GMO’s: Safe or Harmful?

Ever since the first signs of agriculture, there have been new developments in every generation. The world’s population and demand for food is progressively growing getting larger as every day, as well as the demand for food, and whereas, the land that is used for agricultureal production is diminishing not getting any larger. Crop scientists are working hard every day to find a way to multiply farmers’ yields and to do it in a safe and healthy way. Many crop enthusiasts have discovered ways to genetically modify crops, to not only make the harvest more plentiful, but make the produce more healthy healthier when taken to the market; however, the problems for these genetic geniuses do not lie within the plants or breeding them into a better option, yet the general public has become more skeptical of the advances in agricultural sciences.

This is the most common problem with producer and consumer in today’s world, although essentially nothing pertaining to GMOs are harmful. People are just unsure of what is being done to make the amount and quality of food elevate, and tend to make assumptions without educating themselves. Therefore, people must do research and make sure they know more about the topic and spread the facts with others to ensure that America’s food can continue to be clean and more plentiful.

Taking this further, I have gathered an abundance of information and read into why people seem to be frightened of genetically modified crops. As said previously, GMOs were not created to harm the people of the world. The human population is skyrocketing as we speak, therefore the amount of food needed to feed the world yearly will progressively get larger and larger. As technology advances in the modern world, we can utilize that technology to make our lives better. That is what crop scientist do when it comes to breeding certain crops to produce not only the healthiest crop for the people, but the most lucrative crop for the farmer’s operation as well. The most frequently asked question among the general public is, are GMOs safe in nearly all cases, GMOs make food safer for human consumption, for they lessen the amount of pesticides used on crops. As Natalie Regis states in the Biotechnology Revolution Genetically Modified Crops and Food, The use of engineered crops has reduced the need for application of wide-spectrum insecticides in many areas growing plants, such as potatoes, cotton, and corn, that were endowed with a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensus, which produces a natural insecticide called Bt toxin. (pg 113-115). Therefore, genetically modifying the crops to where they can naturally be resistant to certain insects heavily reduces the amount of chemicals and insecticides used on crops throughout the world; and in time make the food we consume healthier. And with the lessened use of chemicals and sprays on crops, the citizens all over the world will be less hesitant to consume certain food.

Although, the simple fact is, to solve the conflict of skeptical people versus GMOs we must get down to the root of the problem and figure out what started the hesitation to consume the genetically modified crops. As the earth ages and science becomes progressively more advanced there will be numerous technological changes in our world. For example, during world war II the scientists working on the Manhattan Project were also skeptical of the advances in science being used to save the world from the Naizi regime. Ironically, majority of the time there is no logical reason to be scared of advancements in technology. When people get ahold of information they tend to spread it and the words get twisted and it can come back a completely different story. But, the main reason for opposition to GMOs is dishonest reviews and uneducated people informing others and misinforming them therefore making their claim seem more powerful. After analyzing the book, Opposing viewpoints Corporate farming and reading through the chapter pertaining to dishonest activists and anti GMO groups there seemed to be a pattern. Although the articles written by those opposing GMOs seem to be informative and accurate, when examined more closely None of these studies prove or even persuasively suggests that GMOs can be harmful to human health. The majority are either obviously flawed or are not scientific studies. as Layla Kaitree states (p. 166). As I read further I begin to see where Kaitree can make this statement. One thing I found extremely crucial in one of the articles is that the article was published by a very patchy source. As Kaitree explains, The claims were printed in a pay-for-play journal (also known as predatory journal), meaning that for a fee one can get nearly anything published. There have been several exposes on pay-for-play journals, and many scientists believe that the phenomenon is eroding the quality of science. (p. 172)

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