Genetically Modified Organisms And Its Effects On The World 's Growing Population

This scholarly article gives an in-depth overview of the practice of monitoring the effects of genetically modified organisms on the environment. A spanning look at the types of soil organisms best suited for study in relation to GMOs is provided as well as known negative effects on soil organisms. Studying soil structures and organisms provides researchers with information that can be used to determine whether or not GMOs interact with the environment differently than non-GMOs.

Genetically modified foods can be good and bad for humans and the economy. For example, if you do not cook an genetically modify foods it can cause us humans to become deathly ill. If the soil is not treated before the genetically modified seed is placed into the ground it can damage the soil and the earth around it.

Genetically Modified Organisms are organisms that are infused with DNA extracted from another organism, which can come from plants, animals and even human genes. Although many companies have decided that buyers of their products do not need to be informed on the dangers of genetically modified organisms, consumers deserve to be informed by product labeling because the unnatural production of consumable products can, and will create detriments to our bodies, our environment and other living things.

Genetically modified crops are an incredibly important issue that everyone should be aware of since it is something we are exposed to at a daily basis. Genetically modified crops also known as GM crops or Biotech crops has been one of the most heated debates of issues within our society. The debate about the safety, concerns and disadvantages of GM crops have raged since the mid 1990 's but this is due to the lack of knowledge of the general public. Many people are unaware of what the GM crops actually are and what they offer. Genetically modified crops are plants that are used in the agriculture and have been modified to initiate a new trait to plants that does not happen naturally in the species. These plants are modified using genetic engineering techniques to enhance desired traits. GM crops are made when genes of commercial interest are transferred from one organism to another.() There are many methods used for the production of GM crops but the two primary used for plant insertion are gene guns and agrobacterium tumefaciens. There are also three types of modifications which are transgenic, cisgenic, and subgenic plants. However, there are a number of issues that surround this controversial topic such as environmental, health, and economic concerns. Even though there are some worrying facts about GM crops people don 't realize the advantages or the ways it has helped humans as well as animals. There are many reasons why GM crops are proven

It is commonly argued that Genetically Modified Organisms pose numerous risk to the health of the environment, however compared to current farming practices, Genetically Modified Organisms, pose, if any, a minimal threat to the environment . And in addition to that GMOs have been able to counterbalance the effects caused by traditional farming and others human errors. For example, emission of greenhouses gases been a major concern for scientist, who see levels of gases like Carbon Dioxide on a rapid and the American government, who has the duty to regulate such developments. However, Genetically Modified Organisms have played a significant role in the reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Modified crops need impressively less fuel allocated to themselves in order to be maintained. As well because such crops need less tilling, Carbon Dioxide is allowed to remain trapped in the soil. According to these findings, in 2008, this resulted in 16 billion kilograms of Carbon Dioxide to be removed from the earth’s atmosphere. Not only has GMOs played a significant role in reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, they have also decreased soil erosion. Soil erosion, an issue that is not heavily regarded as

Primarily, genetically engineered crops result in countless long-term, detrimental impacts on the environment. As the United States becomes increasingly dependent on such crops for a majority of its food supply, these harmful environmental impacts are becoming evident. Many GMO crops are modified to be herbicide-resistant, such as the Roundup Ready crop, which allows farmers to spray herbicides without causing damage to the plants. While the ridding of weeds increases the level of production for these farmers, their total elimination greatly interferes with the natural interdependency of the ecosystem. One impacted species includes the Monarch butterfly, as its population decline has been directly linked to the use of genetically engineered crops. The weeds being eliminated include the

It’s been debated many times about GMO’s negative impact on the environment. The introduction of GMO’s has been exposed to many ecosystems throughout world, bringing a wide concern towards the impact of it. “GM crops are commercially available and planted on more than 40 million hectares across six continents” (FAO). “Activists, worried about GMOs being released into the biosphere, have destroyed test plots in at least four continents. (FAO). Another big concern about GMO’s negative impact upon the environment is that the pollen from GM crops, and trees can contaminate nearby crops and wild plants. Varieties of corn in Mexico have been found to have some contamination with in it, along with many others. This can cause many major changes to varieties types of crops out there, not just corn itself. It alters the DNA within the crop causing them to grow differently.

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

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines GMOs as an organism whose DNA has been altered in a non-natural way. GM plants are usually changed to be insect resistant, virus resistant, or herbicide tolerant. Monsanto is a huge factor in the production of genetically modified organisms, or more commonly known as GMOs. GMOs have been studied and there is proof showing they are harmful to humans, animals, and the environment. Big businesses like Monsanto are taking over and basically producing a monopoly over the agriculture industry; running small, “mom and pop” farms out of business. GMOs should be banned because they have little benefits and the corporation is only looking out for the good of themselves.

Not just plants but also animals also are in danger from genetic modification. Butterflies suffer from GMOS; they are doubly in danger from the terminator seed pollen and the herbicide laden plants. Bats also

While it has been shown that GM crops have a few direct benefits, they may also indirectly cause great ecological harm. Some scientists fear that plants enhanced with Bt (a bacterial species commonly used as pesticide) may accelerate the evolution of Bt-resistant insects, which will cause farmers to lose their crops to the bugs (which defeats the purpose of injecting them with Bt in the first place). Farmers are trying to prevent this catastrophe by using non-resistant bugs from conventional crops to mate with resistant bugs, but this will only delay the inevitable (“Altered Food”). Another issue caused by GMOs is ‘gene flow’. Gene flow is when genes from GM plants spread to non-targeted organic plants from pollen through wind or pollination. The pest- and disease-resistant genes from GM crops can flow onto weeds, giving them the same immunities the crops have. Neither of these two scenarios have many real occurrences presently, but experts believe it is only a matter of time before modification creates the issues it was intended to prevent (“Altered

The issue of producing and consuming genetically altered foods is controversial. Changing the natural content of plants and animals has negative impacts. For instance, genetically altering the DNA of plants or animals have a possibility to create allergens into a food, which results in allergic reactions. Environmentally, genetically modified crops have disadvantages. Plants can be modified to be pesticides and herbicide tolerant. Hence, when plants are sprayed with chemicals, those chemicals contaminate the surroundings. Besides, the chemicals are toxic to some pollinators, this results in the reduction of pollinators, which contributes to the decrease in genetic diversity in crops. The reduction in genetic diversity of plants disrupts the

When it comes to issues as complicated and important as our world food supply and the eminent danger of cancer in our society, everyone seems to have an opinion on different solutions to these problems. While this is completely fine, some will not fully look into the subject areas before they form their own opinions. When people fail to explore all the areas of a certain subject, and are only exposed to one possibly flawed source, their opinion could be unsupported, and therefore inaccurate. A certain study regarding cancerous mice found that a mouse eating genetically altered food sources could later develop cancerous tumors. These foods were made through the process of replicating and removing certain genes from the plant in order to improve both their yield and survivability. This process is called genetic modification, hence why the products are called GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms).The group leading this experiment then offered it to the public as proof that GMOs were carcinogenic.While this can make for a catchy headline, it does not mean it is true. Most people however, would see this and immediately factor it into their opinion on whether GMOs are the proper solution to solve our world hunger problem. L.Z.B. Touyz points out in his paper that this experiment is flawed and therefore inconsequential. Even though he offers thorough proof that their experiment was flawed, more people will still know about the experiment and their claim, than the number of people

Many varieties of genetically engineered crops have been designed to decrease the need for chemicals, particularly pesticides. Herbicide-tolerant varieties are among the most widely used type of genetically-modified crop, which enables farmers to use a single herbicide to eradicate weeds rather than rely on a cocktail of pesticides and herbicides. Eliminating weeds in this fashion also decreases the need for soil tillage, which can negatively impact soil ecology. (Ford,

According to the World Health Organization (2014. 1), "Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. The technology is often called 'modern biotechnology ' or 'gene technology ', sometimes also 'recombinant DNA technology ' or 'genetic engineering '. Foods produced from or using GM organisms are often referred to as GM foods.” Many organic crops farming farmers are against cultivating of GM crops because of the threat to farm land and environment however, biotechnology companies and GM crops growing famer desire to have profit and consumer look for low price. Thus, the debate over the environmental impact of genetically modified GM crops is growing. Although GM crops negatively affects on some organism in environment, they reduce the use of pesticides and increase crop yield.