Genetically Modified Foods Essay

Asia Little

December 17, 2014

Professor Haywood

Natural Science Cluster

Genetically Modified Foods Essay

        What are Genetically-modified foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms)?  Before researching this topic I would have defined GM foods as foods that are enhanced for human and/or animal consumption. Meaning the foods that we love and consume each day is injected with some type of chemical to enhance the taste.  After doing research on the topic I learned that my own definition was correct, but I was missing one minor detail.  Although these foods and plants are modified to enhance the taste, these foods are also genetically modified to ensure an adequate food supply for the growing population. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. The improvement of desired traits has been undertaken through breeding, but conventional plant breeding methods can be very time consuming and are often not very accurate.  On the other hand, Genetic engineering can create plants with the exact same trait, but the process is quicker and more accurate than conventional plant breeding.

        What are some of the advantages of GM foods?  The world population has reached about 6 billion people and that number is expected to double in the next 50 years.  It is very important that that food supply is enough to accommodate the rising population, so ensuring an adequate food supply is going to be a major challenge in the next 50 years.  This is the reason that GM foods are so popular.  GM foods will be beneficial to third world countries where malnutrition is common.  People who live in these countries rely on foods such as rice, which don't contain an adequate amount of nutrients.  According to researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology for Plant Science “golden rice" containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene (Vitamin A) (Rockefeller Foundation).

        GM Foods may also be beneficial to pharmaceutical companies.  Since medicines and vaccines sometimes cost a lot to produce and require special storage conditions, researchers are working on developing an edible vaccine which will be available in tomatoes and potatoes.  This will be beneficial to a lot of people because it will be much easier to ship, store, and administer than traditional vaccines.  

        As a kid my mother explained how when she was a kid growing up they weren't allowed to eat all the junk food and fast food that a lot of us eat today.  This is probably the reason why people my mother and grandparents age don't really get sick.  They mostly ate fresh fruits and vegetables straight from the garden.  Foods have since then changed. A lot of foods that we eat today have been injected with something that isn’t natural, although they say that it’s all safe to eat.  The chicken we eat seem to be injected with steroids because they are now so freakishly big and abnormal looking. So the question is Are GM foods healthy or dangerous?  GMO foods raise significant health concerns and have since 1992 when Calegene introduced Flavr Savr, the first genetically modified tomato that the FDA approved for use in 1994-without requiring labeling.  Even more troubling, the government decided that because the Flavr Savr performed "so well in tests" that its results would stand for any GMO produce and no further testing would be required before presenting it to consumers.  The problem with this is the FDA failed to report the deaths and stomach lesions in rats that had eaten the Flavr Savr. (globalhealingcenter.com). with all of this, it's safe to say to GM foods aren't really good for us.