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negative effects of gm food
genetically modified foods controversy
an introduction for GM food essay
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Everything in our live have two sides: one is good and another one is bad. It is hard to find perfect things. The genetically modified (GM) foods like other things have both sides which are good and bad in the same time. Now, GM foods are a big debate if it is good or bad for people’s health. The GM Foods mean food that produced from organic that had specific changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Even though GMF are causing damage environment and affecting on original farmers, in general most GMF have some advantages. GM food can provide low cost and it may be lower than the organic foods. It save the time. It provides a good size and new products. It feeds more people, especially poor countries.
First, the benefit of GMF is the cost maybe lower than the organic foods. The economic will be high in country by using GMF. So, if the price is cheap, it will be convenient for both farmers and consumers. According to Tunceren & Benson (2010) as cited in (Christie), Monsanto Company sells the alfalfa, and this alfalfa was GM to prevent weeds from growing in the crops (118). Farmers can protect their farms by using alfalfa. Then, they will sell them for more than one market. So, they will success in their business. This alfalfa is good to protect crops and environment. Even though, there are negative side of using alfalfa. In his writing, Ban on Monsanto GM Alfalfa Upheld, Tunceren & Benson (2010) as cited in (Christie) maintained that alfalfa is growing out of the U.S. for livestock and every years again. Therefore, the environment groups, organic farmers, and consumer groups are angry because it will mix with other varieties of alfalfa, weeds will become impossible to kill, and it will bad for ex...
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Huffman, W. E., Shogren, J. F., Rousu, M., & Tegene, A. (2003). Consumer willingness to pay for Genetically Modified Food labels in a market with diverse information: Evidence from experimental auctions. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 28(3), 481. doi: 10.2307/40987963
Jimmy Botella. (2013, May 22). Waiter, there is a gene in my soup! Retrieved December 2, 2013. From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwzq-swl4cI.
Okeno, J., Wolt, J., Misra, M., & Rodriguez, L. (2013). Africa's inevitable walk to genetically modified (GM) crops: opportunities and challenges for commercialization. New Biotechnology, 30(2), 124-130. doi: 10.1016/j.nbt.2012.09.001
Willging, J. (2008). Of GMOs, McDomination and foreign fat: Contemporary Franco-American food fights. French Cultural Studies, 19(2), 199-226. doi: 10.1177/0957155808089665
Because of the increase in population, products need to be manufactured in a faster and more efficient way, and with genetically modified foods, the food is larger in size and quicker to harvest. Another advantage of GM foods is that it uses less fertilizer and less water and is more resistant to insects, diseases, frost, and drought. Consumers would not want to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of possible health hazards and growing GM foods can help eliminate the use of chemical pesticides. Plants that are genetically engineered to resist strong herbicide will help prevent environmental damage by reducing the amount of herbicides needed. This will benefit both the companies and the environment because the production cost is reduced and the danger of agricultural waste run-off is limited. As more land is being used for housing instead of food production, crops need to adapt to locations unsuited
Lambrick, M. (2009). Counterpoint: Genetically Modified Foods Carry Numerous Risks. Canadian Points Of View: Genetically Modified Food, 3.
A trip to any supermarket in Canada will reveal nothing out of ordinary, just the usual of array of fresh and packaged goods displayed in an inviting manner to attract customers. Everything appear familiar and reassuring, right? Think again. A closer microscopic inspection discloses something novel, a fundamental revolution in food technology. The technology is genetic engineering (GE), also known as biotechnology. Blue prints (DNA) of agricultural crops are altered and “spliced” with foreign genes to produce transgenic crops. Foods harvested from these agricultural plants are called, genetically modified (GM). Presently, Canada has no consumer notification; GM foods are being slipped to Canada’s foods without any labels or adequate risk assessments. This essay argues that GM foods should be rigorously and independently tested for safety; and, consumers be given the right to choose or reject GM foods through mandatory labels. What is the need for impartial examination of safety of transgenic foods? And why label them? GM foods are not “substantially equivalent” to conventional foods, genetic engineering of agricultural crops is not a mere extension of traditional plant breeding, and finally, there are human health implications associated with it.
Are genetically modified foods safe? Genetically modified foods are crop plants created for human or animal consumption using molecular biological techniques. These plants have been modified to enhance certain traits like increased resistance to herbicides or improve nutritional content. This process traditionally has been done through breeding, but is not very accurate. Scientists have been using biotechnology to implant the gene that makes the plants act the way they want them to. Genetically modified foods have advantages and disadvantages on the environment and advantages and disadvantages on society. We have to weigh the positives and negatives to see if genetically modified foods are healthy for us and if we really need them.
Genetically modified foods are developed by combining genes from two different organisms which alters it's DNA and do not occur naturally. Biotechnology is relatively new so like most people, I turned to research to argue this issue with facts. In my opinion, genetically modifying foods have more harmful effects than they do beneficial. I am against their use because it creates safety risks for our health and animals, it can damage the environment and we have to deal with the total costs.
“Civilization rests on people’s ability to modify plants to make them more suitable as food, feed and fiber plants and all of these modifications are genetic” (American Association 1). This quote from the article “Statement by the AAAS Board of Directors On Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods” expresses that fact that humans have used the favorable genes of plants since the days of Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics. When plants exhibited a desirable trait, they were bred together so that more of the offspring would have that trait. Genetic Modification is manipulating the genome of the plant, but humans have been doing that for years. Modifying the genes is a more precise way to do this. Genetic Modification improves food and is safe.
To some people, this sounds like a good benefit to genetically modified foods. Others, however, have found that these facts simply don’t help them in the long run. Large portions of people probably don’t know this, but the majority of food produced in the United States is actually genetically modified food. Side effects that people have brought up are health problems that seem to occur from ingesting the genetically modified foods. Another issue with genetically altered food is that they have attributed to higher pollution of pesticides. Lastly, people dislike genetically modified foods because they see there is less regulation on them from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) than there are on other products put in the market (The Issues).
Norwood, M. (n.d.). Sustainable World Coalition. Sustainable World Coalition. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://swcoalition.org/2013/09/gmo-case-studies/
In a feeble attempt to cure world hunger scientists developed GMOs, or 'genetically-modified organisms', which are genetically enhanced crop plants created for human consumption, and although GMOs were initially designed to benefit the world, it appears as though they are doing as much harm as they are good. Originally, GMOs were designed to c...
GMO food can create healthy, nutritious food in greater quantities for the less fortunate. For example, Hadiya is a toddler, born to poor African farmers. Her eyes are a milky white. Blinded from birth because of a cataract caused by vitamin A deficiency in her diet, she will never see her parents, and it is likely that she won’t survive past five years old. This is sadly the case for thousands of African and South-East Asian children, just because they have a vitamin deficiency in their diet. Vitamin A is supplied by
We live in a world that is constantly changing and advancing thanks to technological advancements, especially in the field of molecular genetics. Today, we are discovering and implementing new ways to overcome the ill-fated symptoms developed as a result from poor health or accidents. We are also making advancements in the field of agriculture thanks to molecular genetics. As we all know, food is an essential entity in our lives and is abundant as well as relatively easy to obtain here in the United States. However, as good as it may sound, this is not necessarily true for developing countries. Many people in developing countries receive very little food, if any, due to its scarcity. It is estimated that in Asia alone, close to 800 million people go to bed hungry every night due to food shortage. This problem can be alleviated by turning to the production of genetically modified organisms (a.k.a. GMOs).
GMO foods may be unsafe for consumer and cause health complications. Although the government claims that Genetically modified foods are safe, people disagree. Genetically modified foods serve many great purposes, such as having food grow really fast and in large amounts, changing the flavor and size of the foods, and even make the food have a longer shelf life. This allows for more people to obtain food at a faster rate and feed the people in our growing population. By making more food faster and making it last longer allows companies to make more money and use less land and less effort to mass produce food.
If crops were affected by droughts, disease and insects, having destroyed many acres across America’s Midwest region, the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) would not be beneficial in regenerating new crops. Genetically modifying foods (GMOs) “are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals that cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding” (nongmoproject.org). Most research done has concluded no positive benefits in using GMOs. There are serious health risks associated with eating GM foods based on scientific research done around the world. The purpose of GMOs are to increase production of crop yield and reduce pesticide use but research says otherwise. If farmers wanted to continue using GMOs to produce crops, labeling should be mandatory to allow consumers to have a conscious choice whether or not to eat GM food. Through research it has been proven that the use of GMOs to increased production of crops during a time of drought or disease have no benefits, just risks.
The demand for non-GMO foods is on a great rise all around the world. "Non-GMO products accounted for $550 billion of the 5 trillion global food and beverage retail market in 2014". Many people, in today's times, are being offset by negative perceptions of GMO products. Numerous consumers have pre-dispositions and attitudes when it comes to their intentions of purchasing GMO foods. Consumers believe that "scientifically altered crops could be unethical and unsafe".
GMO crops can be used “to grow healthful food efficiently at a time when a warming world and a growing population might make that goal more urgent.” (Harmon 2014) Some might argue that the seeds are too expensive for those in high-risk areas to buy, but if people in more developed areas come together to put a system in place to grow genetically modified crops in these areas,