It was recorded in the year 2011 that the worlds population reached approximately 7 Billion. However, when studying the current birth rate, experts have predicted that by the year 2050 the worlds population will reach more than 9 billion. Leaving agriculturalist and scientist concern on how to help feed the over 9 billion that would soon populate the earth. This leaves many factors to blame for the contribution to population growth. The first factor would have to be the life expectancy rate of humans nowadays. Medical advantages and technology have made it possible for humans to live a longer life. The next factor, and most important is agriculture. In order to thrive in future generations, we must find a way to provide food to consumers without harming their health or the environment. That is why within the next 34 years we must produce twice as much food that we currently receiving in order to provide for our populations growth.
Agriculturalist and scientist who are for GMO products believe that the genetic engineering of DNA is extremely beneficial for both humans and the environment. Their concern now is focused directly on informing the general public that is not familiar with the genetic engineering of crops and livestock. A large amount of families that consume GM products do not know the benefits that come along with it. Should we as a society continue to produce genetic engineered food in years to come? The real question is, Can we alter the DNA of crops and
Scientist promised GMOs (genetically modified organisms) would up the nutrition value in food, would increase drought tolerance, and increase yield. In the 30 years of GMOs not once has a new beneficial genetic trait arrised, yet GM (genetically modified) foods are still on the market; for example, Golden Rice is supposed to be genetically modified to contain
Plants and animals have been modified by traditional means since the advent of pastoralism and agriculture through selective breeding. Naturally, humans will strive to improve upon this process which afforded mankind with the ability to even begin building societies. The true issue with GMO's is the oversight and business aspect. Private companies modifying plants to force farmers to buy seeds annually allows them to recoup their costs and turn a profit but comes with a whole sleuth of ethical and health implications. On the other hand, with farming land and water becoming scarce and earth's population rapidly growing in many regions, one can't deny the vital importance of GMO's. Taking all this into consideration I believe the discussion should not be centered on the merit or acceptability of GMO's, but rather regulation, oversight, ethical standards, and research, allowing for a logical development to take place in a transparent, efficient and fair manner. I believe that a topic so central to all of the mankind needs to be centralized to a degree in everybody's interest. There needs to be a sense of communal ownership, with strong limitations on patenting organisms, while also ensuring the financial viability of development, either through subsidies or other
Should food be genetically modified? Over the years there has been debates and controversies whether gmos should be allowed into the markets or not. People are worried because of the uncertainty if the genetically modified crops are safe. Although genetic engineering in food is a technique that’s new, GMOs are safe. Not only are GMOs safe to consume but they are also safe for the environment and they have a large impact on society. Thus , GMOs shouldn’t be a concern because through genetic engineering many of the world’s resource problems can be solved.
We have been participating in a mass scale biotech agricultural experiment for over twenty years. Since the mid-1990s the U.S population has been consuming Genetically Engineered (GE) foods or foods that contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) without having done enough research to assess its long time effects on humans. According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA), agency responsible for protecting the public’s health and safety, “genetic engineering is the name given to certain methods that scientists use to introduce new traits or characteristics to organisms.” In other words, scientists modify the structure of plants or animals by removing some of their DNA material; or by inserting that
Genetic modified organisms, or GMOs, are living organisms that, through the genetic engineering process, have been altered to withstand certain chemicals and increase the nutritional value of the product. In fact, the majority of the foods found at the grocery store are genetically altered. Genetic modification is becoming increasingly popular on farms throughout the United States and moving into other parts of the world due to their increasing yield capabilities and pest and weed control. However, this has been, and continues to be, an extremely controversial topic of discussion in the world of agriculture and biotechnology, as well as health food critics, because of potential environmental and health risks.
People have been genetically modifying food for centuries. Humanity has used selective breeding to utilize desired traits in farm animals and crops for so long that they are now different species from their wild variants. However, scientists have been using a new process for giving organisms desired traits called genetic engineering, which is the process of directly transferring genes from one organism to the next. This process can be used between any two living things, no matter how different they are. Some think that this is the future that will make society flourish, while others think that it is a menace that will damage civilization. I believe that GMOs are more beneficial than harmful. GMOs can provide nutrition to those who live in impoverished
Do you ever question what is really in the food you eat? Is a piece of steak really just a piece of steak from a cow’s body? Is a bowl of rice really a bowl of rice grown on a farm? If you answer no to any of these questions, don’t feel bad you’re just like 90 percent of other Americans. The multibillion dollar genetically modified food industries have evolved immensely over the past two decades, and it has secretly entered our lives today. We are not aware of the damage genetically modified organism can bring, by altering the natural traits of our foods not only impact our environment but it also impacted our abilities to functions as regular humans. We are not aware because GMOs are not labeled; government regulations right now do not
In addition, the media uses trickery to portray GMO’s as something dangerous and should be avoided at all cost which has influenced you to believe their dishonesty. The purpose of GMO’s is to enhance our life, not harm it. This may be through creating medicines for disease, increase crop yield, produce food with higher nutritional value and much more. Article titles such as “Why GMOs Can Never Be Safe scare the public into believing GMO’s are bad even though the media does not have sufficient evidence to support these claims (Mercola). In fact, when recombinant DNA technology, a types of genetic modification, was first developed in the 1970’s, scientists themselves
After reading the article on genetically modified food I believe that the work on making GMO plants and animals should be continued. Many people solely argue the theory that these foods are not suitable for healthy human consumption and that they lead to health problems. However, many people do not realize that food that comes from genetically modified plants and animals do many positive things to our agriculture supply. One benefit of growing genetically modified plants for food is the ability of them to carry “tolerance” genes that help them withstand the chemicals that farmers use to kill weeds. Additionally, plants can be modified to remove allergens from them, which is very beneficial to those with allergies such as peanuts and
Of course, there are problems with genetic modification and the long-term effects of tampering with an organism’s genome. Suzie Key, Julian Ma, and Pascal Drake, researchers at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), have published GMO research paper reviewing the impacts genetically modified organisms may have on the environment and our health. They bring up three main concerns in their report: genetically modified (GM) plants will cross-pollinate with ordinary plants, GM plants could become invasive, and conditions for nurturing GM plants may be at the expense of wild populations. Along with the environment, human health could be in danger. When modifying genes in food, specific protein function is lost, possibly leading to adverse health effects. (Key) These concerns, if not accounted for, could be detrimental to both our health
They do not realize that humans, through breeding, have been manipulating the genetic make-up of crops and farm animals for 10,000 years.” (Marris 1). Genetic modification is the selection of a desired trait by either manually adding the select gene to the crop, or breeding crops with those traits, eliminating those crops without that desired gene. The reason why breeding methods of genetic modification have faded is that selective breeding can be hit or miss and takes a lot of time and is not very accurate. Genetic engineering, on the other hand, can create plants and animals with whatever gene that we are aiming for and pull the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy. With this technology, scientists are able to create organisms of all life which includes crops that yield more produce, hold vaccinations, and even improved nutritional content. Therefore, there is nothing unnatural about genetic modification, Its simply selective breeding on a broad spectrum and it opens up so many opportunities for the livestock industry. Also, there is no proven risk with the consumption of genetically engineered foods considering “The U.S Food and Drug Administration has established the safety and integrity of GMOs.” (Johnson 1).A big concern is with the public, but if the FDA doesn’t see a problem with GMOs then why do they get such a negative rep? “70% of the population thinks that ordinary tomatoes do not contain genes,
A Genetically Modified Organism or GMO is an organism whose genome has been altered by the process of genetic engineering so that its DNA contains one or more genes not normally found within. These genetically modified organisms are a relatively new phenomenon in the United States, introduced in 1994. However, beginning in 2014 these chemicals could be found in 90% of corn, cotton, and soybeans produced in the United States. The looks and taste of genetically modified organisms may seem inviting but are the health risks really worth it? In my opinion, I believe that while genetically modified organisms do have positive feel and comfort they pose a large health risk to all who choose to consume them.
According to the World Health Organization (2014. 1), "Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. The technology is often called 'modern biotechnology ' or 'gene technology ', sometimes also 'recombinant DNA technology ' or 'genetic engineering '. Foods produced from or using GM organisms are often referred to as GM foods.” Many organic crops farming farmers are against cultivating of GM crops because of the threat to farm land and environment however, biotechnology companies and GM crops growing famer desire to have profit and consumer look for low price. Thus, the debate over the environmental impact of genetically modified GM crops is growing. Although GM crops negatively affects on some organism in environment, they reduce the use of pesticides and increase crop yield.
“It has been estimated that 70% of all processed foods in the United States contain at least one genetically modified ingredient.” (Genetically M...Foods 3). Genetically Modified foods are all around us and are quickly become a staple in our future. If you check the internet and do a quick search for “GM Foods”, expect to be flooded by opinionated articles both encouraging and refuting the use of GM products in our food. After sifting through all the articles and only focusing on the facts, I have taken two things. One, Genetic engineering of foods is when we take a desirable traits from one plant, ie. resistant to a certain pesticide, and physically implant it into another plants seeds in order to take on that resistance gene without
In today’s society more and more commercial farms and food manufacturers are starting to grow and use genetically modified their crops in their products, is this a good idea or is it a bad idea? Many Commercial farms are starting to transfer over to growing genetically Modified crops, because GM crops have a reduced susceptibility to disease, they also have improved drought resistance, and the overall cost of growing them is reduced. I think that “the manipulation of living organisms to help benefit the human race” (Naidoo, Pavarni."Genetically Modified Crops." Agriprobe Vol. 6.2 (2009): 12.) is a good thing because it is what has allowed the agricultural world to keep up with the