Genetically Modified Food: Pros and Cons
A few years ago, I was invited to give a talk at the English Salon, a weekly seminar series sponsored by the YWCA Language School in Nagoya, Japan. My topic was genetically modified (GM) food and my stance was distinctly supportive. (Don’t start throwing the rotten tomatoes now!) Despite my hour-and-a-half long presentation, I was unable to convince most of the audience that GM foods were safe to eat and had many environmental benefits as well.
GM food seems relatively benign if it’s the result of cross-breeding two organisms of the same species, such as crossing strawberry plants with a deeper red color with those that have larger fruit. The type of genetic modification that causes the greatest ire amongst consumers and activists, however, is when genes from two totally unrelated organisms are combined. For example, “Roundup Ready” soybean crops have been genetically engineered to carry a gene from a bacteria that is resistant to Roundup, a weed killer. When Roundup is sprayed on these crops, every plant in the vicinity dies except the soybeans.
Sounds frightening and unnatural, but consider the positive effects genetically modified crops would have on health, farming methods, and the environment. Current and future GM products include:
- Food that can deliver vaccines – bananas that produce hepatitis B vaccine
- More nutritious foods – rice with increased iron and vitamins
- Faster growing fish, fruit and nut trees
- Plants producing new plastics
Jonathan Rauch wrote in The Atlantic Monthly,
Recall that world food output will need to at least double and possibly triple over the next several decades. Even if production could be increased that much using conventional technology, which is doubtful, the required amounts of pesticide and fertilizer and other polluting chemicals would be immense. If properly developed, disseminated, and used, genetically modified crops might well be the best hope the planet has got.
The Human Genome Project summarizes the controversies surrounding GM foods:
- Potential human health impact: allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers, unknown effects
- Potential environmental impact: unintended transfer of transgenes through cross-pollination, unknown effects on other organisms (e.g., soil microbes), and loss of flora and fauna biodiversity
- Domination of world food production by a few companies
- Increasing dependence on Industralized nations by developing countries
- Biopiracy – foreign exploitation of natural resources
- Violation of natural organisms’ intrinsic values
- Tampering with nature by mixing genes among species
- Objections to consuming animal genes in plants and vice versa
- Stress for animal
- Labeling not mandatory in some countries (e.g., United States)
- Mixing GM crops with non-GM confounds labeling attempts
- New advances may be skewed to interests of rich countries
There’s no doubt that the GM food supply should be closely monitored and regulated, but that doesn’t mean it should all be banned. I believe that genetic engineering of plants, animals, and humans has much to offer as long as we are aware of potential benefits and side effects. And that’s true even for more traditional methods of farming, animal husbandry, and medicine.
I need help! I am doing a essay on the pros and cons of biO-engineered food crops( GMO’S). Are there ethical considerations to be debated if so what are they and who should be allowed to enter the debate?
I think they are great and everyone will see how the DNA was changed though genetic engineering/
Hello,Thanks to all of you for helping me with my agriculture essay.
Interestingg…
heyy , im in middle schoool .
and i have to write a article ..
about .. GM foods and i m doing cons .
can yuu guys PLEASE ! gimme some ideas ( :
i m juts 14 and i really need help !
i would like to have some fair arguments for each side ..i have an essay to complete and although i have my own opinion about it i would like to understand more on BOTH sides and their REASONS for believing …one-side biased opinions seriously do not help!!!!
….thank you VEEEERY much to those who can help me about this complicated issue!!!!
the answer for why go gm? is well, we have to, dont we? we dont and we have world starvation. one plant has disease then the whole firled will. thats 1000s of people without that particular food. we do and then we dont have world starvation but we have a few fussy people. it ends up as gm or death in a way, doesnt it?
im doing a argument for the pros
It is possible to feed the whole world without having to resort of GM crops. If 60% of the land used for grazing land for animals that we will eat for meat, we will have enough food for everyone all over the world. Society, especially Western, eat too much meat anyway.
And yes it is possible to have a healthy diet with little or no meat at all.
GM crops may have impacts on other areas of our environment as well, so I say until we know all the impact of messing with genes, we should leave them alone until we know all the facts.
i think this was awesome, but i wish there was more of a “list” of the pros and cons, plus more pros, please, but it still rocked
Um… I think i’m for gmos because they are awesome and stuff. also ia am assigned a project where i have to be for it. thats where ia stand
couldn’t ppl just contain it in sum greenhouse so that it can’t cross breed w/ others? … dont mind me, im in middle skool
hi Cristie, thanks for checking in, and I appreciate you being interested in the debate. Good question – GM crops can be placed in greenhouses but because most crops are planted for mass-scale production, it would be very expensive to plant the crops in controlled environments like the greenhouse.
right, i think people should stop ranting about how they ‘hate’ GMO food. In my opinion you are ************ ******. A couple of years ago there was a food shortage in Zambia (not Zimbabwe) and the U.S sent GMO food to help. Now, Europe and other first world countries pave the way (usually) for third world countires, so they tend to listen to them. This led the Goverment of Zambia to refuse the food.
Many people died. I’ve lived in Zambia, and people died because of the ignorance of people halfway across the world!!!
GMO food isn’t bad for you. Scientist test it, and there are goverment organizations that test it before it’s allowed on the market.
Also, i agree with Troy, though not for religeous reasons or because we have souls ( i don’t have one at least). We are humans, thus humans come first, no matter what. Saying anything else is unethical, plain and simple. We don’t have any more right to this planet than other creatures but we should survive the longest.
GMOS not
good.
Ledan, you are an absolute fool. What you say should be disregarded because it is so idiotic and incredulous. Please refrain from speaking such childish and foolish things. What’s more is that you are self contradictory. Please keep quiet on matters such as this and do a little more research if you want to learn more. Any comments—enigmayic@yahoo.com
Dear Kenny and Craig Macintosh,
Your opinions are truly amazing. I wanted to thank you guys because what you guys have told me has led me to rise into the finals of a debate competition held in our academic school. But i was wondering 1 thing. If you could actually help me out with another topic. If you see this comment, please email me if u could, Thanks
PS the topic is “The United Nations as an organization is ineffective with regards to its stated aims and should be dissolved.”
j_kunhong@hotmail.com
If anybody has strong opinions about this topic, it would be a pleasure to read!!
Thanks
Sorry for changing the flow of Genetic Modification!! );
I think that people should be informed about that food we are eating!
I do think that genetically modified food should have labels on them. But, for those of you who are on the organic bandwagon, think about this: organic food has an inferior crop yield to GMOs. When you are a farmer who has to contribute to the feeding of over 6 billion people, you are going to want to use the seeds that are resistant to cold, kills pests upon consumption, and is more nutritious. GMOs are a necessity in my opinion.
i had to do an assignment on this topic, it seems like alot of you have as well, and this website was my biggest help. I have become very interetsed in this topic.
personally i am against GE.i dont think we should interfere with God’s world and we dont know the limits of it and what it could do. We say it could help people in undeveloped countries, the problem is the lack of distribution not of what the food contains. Here are some questions people who are doind projects could use or just ask yourself to help make your mind up about the topic:
1. Is it right to interfere with nature?
2.Is the risk to the environment too great?
3.should we use it on humans?
4.should companies be allowed to exploit it?
5. who should control it?
thankyou everyone who posted a comment and for making this website it helped me alot.
hi,
i`m from a german highschool.
That`s our task:
-You belong to the management of biotech firm which wants to launch geneticallys manipulated crops.
Therefore you want to persuade the public of the advantages of genetic farming.-
We have to discuss this, and we are 4 groups. 2 of us are against GMF and 2 go for it.
We need help…..
thanks from Germany;)
I find GMO’s to be highly hazardous because, for one they can produce new allergens for humans causing health problems. Secondly, 70% of foods in the market is GMO, and the FDA doens’t lable them. So basically scientists are gambling with consumer health becasue for papayas, they did studies of the Genetically altered crop and found 3 places where the DNA insertions this can also make the comsumers sick. Some of the tests that they did on mice resulted in pre-cancerous cells and tumors. And lastly, only a few companies control the GMO orperations so if GMO was widely introuduced. Food developement would be controled by only a select few.
I read that you can be put into a coma by eating GMO
I think GM foods are a good idea. They help people in 3rd world countries produce more, and they just make more food overall on the plant. We have been eating them for about 10 years so all of you who found out now and oppose it why? obviously it has its cons just like everything else. and for those of you who say humans shouldnt play god let me ask you this, has god ever palyed god? it sounds a little funny to me that he loves us so much and lets us murder, starve, etc. if he wont interfere how will we survive on the less than 2 acre farms that everybody loves?
The answer for hunger is simple: People wake up and stop being victims of the system. Stop participating in your fascist government; stop paying for wars; stop paying to enslave yourself. It is truly only ourselves that can oppress us and it is up to us all to change things. We have to either completely revolutionize every system of earth or perform an exodus.
I am, as soon as possible, leaving the system. I’m going to either start or move to a commune. There freedom lies, with nature and fellow consumer friendly people. There will be luscious gardens and scenery all around. If we just came together and grew food we could feed the hungry.
this is so intersting
If God interfered with our lives then we wouldnt have the ability to choose for ourselves which is what he wants so if he doesnt interfere with us then what gives us the right to interfere with him?
Thanks for helping me with my Freshman Honors Biology Assignment
I hate genetically engineered foods, cuz that’s why it got me in prison I was just feeding my dogs and then one killed over and died and I got really mad and so then my other dogs just started fighting out of nowhere so I had to stop them and the only way was to kill them so I drowned and shot them. I hate genetically engineered foods.
wat the heck is genetically modified food???? i am doin a debate on it and i hav no idea wat it is!!!
im doing a debate on the genetically modified foods too .. and i also have no idea what this is!???
WOW! seriously! there are many reasons to have genetically modified foods, but really its horribly stressful for the animals as it says in the article, and our economy may crumble if we try to do something as huge as this and see what might happen.Its a large risk. By messing with mother nature we could mess with important genes that if we tamper with may create a problem with the original structure of nature. We may be risking alot for the end of possible hunger.
hey im writing an essay on pros and cons of genetically modified foods i need help pleaseee
Hi, I am writing a paper about the pros and cons of genetically modified foods, i was wondering if anyone could please give me examples of when genetically modified foods have gone wrong??
GM Foods are so amazing. I eat them everyday!!
Man has been playing god for, like, a million years. Farmers have been breeding the better part of thier crop so that the next one will be even better. They breed the fatter cows of the herd and get even fatter cows. You guys don’t debate that do you? What about what Gregor Mendel did while he was breeding peas? was he not playing god then? (well, he was a priest) Your either interfering with nature, or not. So aren’t those things messing about with nature just as much as GM foods? If your going to say GM foods are messing about with nature so its bad, thats also saying that the resarch Mendel did was bad (and youll be bad in gods eyes cos Mendel was a priest) and that basically all food on the market is bad because it all came from hundreds of thousands of years of breeding.
I am in school and i am currently learning about GMO’s. This has been very helpful for the Pro’s and Con’s. And with out these on the shelves, we would have a very small amount of food. i am totally and completely FOR Gmo’s. because they help you.
Im doing a research on Genetically Modified Crops. Could you please send me some information on pros and cons of Genetically Modified Crops.
Thanks
Yo, i’m doing an assignment for school too.
It’s for Social Studies. What’s the point of GMO foods? Like, i know that they’re helpful and stuff, for feeding the third world and in medicines and stuff, but does any of it actually reach those people that need it most? Or does it all just end up on our shelves, benefiting no one but consumers who actually seem to fail to notice they’re consuming it. Does GMO food actually make it to those countries that need it most? Because if it does, then the idea is fantastic. It’d minimise the world hunger and poverty rates so much, so cool. But if it doesn’t, we could just be releasing potentially harmful things into the environment for no reason. Not that either way is a good excuse to ruin the only planet we’ve got.
Also, there’s always a lot of information about the Cons of GMOs or GE foods. How many people actually stop and see the good things about it?
Personally, when you add up all the things i think about the foods, whether it be that it helps to feed third world countries, which is good, or the fact that new toxins are released into the environment which is bad, i seem to be pretty neutral. But is this debate always going to be just that, a debate? Where it just goes round and round in circles or you have people shutting down other people’s opinions? How does that help those who need this technology, or those who have had issues because of it? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t.
Hello, I am not sure of my stance on the whole issue because I am not totally informed on both sides. However, I do have this to say: Most people that are against Genetically Modified Food are also against pesticide, yet some GM foods are modified to help lessen the use of pesticide. So where is the line? What is wrong and what is right? Many people also believe that without GM foods the world will starve. Personally I think this is false. There have not always been GM foods and the world has more than enough food. It is not the quantity that is the problem. I do not have a great favor to either side, but each side has it’s problems. When you do talk about the pros and cons of both you really have to research. Otherwise, it’s just a battle between who is more ignorant.
ok look, gmo’s are just as healthy as any other food. the reason scientists made this was for a better food source, i mean in a way that this food source could live on and we could have more and more food. we won’t get into starvation, and if other countries won’t accept the gm food, then thats there own stupidity. in my case gmo’s help, they’ve even made crops that can push out there own protection form bugs and such, its hard to understand why so many people have problems with gm’s. but yeah this is my case, im with the gmo’s.
also by the way im in high school, so if you don’t accept my way, i don’t really care but, gmo’s are a good food source, and also keep people from starving so, GO GMO”S
yo yo yo can I please enquire as to why you guys are arguing the simple case of GM foods? When you can all simply understand that it is NOT manditory to purchase GM goods? Maybe these forums were designed to cater for all the lame ass people to complain, however I beg to differ. I understand EVERYONE has an opinion, but sometimes opinions are best kept to yourself. I for one am a neutral party on this topic and understand that EVERYONE has a choice to buy GM foods… and furthermore, so do all of you.
I am doing a assignment on GM foods and need help
ledan, your comment is stupid and false. and im not saying i kno what GMO foods really are, or why we even use them, but its better than what u say about them. We will not die if GMO foods aren’t around, thats just stupid, then again look who said it. GMO foods arent the best, and there are other ways to find food.
I have a project about GMO foods, and i thought this website would be useful, but after seeing some of the comments posted on her…. I;m just going to say this. Ledan, if you dont know what your talking about (which u dont) dont put your stupid ass comment out there where everyone can see.
ok so i have a huge science project on genetically alterd foods the negitive effects on society and i cant find any info on it help me:(
i think it is grets that scientist have found out how to insert, extract or mix genes. nowadays we have every item of disease and millions of people would appreciate that we have the oppertunity to cure illnesses!!!! But I agree that we dont know the limits of it., and what the next step will be concerning interfering with nature
Your the real fool. Without GMOs the whole human population will die in a few decades or possibly centuries. GMOs are the only answer to the world’s dwindling food supply, and i think you need to do a little more research!
LOL You need to get back to playin foosball and win you that supa bowl
I’m writing a paper on this topic and would really like to know where you abtained your info from so I could use it and site the source. Thank you.
I have never seen such outright ignorance about science. Do you even know what DNA is? “they did studies of the Genetically altered crop and found 3 places where the DNA insertions this can also make the comsumers sick” – disregarding the grammer, which is a prefect allegory of your argument, you fail to list the study, and lack understanding of the subject matter. A DNA insertion just means that the crop is a GMO, a.k.a. it was modified geneticaly. Crops naturally have insertions and mutations from viruses and the natural process of DNA replication, so why on earth would this make someone any more sick than a “natural” crop.
hey. im researching this topic for an argument and can really use some help. do you have some information or websites i can check out. thanks
Hi there
I see that you are writing an essay about genetic modification.
Could you please send me your work because I’m doing something similair.
I would be very thankful
Mail me: heysem_93@hotmail.com
Major ethical issues exist, as with anything in life capable of effecting change. In the wrong hands, its scary In the right hands, its not. So, ethical issue # 1- Who determines which hands are “wrong” or “right”. I have worked through this issue after careful consideration to a number of aspects, in my new book “Misinformed About Food” an October release.
I am all for any technology that can help people. But, all technologies with the prospect of causing harm, should be regulated. I’ve laid out a plan to do just that, “without” government intervention.
Samantha,
Good point on the aid to 3rd world countries. There are people starving, and RIGHT NOW, GMO Foods are a quick fix and can save lives, since all are precious. However, the continued use of GMO’s is unsustainable. Implementaion is treating the symptom, not the cause. By that, I mean that people are starving because of severe and increasing overpopulation which has depleted our limited resources, such as healthy soil and clean water with which to produce food. If we produce more food and feed more people… we in turn produce MORE PEOPLE. And then, of course, we will be looking for new ways to feed everyone, further depleting our resources and cutting down more and more wildlife habitat to make a place for more people(who will need more health care because less trees means less oxygen and we won’t be able to breathe).
The earth was designed, BY GOD, to sustain his creation, his children. God also designed man to have his own heart and mind, and the ability to go in his own way and decide for himself whether or not he will look to God and follow in God’s ways, or try to make his (man’s) own way. “Play” is not the right word for what God is doing. God is not “playing” at anything. But he is and always will be God, our Father in Heaven who loves his children and is broken-hearted over those of us who have not looked to him for guidance but have decided that we are smart enough to come up with a better answer (it’s not better, by the way). Much like our own mom and dad on this earth. They don’t control our every move, and neither does God, because he created us with our own free will. Life would be pointless without it.
Now, back to the GM foods… I am a Senior at Oregon State U, College of Agriculture, working on a paper about the pros and cons of GMOs, and both sides have interesting points. In my research, I have found some helpful articles. One is:
http://blisstree.com/geneticsandhealth/genetically-modified-food-pros-and-cons
But THIS ONE below is really important. Written May 21,2009 (last week!), titled, “US Doctors’ association calls for Moratorium on GMO Foods” by F. William Engdahl. EVERYONE SHOULD SEE THIS.
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/engdahl/2009/0521.html
In closing, there is SO much infomation out there and it is very obvious that everyone here, including myself, has a lot of work to do before we can act like we have “the answer” on GMO implementation OR GOD and his role in all of this. Samantha, I would be more than happy to speak with you more on either issue, because we probably each have valuable information and ideas to share. That goes for everyone else as well. Feel free to shoot me an email at rodgerka@onid.orst.edu
God Bless
-Katie
LOL. “Shucks”. We all do.
I love your post. Very well said.
GOD gives us the right to interfere with him… or to at least THINK that’s what we are doing! That’s what makes him so gracious and us the ungateful, naive children who think we know it all.
That is the most idiotic comment I have ever heard Ledan_Hater_Hater. GMOs haven’t existed for many years and the human population seemed to be surviving before they existed.
Damn right you need help!!!
Don’t be rude to her she is asking nicely for somone to give her some help on her essay!!!
There are more people on the earth now than all those who have died in the past combined. The development of new farming methods, including GMOs, is required to meet the estimated 2 fold increase in food supply the world will need in 25 years.
What on earth are you talking about. If we genetically engineered a cow and then killed all then non-modified cows (which would take some time) and then realized that the GMO was faulty in some way, then yes we would lose genetic diversity. But the chance of a meteor hitting you in the forehead and killing you is equally likely.
Good argument. I’m given an assignment in which I’ve taken the position to argue for GE Foods. Our instructor gave us some articles to start off on, and to me, the arguments on GE Food weigh heavily against it. To me, the whole DNA, transfering of genes technical lingo has me quite flabbergasted. Yet, I still want to make a good argument for it. So my question for you is, would you be able to list any study thats supports your argument?
i am against it all