The Safety of Gmo

Food isn't the same. As science progresses, genetic engineering follows. The modification of the seed to the plant has sparked the long debated topic of whether or not genetically modified organisms are safe for human consumption. In a perspective of both sides it is clear that we do not know enough about the beneficial and harmful factors of genetically modified food. The government hides the truth about GMOs and consumers are oblivious to this. Its no lie that we are uncertain and uneducated on the possible risks of GMO consumption, but the fact is GMO can put a stop to many problems concerning health across the globe (e.g. starvation) and represent a huge advance in the scientific community if we learn to harness the powers of genetic engineering.

Some scientists find GMOs to be a serious health concern. Although they are publicly posed as the solution to the world’s problems, they have been known to cause many as well. Its no lie that we are using GMOs to enhance the nutrient in foods often adding essential vitamins however despite the fact that there are health benefits to consuming GM foods we don't only benefit from them. The most common argument against GMOs is the fact that scientists have not studied the long term effects of consuming GMOs primarily because our government is supportive of GM foods and won't fund these studies. Another is regarding the way genes used in genetic engineering are passed on to us when we consume them. A common way to genetically modify crops and animals is to increase the speed at which they grow and mature. Studies show humans and animal that consume crops and animals that have been genetically modified on a daily basis show signs of increased aging through the transfer of genes. Research has also found links between GM food and certain types of cancer, autism and some heart diseases. Biologists often combine completely unrelated protein genes which may increase the odds of unintentionally creating new toxins and allergies. A study in 2008 suggested that some GMO foods affect our immune system altering the amount of cells regulating the immune system's functions which would slow down the process of fending attacks from bacteria and viruses. All of this can be seen as a disadvantage of consuming genetically engineered however recent independent studies have begun evaluating the long term effect of consuming gmos and with this research there is no doubt we can come up with a solution.

One of the known benefits of some GM crops are their ability to grow in the harshest conditions; not just in poor climates, but repel pests, be tolerant to herbicides, resistance to extremely hot or cold conditions, tolerance of diseases and much more. With more than 3 billion people in extreme poverty and approximately 805 million of them lacking nutrition and food it is clear that GMOs are one of the many tools that can be used to stop this. Pests are a huge problem for farmers in developing countries. Annual harvests around the world have been significantly lowered because of them which may be devastating to those who rely on them to make money and to eat. Farmers reduce their amount of pests by using large quantities of pesticides in order to get rid of pests ruining their crops. Areas with poor soil such as Africa are making their problems worse by them due to these chemicals and are spending much of their money on them extremely expensive and them being in poverty. Crops seeds are often modified to produce plants that kill pests ruining their harvests and with the added bonus of being able to kill a specific pest without harming others. An Example of this is Monsanto's BT Corn which is modified to produce a certain protein called BT delta endotoxin that kills only lepidoptera larvae and not other bugs like worms and bees that do no harm to them. This could significantly help farmers in poverty yield much higher quantities of their crops without spending money on expensive chemical pesticides. Another frequent problem is infestation of weeds. Places like Africa that have extreme amounts of weeds growing in their farming land use high portions of herbicides in order to keep their yields high. The problem isn't just that they are expensive but they lower the yields themselves due to the fact that they kill normal crops as well. Monsanto has also thought about this and have create seeds that are resistant to herbicides that farmers use allowing them to kill their weeds without harming their yields. Another issue is infection by microorganisms. Crops are infected by fungi, bacteria, viruses and other pathogens pose a serious threat to Farmers environment and health. For this reason when crops are infected they are usually destroyed to prevent further infection. GMOs have a solution to this too. Biologists have programed some crops to excrete enzymes to kill fungi growing around or on them. Like wise they have been able to also give some crops the attribute of growing a viral coat of protein which would stop infections by bacteria and other micro organisms. Extremely hot or cold weather is often a problem for many farmers especially in Africa where it hardly ever rains. Monsanto has created a corn called DroughtGard that produces a special shock protein B that changes their cells to help them cope with extremely hot or cold weathers. This could be