nutritional value of the altered food is negatively impacted. What is shocking is that in the United States it is not unlawful to alter a natural
Most of what we eat in the U.S. is GMO including processed foods to the feeds that gets fed to livestock which eventually will also land on our dinner plates. It makes up 90% percent of the crops in the U.S. (Mintz, 2016). We are relying heavily on large corporations practicing genetic modification when it comes to our food supply with very little supervision from Governments, which is why GMO causes an outrage among many. With the amount of power these genetically modified crop producing corporations receive over our food supply, they have a lot of leverage from patents to producing the crops to research conducted on new species of crops which can lead to our food supply getting monopolized by giant corporations.
For consumers to make a knowledgeable choice about what foods they would like to purchase there must be a truthful marketplace. Because a significant portion of consumers want relevant information about the content of their foods, all foods should contain labeling regarding their content of genetically modified organisms.
“In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs” (GMO Facts 1). For the most part, our government is in place to protect us, and with an approval of GM Foods , or GMOs, we can safely rest knowing that they are safe to consume due the to rigorous testing the GMO’s had to go through in order to be approved. The USA is not the only country that allows them and does not require a label to be on the box of GM foods, “Countries such as Australia, Japan, and the United States currently have no laws requiring companies to label products containing genetically modified ingredients.” (Genetically M...Foods 3). The reason why they don 't require a label on GM products is because there is no need to cause an unnecessary sense of fear to the consumers that are not educated about GMO’s. There is really no reason to anyways because the Government said they are safe to eat, therefore we may consume them safely.
What is genetically modified food, and is it dangerous? According to Mather’s article, she explains, “Genetic modification refers to the manipulation of DNA by humans to change the essential makeup of plants and animals. The technology inserts genetic material from one species into another to give it a new-quality, such as the ability to produce a pesticide.” Mather also states, “These toxins can produce a serious impact on the health of animals and humans.” Yes, the United States food industry is corrupt when it comes to modified food however, their corruption has yet to be revealed. This corruption includes mistreatment of farm animals, exploitation of food workers, and the lack of nutrition in public schools. Although, all these areas
The fact is that the vast majority of people in the U.S. have eaten genetically modified foods, or foods that have ingredients that have been genetically modified. The U.S. is the largest producer of genetically modified plants, with countries in Europe and Asia showing more reticence to rely on this type of food processing (Ronald, 2010). Researchers have shown the roughly 10% of all crops in the world have been genetically modified in some way. This may seem difficult to believe, but genetic modification in some form is an art that dates back thousands of years. In ancient times, crop growers extracted seeds from plants that grew well or which were particularly robust, and abandoned the plants that failed to grow properly in harsh conditions. When conducted over the course of countless generations, this creates a version of genetic modification that has improved agricultural processes and improved the lives of farmers around the world. By relying on genetic modification, crop
What are genetically modified (GM) organisms? These are organisms whose DNA have been artificially altered to create new and unique qualities not found in nature. For example, onions that don’t make you cry when you cut them. Whenever you go to the grocery store or eat a restaurant, chances are you’re eating GM food without even knowing it. It’s in the ingredients we buy and fed to the animals we get our food from. What you may also be unaware of are the health and safety concerns associated with GM food. What’s more, these foods have no labels to inform the buyer what they are eating. Lastly, the GM crops that produce these foods have the potential to change our ecosystem forever. This is a social issue that affects us all, because we all have to eat.
Genetically Modified foods are produced using genetically engineering techniques. These techniques are used to ‘inactivate’ or add specific DNA traits of a certain organism to the other in order to improve it. These traits consist of increasing resistance against herbicides and pest, cold, and drought tolerance. In 1946, scientist discovered that DNA of organisms could be transferred between each other. The first plant that was GM was a tobacco plant in 1983. By 1994-95, GMO food was introduced and approved for humans to consume in the USA. The first plant approved by the FDA for marketing was a tomato from Flavr Savr’s. However, humans have been manipulating different crops for thousands of years. By mating together organisms with desirable traits repeatedly, people were able to mold species to meet their dietary needs. Corn is a very good example of this. It used to be a small, inedible tropical grass called teosinte. Ancient Mexican farmers transformed it into corn. Nowadays, we know this was a manipulation of the DNA of the teosinte plant. This process is called artificial selection and it has transformed all kind of unappetizing plants edible (wheat, rice, almonds, bananas). In modern days genetically modified foods have changed. Now, the speed and precision we can make changes has increased. According to Eric R. Olson, Scientific American editor explains, instead of selectively breading food traits, we can go directly to the DNA responsible take it out, and transplant