10 Reasons To Avoid Gmos

The website that I choose that discusses genetically modified foods is the Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT) and the article was titled 10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs (Smith, 2011). The IRT claims to be a world leader in educating the public and policy makers on genetically modified crops and foods. Furthermore, they claim to investigate their risks and impacts on health, agriculture, the environment, and the economy. The founder and primary contributor is Jeffrey Smith, an international bestselling author and a self-proclaimed GMO expert.
The website is completely ran and operated by Jeffrey Smith. Additionally, he is the author of all of articles. After a thorough review of the site, I could not find any sponsors associated with the

organization. However, there were numerous red flags that led me to believe that the site was biased. First, on the main page he advertises his book Genetic Roulette: The Gamble of Our Lives. Secondly, there were numerous claims on the harmful effects of GMOs, however for the overwhelming majority of the claims there not any credible sources identified. In the entire article, there was only two sources identified and that was the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). Furthermore, I did additional research on the founder and found numerous articles about him being a fraud. An article in Forbes, stated that he has never had any scientific or biotechnology training and compared him to a anti-vaccine leader who just spreads fear (Entine, 2013). After reading this, I tried and failed to find any evidence that showed Jeffrey Smith had any scientific training.
This article is full of false or misleading information, and given the amount, I am only going to highlight the most obvious. First, the article states that GMOs were introduced in 1996 and since then autism, reproductive disorders, digestive disorders and food allergies have all skyrocketed (Smith, 2011). The article does not state that GMOs are the cause of this, however it does try to show a correlation between the two and say that people should not wait for the research to get a head of the issue (Smith, 2011). Additionally, GMOs were introduced before 1996. The first genetically engineered crop was approved in 1992, the first insecticide-producing crop was approved in 1995, and the first herbicide-producing crop was approved in 1996 (The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, 2018). Second, the article also states that government oversight of GMOs is dangerously low and that the health and environmental risks are ignored by the government. However, the FDA in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency regulates foods from GMO crops (Consumer Info About Food from Genetically Engineered Plants, 2018). Third, the article states that GMO crops do not produce more yields and that they actually work against feeding the hungry (Smith, 2011). However, this could not be further from the truth. Between 1996 and 2015, total farm incomes increased $167.8 billion dollars. (Pocket K No. 5: Documented Benefits of GM Crops, 2017). This was directly related to the efficiency and productivity of GMO crops (Pocket K No. 5: Documented Benefits of GM Crops, 2017).
The bottom line is that I find this article to be completely unreliable. The author of the article does not have a background in science and appears to be completely biased against GMOs. Additionally, the article it is full of misleading and completely false information; with no credible evidence to support the claims. When searching for reliable information about GMO/GEO foods people should utilize scientific peer reviewed or journals that are written by experts in the field. Or search websites that are not biased on the topic and actually gather their information from reliable sources. This was people can not only read the article, they can review the source of the information and formulate their own educated ideas.