Have you eaten any dairy products lately? If so, theres a large chance you have eaten genetically modified foods without even knowing it. About 70- 80% of all food are genetically modified in the United States (Williams). Genetically modified foods benefit us, economically, environmentally, and health wise. Although they may present health problems, no proof has been shown. GMOs are very new to our world. There have been many protests against them lately as they continue to expand and feed our growing population. European environmental organizations and public groups have been against it for months. The U.S Food and Drug Administration also began worrying about GMOs after recent effects on monarch butterfly caterpillars were …show more content…
With crops being modified to kill weeds by itself, weed killing spray is no longer needed, which saves a lot of money (Whitman 2). Salmon that is “engineered” to grow faster can help America’s fish farming business. This will save money because farm-raised fish is very expensive (Greenwood). In many ways GMOs are just as good for our planet as the people in it. Food that has been modified stops pesticides from eating the crops which saves “run-off agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers which can poison the water supply” (Whitman 2). Some plants have also been “genetically engineered” to help clean up pollution in the air. More land is also becoming available for housing because plants can tolerate inhospitable places (Whitman 3). “Frankenfish”, or genetically modified fish help fish stocks while also helping the emptying fish supply (Greenwood). Even with all of the benefits it has to offer, not everyone is a fan of GMOs. Many critics fear they can present problems to our health. Putting a new gene into something may cause a serious allergic reaction. After eating GM foods many kids developed serious allergies. This can be solved by making GM plants that don’t make pollen. GM foods also may have unknown effects on human health although nothing has been proven (Whitman 7). Faster growing fish has been researched for over 20 years and not one person has ever experienced an effect from the fish (Greenwood). Critics fear that “Frankenfish”
Agronomists have been working on these problems for years, but the rapid population growth of humans makes overcoming these challenges increasingly urgent. If we can’t feed the world, it will eventually feed on us.” (Newsweek/United Nations) Scientists find a way to add “medicine” to plant genes, which help it withstands pest attacks and drought problems.“Some GMO corn crops can protect harvests in water-limited conditions better than conventionally produced crops. Other GMOs can also promote use of no-till farming, which keeps more moisture in the soil. No-till also enables farmers to make fewer passes through the field using machinery, which means less fuel used and greenhouse gases emitted.”(Monsanto) GMOs are useful for helping with planting crops in any area of the world.
There have been numerous health problems after GMOs we introduced in the late 1990s. People who consistently eat foods that have been genetically modified ingest glyphosate in high concentrations. Since glyphosate causes chemical alterations that interfere with certain processes, it has possible chances of causing serious diseases such as; Autism, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. There are many plants that produce substances that are toxic to humans. But the level of toxins that are in the plant are low to where it does not ham the person who consumes it. Which means that there can be anything in them hat can harm us and makes us sick without us knowing. There is evidence that shows that GMOs have caused harm in humans, that some of the diseases that are caused is also found in animals. Many GM fans will point out that if we do toxicity tests on genetically modified foods, we should also have to do toxicity testing on every other kind of food in the world. But it has already started from the time we have been growing our own vegetation without changing its DNA. There is plenty of scientific evidence to recommend caution with respect to certain kinds of genetic modification, especially if there are genes involved that confer antibiotic
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.
Secondly, increased shelf life of genetically modified foods will enable it to be shipped to distant locations and cut costs as well as minimize waste to consumers. These foods are modified to be pesticide and herbicide tolerant, resulting in less use of chemical sprays; reducing soil contamination and pollution. In addition, genetically modified crops are more resilient, weather tolerant and capable of surviving in adverse climates such as droughts and extremely cold weather (Whitman, 2000).
GMOs foods have lots of unknown factors coming into play. There are many questions to whether they are safe for us and the crops. GMOs foods have been connected to sterile and dead livestock, and damage to almost every organ studied in lab animals. Labeling might also be costing us more than necessary. Some say we should stop using GMOs altogether, but right now it’s difficult to see what choice has our best interests at heart.
The American Academy Of Environmental Medicine have found out, Gmos also cause organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system disorders. They also discovered the GMOs leave material behind that leads to long terms problems
The main proponent to use gmos was to increase food production to feed the world's impoverished and to use less pesticides in farming. Gmos have not achieved any of its goals as world hungry still exist and pesticide use continues to be used at the same rate. The heavy use of pesticides is not good for the earth people or other life forms that come into contact with them. They are polluting our water and land and if we continue to use them heavily we will make our land infertile. Just off of these facts I believe the use of gmos should be reduced as we are fighting fire with fire. You can't help feed people of today by poisoning the land and water for the people of tomorrow it is an inefficient and illogical
A farmer grows these soybeans which then only require one application of weed killer instead of multiple applications, reducing production cost and limiting the dangers of agricultural waste.
By 1988, soybeans were successfully being inserted with genes that made them glyphosate tolerant, which is an herbicide (Chassy 169). This is more commonly known today as round-up ready crops. The benefit of this is that now, farmers can spray round-up ready crops and not kill them. Round-up kills all other plants in the field that would otherwise be interfering with the growth of the crop. This is just one of the many traits that can be inserted into the DNA of plants. Crops can now achieve far higher yields than ever before. Corn plots at Morrow Plots at the University of Illinois have increased from 10 bushels an acre, to more than 200 bushels an acre (Chassy
GMO’s are commonly misunderstood to be a negative way of producing food but contrary to popular belief they actually benefit americans and help america prosper. A GMO is a crop or livestock animal that has had its DNA altered and specific changes made to receive the desired result. Certain parts of DNA are either taken from or added to and organism to somehow better it. The use of GMOs in not as new as most citizens may think and can be very beneficial. GMOs are used quite often, they can
For the last several decades, the world has been plagued by widespread starvation and poverty. Economies are failing in numerous countries, and developing nations struggle to feed their inhabitants. As a result of the world’s mounting overpopulation, food has become scarce and resources are rapidly dwindling. However, modern science has provided a solution: agricultural biotechnology. Genetically engineered crops represent the bright future of agriculture. Crops like cotton, corn, and soybeans can have genes inserted or deleted into their cell membranes; this modification facilitates pest and virus resistance, drought tolerance, and even provides nutritional enhancement. Genetically altered crops produce much higher
In in an interview done by Live Science Anne Yonkers said "We should be using the precautionary principle with GMOs, and assume that GMOs have to be demonstrated to be good rather than assume that they are good.” (Yonkers 5), modified crops accelerated the evolution in weeds at an incredible rate making them develop resistance faster. A common weed called Palmer that grows near soybeans evolved to be resistance to glyphosate an active ingredient in many weed killers such as Roundup. Do to how resistance this strain is it has spread to more than seventy-six countries and that is just the palmer weed; twenty-four other glyphosate resistant weeds have appeared in eight-teen different countries as well. Some farmers lose more than half their yield and while forcing others to go bankrupt cause of the massive money loss. With malnutrition being a very real problem can modified food be a possible solution?
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,
Genetically Modified Organisms actually do have favorable qualities among producers. First lets identify the reasons as to why farmers and many companies are hopping on the GMO bandwagon. A proposed benefit of GMO foods is that they have the potential to produce higher crop yields, which could essentially feed more people in underdeveloped parts of the world (geneticallymodifiedfoods.co). GMO’s are also seen as a more economical option because of the reduced need of pesticides and herbicides, which should increase the farmers profitability margins, saving them money in the long run. Another proposed benefit of genetically modified food is the ability to improve food quality. Take bananas for instance, many bananas that are imported into the United States
GMO foods are not the most healthy or honest foods, but they are the most helpful. Many fruits and vegetables are engineered to be resistant to bugs and diseases that could cause famine. This helps farmers all over the country by giving them a better harvest. Also, non-sanitary soil has become a large problem in some places around the world. The soil made it harder for crops to grow in certain environments. To solve this problem, scientists could take a gene from a plant that can live in these conditions, and plant it into another crop’s genome. This would make the crop that