Bio-Lit: Are GMOs Good or Bad?
What are GMOs?
GMO, a genetically modified organism is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The article mainly focused on GM crops.
I
N BRIEF
The majority of the research about GMO crops suggests that they are safe to eat and they have potential/chance to feed millions of people around the world.
Much of the world has been busy banning, restricting and trying to avoid GM foods. Almost all the corns and soybeans grown in America are genetically modified, but only two GM crops, Monsanto's maize, and BASF's Amflora potato are accepted in the European Union.
Approval of a few GM corn strains has been proposed, but so far it has been rpeatedly and soundly voted down.
Positive or Benefits About GMOs
• From David Zilberman, a U.C. Berkeley agricultural and environmental economist and one of the few researchers considered credible by agricultural chemical companies and critics.
He said that the benefits of GMO crops can cancel out health risks, but it remains theoretical.
• The use of GM crops has lowered the price of food and it increased farmer safety by allowing them to use less pesticide on the crops.
• It has raised the output of soy, cotton and, corn by 20-30 % allowing people or consumers to survive who would not have without it because if around the world lessen it, the price of the food would go lower and fewer people would die of hunger.
Negative or Issues About GMOs
• People have been worried about the safety of GMO foods since scientist at the University of Washington developed the first GM tobacco plants in the 1970s and in mid-1990s, the first GM crops reached the market. A number of celebrity chefs are against them. consumers in Europe became alarmed.
• The European attitude resonates across the world, influencing policy where GM crops in countries that have a plenty of benefits. Zilberman says. "They look to Europe and see countries there rejecting GM, so they don't use it." GM efforts should be shut down until the technology is proved absolutely safe.
• Long-term health effects can be subtle and nearly impossible to link to specific changes in the environment. Scientists have believed that Alzheimer's disease and many cancers have environmental components, and it has a chance that you could get diseases from the GM crops.
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Credit: Jen Christiansen
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BIAS
Zilberman says, in the future, those advantages will become all more significant. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the world will have to grow 70-80 % more food by 2050 just to keep up with the population growth.
GM crops could be better for us if they are starting to produce higher yields, grow in the dry land, withstand high and low temperatures, and protect the crops from diseases and insects.
With governments and consumers increasingly coming down against GM crops altogether, testing may compromise that enables the people to benefit from the GM crops advantages.
CREDIBILITY
In my opinion, this article is reliable because the author, David H. Freedman has been covering science, technology, and business for more than 30 years. He explores the forces that cause scientists and other experts mislead us. All the resources were well researched and mostly about science.
Works Cited
Freedman, David H., The Truth about Genetically Modified Food, Scientific American, Sept. 01,2013
