Pros and Cons of Genetically Modified Foods

Humans have been altering the genetic makeup of plants for millennia, keeping seeds from the best crops and planting them in following years, breeding and crossbreeding varieties to make them taste sweeter, grow bigger, last longer. In this way we've transformed the wild tomato, Lycopersicon, from a fruit the size of a marble to today's giant, juicy beefsteaks. From a weedy plant called teosinte with an "ear" barely an inch long has come our foot-long (0.3-meter-long) ears of sweet white and yellow corn. In just the past few decades plant breeders have used traditional techniques to produce varieties of wheat and rice plants with higher grain yields. They have also created hundreds of new crop variants using irradiation and mutagenic

Because of the success of transgenic crops like Bt corn, the usage and availability of GMOs has increased exponentially. The number of GM crops produced in the United States grew from 1.45 hectares in 1996 to over 29 million in 2000. This accounts for about 70% of the total GM crops grown in the world (European Commission 2). Similar patterns have emerged from other agriculture-intensive countries like Canada, Argentina, China, and Brazil. Large percentages of products like soybeans (68%), cotton (50%) and corn (28%) are now

The term GM food are most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. Genetically modified plants have been widely publicised as the future in agriculture. Many believe that it may help improve crop harvests and farm productivity by developing genetically modified crops that can either resist pests or chemicals. But despite the promise that GM crops may offer, there are still doubts that linger among a number of people as well.

Other GM crops approved for sale in the United States today include potatoes, sugar beets, canola, corn, soy, and cotton. In addition, several varieties of genetically modified crops are salt tolerant, crops that produce omega-3 fatty acids, canola that requires half the amount of nitrogen fertilizer, pink pineapples that contain cancer-fighting lycopene, and wheat with reduced potential to cause allergies. Which are good for consumers and are helping them with certain health

Genetically modified organisms have the potential to be a beneficial crop in many different areas with further research and development. Created in 1994 as a tomato variety with a gene to allow for longer shelf life, these crops have been introduced in the market for both human and livestock consumption. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a type of organism that has had its deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) changed to include a foreign gene that allows for some enhancement in the organism such as longer shelf-life, less need for water, or more nutrients available in the organism. Slight modifications to an organism's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) allows for crops to make better use of resources, have a longer shelf life or even contain more

For millennia, humans have implemented the process of selective breeding to produce desired traits in their crops and livestock. The process was simple: if a larger crop was preferred, larger plants were selected to be bred. Despite their limited knowledge of genetics, early humans possessed the ability to shape the genetic makeup of the plants and animals around them to precisely fit their nutritional needs. Most modern fruits and vegetables such as corn, bananas, wheat, and rice were developed through generations of selective breeding of their much smaller, mostly unrecognizable, predecessors. Twelve thousand years after the dawn of agriculture, modern technology has enabled a new way of improving such

The development of genetically engineered foods began in the 1900s, and has been in United State markets since 1995 (Bredahl 18). The most widespread genetically modified foods are oil, maize, cotton, and soybeans (Cunningham 11). Transgenic foods were products created to increase benefit and lower prices (Whitman 2). Genetically modified foods are essential to enrichments of crops (Tan 3). It helps reduce the use of herbicides and pesticides in plants, enhances taste and quality, lower maturation time,

Since 18 May 1994, when the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first genetically modified organism for commercial sale, which was the Flavr Savr delayed ripening tomato (DNAP CONSULTS WITH FDA… N.P) DNAP sold however to Monsanto the maker’s roundup and they have the bad reputation as one of the manufacturers Agent Orange and DDT in the past, Fernandez and the team summarize research from the scientific consensus of genetically modified organism in the article Genetically engineered crops in the United States publish In the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, The “organizations with the most authorized field releases of GMO crops include Monsanto with 6,782, Pioneer/DuPont with 1,405, Syngenta with 565, and USDA 's Agricultural Research Service with 370. As of September 2013” (Fernandez-Cornejo N.P). Fernandez furthermore states GMO crops have become the norm in the United States. For example, in 2010, 93% of all soybeans planted were herbicide-resistant The United States is, by far, the largest producer of GMO crops in the world (Fernandez-Cornejo N.P). This has set the stage for one of the biggest controversy of the 21st century.

Agriculture has always been an important part of the world 's food production. But in order to keep feeding the world farmers had to find a way to grow better products at a much faster rate and for less cost. So biotechnology stepped in and the result was a genetically modified organism, or GMO. GMOs are a group of plants, animals, and bacteria that are genetically engineered for a wide variety of applications ranging from agricultural production to scientific research. This includes products such as cotton, canola, corn, chicken and

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been used in a wide variety of fields, from transgenic bacteria used to produce human insulin to reducing the cost of agricultural production. They are created when foreign DNA, which codes for a desire trait, such as pest resistance, is inserted into the genome of an organism. This creates a transgenic organism with a now useful trait, which can be used in agriculture and medicine. The potential benefits of the technology are undeniable, however GMO implementation has been fraught with controversy since its introduction in the 1990s. Genetically modified organisms have been in the food supply in the United States and EU for the past 20 years after the initial introduction of several major staples

Genetic engineering provides a means to introduce genes into plants via mechanisms that are different in some respects from classical breeding. A number of commercialized, genetically engineered (GE) varieties, most notably canola, cotton, maize and soybean, were created using this technology, and at present the traits introduced are herbicide and/or pest tolerance. Gene technology enables the increase of production in plants, as well as

Thereafter, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have begun to be a global facet of mechanized farming in the U.S., containing over 80% of the maize, about 90% of the soybeans, over 85% of the oil produced plants and cotton, and over 90% of the sugar beets cultivated in the nation (Hoffman, 2013). Four years ago about 70 million hectares of genetically modified harvests were produced in the US, with corn and soybean showing the vast majority of this overall. The acclimatization scale for these two harvests in the US currently over 85% for corn and about 90% for soybean. In comparison, the overall land of genetic engineered Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) corn produced in Europe

Genetically engineered crops or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are plants in agriculture and the DNA that has been modified using genetic engineering techniques. The goal of this type of bioengineering is to add new traits to a plant which doesn’t occur naturally in the species. Farmers have adopted the technology.

A well known example of this is the use of Bacillus thuringiensis, otherwise known as B.t genes, being injected into corn. This gene enables corn to produce its own pesticides against various insects. Traditionally, the process of enhancing desired traits in plants was done by breeding, but the conventional methods of breeding have been found to be both time consuming and not always accurate. This traditional method stays within the limits of nature, whereas biotechnology “plays God” and disrupts natures natural course. Some examples of FDA approved GM crops include, “tomatoes and cantaloupes that have modified ripening characteristics, soybeans and sugar beets that are resistant to herbicides, and corn and cotton plants with increased resistance to insects pests” (Assouline 15). In America, nine crops are the top commercialized GM products and sold to consumers nationwide. These include, soy (98 percent GM), cotton (83 percent GM), canola (75 percent GM), corn (60 percent GM), Papaya (57 percent GM), alfalfa, zucchini, and yellow squash (Assouline 17). These new technologies, raise recondite questions that should be answered before moving forward with the advancement and use of said technology.

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have been in our food for nearly 20 years. These modified organisms have helped the United State’s agriculture industry explode. GMOs were first patented in 1980 initially for a bacteria that would help contain oil spills. (Monsanto.com) This patent was actually the first patent on a living organism, that went the whole way to the Supreme Court, which ended in a five to four in favor of the patent. In 1996 the first GMO crop, being Round Up ready soybeans, were introduced to the public for purchase for the first time. (Monsanto.com) These crops were genetically modified to be resistant to a certain herbicide called Round Up. This herbicide was used to help control weeds that grew in fields. Many farmers use these types of genetically modified seeds along with no till farming to help prevent soil erosion, as well as to help keep moisture into the ground.