The And Its Effects On The Food Industry

In todays society, people are more concerned about what they put into their body. They eat healthy and maintain a stable diet, but unknown to a number of these people is their food may have been tampered with in the form of Genetically Modified Organisms or, for short, GMO's. Genetically Modified Organisms are plants or animals whose DNA has been altered to favor a certain characteristic or trait which is already in the DNA. This includes enhancing the DNA in plants to make them bigger, invincible to pests, or invincible towards weeds. Although, the reason why GMO's are a controversial topic is because of lack of knowledge. Genetically Modified Organisms are risky and potentially to dangerous to be handling because of the unknown side effects

Thesis Statement: Research suggests that GMO's (genetically modified organisms/products) could be harmful for people and the environment because of their potential to produce new allergens, increase toxicity, decrease nutritional value, and increase bacterial antibiotic resistance.

No scientific consensus has proven on GMO safety. Eating GMO corn and consuming trace levels of Monsanto's Roundup chemical fertilizer caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. That's the conclusion of a shocking new study that looked at the long-term effects of consuming Monsanto's genetically modified corn. Those rats became so fat that I could not tell where the paws were. I hate rats but when I looked at that poor animal-it just hurt. “ Many of the genetically modified foods will be safe I’m sure. Will most of them be safe? Nobody knows.” says Jeremy Rifkin. Even critics of GMO food is untested the long term effects unknown. Animas have been dying of organ change after eating GMO foods. We’ve all seen science fiction movies that feature monsters created when lab experiments go wrong. What happens if our GM foods turn into “Frankenfoods”? Scientists worry that the process of creating genetically-modified plants could lead to new allergens, carcinogens, nutritional deficiencies, and toxins that we’re unprepared to confront. It’s taken us decades to clean up after toxins like lead and asbestos, and those were known elements. How are we prepared to deal with the side effects of

We have been participating in a mass scale biotech agricultural experiment for over twenty years. Since the mid-1990s the U.S population has been consuming Genetically Engineered (GE) foods or foods that contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) without having done enough research to assess its long time effects on humans. According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), agency responsible for protecting the public’s health and safety, “genetic engineering is the name given to certain methods that scientists use to introduce new traits or characteristics to organisms.” In other words, scientists modify the structure of plants or animals by removing some of their DNA material; or by inserting that

Through scientific research there have been no substantial findings of harmful side effects on eating foods that have been genetically modified. In his article,” National Academy of Sciences Report on GMOs”, Steven Novella states that “It is especially compelling that over the last two decades, animals and humans exposed to GMOs have not experienced any relative increase in any major disease” (Novella). With over 20 years of observations and conclusions, there has been no evidence to support the argument that GMOs are harmful to humans or animals. Furthermore, Alan McHughen, in his article, “A Path Forward”, says “Every major scientific body in the U.S. and around the world has reviewed independent research related to GM crops and food and has concluded they are as safe as food and crops developed from other methods in use today” (McHughen). Thousands of reports and findings

According to the article “Foreign Policy in Focus” there are twenty-six countries that have banned GMOs for good because of all the negative side effects GMOs have. Even still, there are other countries that allow GMOs but are required to have a label with everything that used to make the product. Additionally, farmers have many positive, but also negative opinions when it comes to the use of GMOs. Looking at it on the positive side they are able to use fewer pesticides on crops but farmers are afraid that sooner or later worms and weeds will adapt. If you look at it in the negative side biotechnology companies have been able to obtain patents with which to restrict the use of GMOs. As a result, the companies that make GMOs now have the power to sue farmers whose fields are contaminated with GMOs even when it is the result of inevitable drift from neighboring fields. GMOs therefore pose a serious threat to farmer sovereignty and to the national food security of any country where they are grown, including the United States. Many farmers are beginning to take different alternatives to this problem. For example, farmers are now abandoning GMO seeds for crops and using non-GMO seeds; not only are they better, but they also bring farmers a higher profit since there is a demand for non-GMO

Genetically modified organisms is a topic that has been hotly debated for many years; stemming from the central question of the future legality of GMOs, the question rages whether GMOs are the key to alleviating several of the world’s struggles or if they are too riddled with dangerous ramifications. Advocates argue GMOs offer positive health effects. Additionally, they insist GMOs offer improved crop yield; nevertheless, opponents claim GMOs cause adverse health effects like increases in allergic reactions. Similarly, opponents maintain GMOs harm the environment through increased dependence on the use of herbicides. Some experts argue

Since a whopping 80 percent of processed food is genetically modified, many health issues come from GMOs. For one, in 1997 to 1999 children’s food allergies spiked 3.4 percent and from 2009 to 2011, 5.1 percent (National Center for Health Statistics.) More research conducted by Brown University states that because “Genetic enhancements often combine proteins not contained in the original organism, which can cause

Food industrys know GMOs are bad for your health, the problem is If farmers do not spray their produce it would financially collapse the food industry around the world. In 2003, it was estimated that if we didn’t use herbicides and other chemicals to kill the weeds and pests than it would have cost us $21 billion dollars. Of this, $7.7 billion would have been spent on other forms of treatment, and we would have lost $13.8 billion because of less yield or crop being produced.

Scientist developed GMOs to increase crop yields, make crops more resilient to pesticides as well as increase profits. Most GMO crop were created to be pest resistant, or to survive herbicide use, which will grow more crops, make more money, and feed more people around the globe. The world has been consuming GMOs for over two decades. Still, the question remains “Why are GMOs bad?”The government has yet to commit to answering that simple question. The FDA doesn’t have the power or the means to test or confirm that any of our GMOs are safe or unsafe for human consumption, while eighty percent of the food supply in America contains GMOs, and while many companies voluntarily label their products are GMO free, there are currently no labeling requirements

The crazy thing is GMOs haven’t been around for that long, they were introduced in 1996. This may be the reason for a lack of knowledge on how GMOs can affect us in the long run. However, we are already noticing that there have been increased allergic reactions, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and other toxic hazards in those recent years (Smith, Safe Food). That may not seem like a lot right now, but that’s only the start of it. More children are having life-threatening allergies, which can be contributed to increased GMO intake. Already 37 people have died from side effects of GMOs, 1,500 partially paralyzed and 5,000 were temporarily handicapped by chemicals used in harvesting GMOs (Smith, “Genetic Roulette” 258). These numbers do not include the number of children that have been born with birth defects associated with the chemical, glyphosate. This chemical alone can cause infertility, stillbirths, miscarriages, and cancers (The Ecologist). Researchers found that glyphosate “caused malformations in frog and chicken embryos that were like human birth defects found in GM soy-producing areas. In particular, the researchers found malformations of the head and cyclopia (where a single eye is present in the center of the forehead)” (The Ecologist). Seeing that GMO’s have only been deemed “safe” for human consumption for a little over 20 years there are no long term evidence or studies that show it is no hurting us. Not to mention how inhumane genetic modification repercussions can be to animals. Take one look at the Documentary Food Inc. the images shown are horrific and immediately make you rethink your choices food wise. The chickens are being injected with genetically modifying serums. Those serums make chicks grow twice as large, twice as fast (Food inc.). Yeah, that may sound great for the corporation, however, those chicken’s bodies are not built for that.

Since we have advanced our technology and research so much in the past few years, the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy said that because of GMO’s scientist are able to create foods with better taste, more nutritional value, and more resistance to disease and pest. Many people are concerned with the genetically modified organisms that are being put into their foods because of the risk factors that come along with them. Since genetically modified organisms are such a new way of growing food we are not fully aware of the health risks. Some of the health concerns have already come about are increased allergies, antibiotic resistance, other factors we aren’t aware of. When GMOs are put into our food their genetic makeup is altered. Scientists are taking genes from certain foods and adding them to other foods which has been known to cause people to have allergic reactions to foods that they once ate normally. This can be very dangerous to all people and not just people with typical food allergies. While scientists think they are helping human health by changing the food and making it more “nutritious”, they are actually harming more people than needed. Some GMO’s have also caused antibiotic resistance for people. This is a huge problem because viruses and infections are not going away anytime soon.

GM food can leave wasted material inside us, which possibly cause long-term problems (Smith, 2011, para.1). For example, contaminated genes of GM soy can transfer into the DNA and may cause bacteria living inside our body when it is consumed. This was found in pregnant women’s blood and their unborn fetuses. Once GMOs were produced in 1996, many health problems increased. The percentage of U.S. citizens with three or more chronic illness increased to 13% from 7%. Also, food allergies increased significantly since 1996 and other disorders such as digestive problems, autism, reproductive disorders are increasing as well.

Genetically modified foods are a very dangerous and wasteful process that is given too much thought. This includes allergic reactions to possible intestinal damage, many people want to avoid genetically modified foods because of animal studies that have shown changes in internal cell formation, unusual tumor development, and unanticipated passing of life that have occurred, as well as altered the number of cells that regulated the immune system for the body. Research has shown that a growth in genetically modified foods has raised allergic reactions in the population. If someone is allergic to a genetically modified crop, then for example, if a cow eats that genetically modified crop, there is a high risk of the person getting an allergic reaction from eating the cow meat. The safety of genetically modified foods is not verified yet, we are the lab rats to test the safety of them, which cause great risks and potential threats on human health. There has been no thorough research done on the current genetically modified foods..

Much of the public concern surrounding the safety of GMOs stems from the process of actually creating them. This is admittedly not a natural process, which is a surefire way to raise critic’s eyebrows in doubting their safety. However, there is no evidence that supports these myths. The Committee on Genetically Engineered Crops, The National Academy of Science, and the Board on Agriculture and Natural Recourses all agree after extensive testing and observation that there is no additional harm in the consumption of GMO food. The research conducted in animal studies, as well as chemical analysis of the crops, show no indication that GMOs are negatively affecting human health. The next allegation hurled at GMOs is that they may have