GMO Argumentative Essay

1650 Words4 Pages

By 2050, the worldwide population will require 70% more food production to feed an additional 2.3 billion people living on the earth. With population growth of this magnitude, there is an urgent need for increased sustainability and reliability in food production, especially in under-developed nations. Genetically Modified Organisms promise to alleviate this burden, but not without significant drawbacks. There are numerous issues which result from GMO’s and their effectiveness, including problems with pest resistance, decreased bio-diversity, cross-pollination, and potential human health detriments as a result of consuming genetically altered products. While highly contested, Genetically Modified foods are vital to the projected development …show more content…

A study from the ISAAA assessing the global economic and environmental impacts of biotech crops for the first seventeen years of adoption showed that the “biotechnology has reduced pesticide spraying by 503 million kg and has reduced environmental footprint associated with pesticide use by 18.7%." The technology has also significantly reduced the release of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture to an extent which is equivalent to removing 11.9 million cars from the roads. In the USA, adoption of GM crops resulted in pesticide use reduction of 46.4 million pounds in 2003. In addition to less pesticide use, pest-resistant genetically modified crops allow for a greater diversity of insects in the field because much less spray is required to maintain the crops. Also, the pesticide present inside the genetically modified seed is only a engineered to harm a very small subset of harmful insects, which allows beneficial insects to prosper independently. Additionally, genetically modified crops require less plowing. Brookes and Barefoot from the National Center for Biotechnology Information argue, "Evidence is growing that not only are there not any deleterious effects from insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant GM plants, but they are better for the environment because of decreased use of insecticides and less plowing.” With less plowing, fields won’t lose as much topsoil. This brings more nutrients to the soil because the important top layer is not blown or washed

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