Essay On GMO

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Recommended: Genetically modified food impact on human health

Gwendolyn Seo
Mr. Woodward
Biology P2
April 7, 2014

Will GMO cause the world's end?
Or help revolutionize it?

Biotechnology allows scientists to genetically engineer plants and animals for the human benefits. GMO may have had been originally developed for the people and their needs/desires, but the side effects are overlooked by the scientists and companies, causing the people to be treated like guinea pigs. Even if GMO brings awesome benefits for humans, if the side effects are to exist then there is a still a potential threat that the effects may harm the environment, health, and nature's balance.
To begin, according to A Review on Impacts of Genetically Modified Food on Human Health, GMOs offer great things like pest resistance and herbicide tolerance, which can be used to help eliminate/decrease chemical usage, limit the dangers of agricultural waste run-off, and reduce production cost (4). Due to B.t., corn will now be able to produce its own pesticides, which will help decrease the usage of chemicals in fields, causing the water supply to be no longer poisoned and less harm done to the environment. But, even in the brightest light there's always a shadow. Meaning that Bt aka Bacillus thuringiensis are highly toxic to larvae of certain insect species (5), and there is a fear that pollen from the B.t. corn will air travel to neighboring fields that may cause monarch caterpillars to perish and cease to exist(4-5). Innocent and non-targeted organisms will be harmed and murdered due to GMO. And just like some populations of mosquitos that have built a resistance against pesticides, people are concerned that insects too will evolve and build a resistance, making the pest resistance genes no longer effective(5). Another concer...

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...hem, making these plants a dangerous threat(The History and Future of GMOs in Food and Agriculture, 2). Actually, almost all of the crops today did not exist in the wild and with out human care, they'll cease to exist(History and Future of GMOs, 1). Scientist unnaturally inserted traits/genes from species that were to never of had intervene with one another, there had to be a specific reason as to why a banana couldn't reproduce with a chicken. And it was because that was just not the way nature was intended.
So, even if GMO may have all of these "fantastic" benefits, there is still potential threat and harm it can do to the environment, health, and nature's balance. Remember, the next time you see someone, ask them if they know what GMO is and try to help the world be more aware of what GMO really is and what it can really does to both the world and environment.

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