Genetically Modified Foods
Genetically modified (GM) foods are created by manipulating the DNA structures of plants and animals in order to make them more productive, more resistant to disease, and/or more nutritional (Heit). GM foods can greatly help the ever-growing population of this world due to their ability to increase the yield from the crops, resulting in a larger supply of food to sustain humanity, and their ability to make the foods more resistant to weather, such as frost, that can reduce bountifulness. When GM foods were first made available to the public in the mid-1990s, they were received with harsh criticisms from consumers, politicians, governments, and activists, who all feared this new strain of food would be detrimental to their health. As with every new invention and procedure, there will always be those who maintain doubt. Whether simply out of ignorance or the fright of change, some people and cultures absolutely refuse to accept and adopt modern technologies into their daily lives. While it is possible to argue against GM foods and their benefit to mankind, the truth will always outshine the fallacies in those arguments. These foods will be a necessity to the human race in future years due to increase in demand of food and nutrients as each passing generation increases in population.
GM foods are designed to benefit both the producers and the consumers by making them yield a larger harvest, which will simultaneously increase the producer’s profit and decrease the consumer’s purchase price. GM foods will keep improving over the course of time, and scientists have already designed and implemented plans for these foods that will ensure their safety and efficiency. Plants with improved disease and weather resistance, crops with increased nutrient levels, fish species with enhanced growth characteristics, and plants and animals capable of producing pharmaceutically important proteins, such as vaccines (20 Questions), will progress from merely ideas in science fiction to factual reality. All GM products currently available on the international market are required by law to pass certain risk assessments conducted by independent international authorities. These tests are performed so that a consumer can know with certainty that any food they might purchase has been deemed safe for consumption through rigorous testing (20 Questions).
Arguments have been made that GM foods are unhealthy for humans simply because there have been no long-term studies done on the effects GM foods have on the human body. However, most of these arguments stem from the fact they just do not truly understand the processes these foods undergo before they reach human mouths. While it is true that there have not been many long-term studies done on the side effects of these foods, some studies have been done, immediately negating the argument that no studies have been done. These tests include the direct health effects, or toxicity, to humans, tests that determine how likely a food is to provoke an allergic reaction, tests that identify specific components of the gene that are thought to have either nutritional or toxic properties, tests that verify the stability of the inserted gene, and tests that display the nutritional effects associated with DNA manipulation as well as any unintended effects that might result from gene insertion (Emerson 6). Most GM foods have undergone numerous treatments and procedures, all of which were for the sole purpose of increasing the quality of the product. It is unreasonable and illogical, perhaps even bordering on paranoid, to believe that scientists would crudely release a possibly deadly strain of food which could have immense negative repercussions against the human race. Another major concern some people have voiced in regard to these foods is the chance of cross contamination with plants that are not in the crop field, such as plants that are planted around the modified crops. For example, some citizens are worried that a crop of genetically modified corn might pass their mutations on to a normal crop of okra planted nearby. Scientists have already formulated a plan that prevents this from happening; yet the responsibility of this prevention lies with the farmers who are cultivating these crops. If the producers do not follow the sage advice of the scientists who developed this plan, the fault for cross contamination lies solely on the farmer, not the technology responsible for genetic modification. Once GM foods become widely accepted and available to all, scientists will have the ability to focus their research on more pressing issues: cancer cures and preventions, STD cures and preventions, and cures to diseases that ravage mankind, instead of stressing over the problem of sustaining the rapidly increasing population of the planet.
Some critics have complained against how GM foods are labeled. Mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods in the United States has been proposed, but has not yet been enacted at the national, state, and local levels. Those in favor of more intrusive labeling emphasize the consumers’ right to know exactly what they are eating. Opponents of more detailed labeling highlight the massive expenses and logistical difficulties associated with an increased level of labeling, and emphasize the fact that very few significant differences have been found between GE and more traditional foods, not to mention that the technical terms required to describe the modifications of these foods would likely escape the comprehension of the general public. The implementation of mandatory, in-depth labeling will require resolution of several complex technical issues (Byrne). Given the nature of the arguments, one would be hard-pressed to support such rigid laws concerning labeling. There is no reason to be afraid of eating these foods just because the consumer does not know the exact gene manipulation that took place. Seeing the words “gene x-2 modified to resemble the gene uo-86” would likely frighten many consumers away, which in turn denies them the opportunity to enjoy the benefits these GM foods provide.
Before genetically modified foods were released to the public in the 1990s, decades of research had taken place to ensure the safety of these alterations (Cowan). Decades later, with even more research supporting its benefits, GM foods have proven themselves safe, reliable, and nutritionally superior to non-GM foods. Individuals who argue for “pure,” organic food only have the argument that GM foods might pose health concerns to those who indulge in them, but ignore the fact that there are no concrete, practical data that back any of these statements up (Wilson). With the ever-rising prices of organic food driving families to unhealthy fast food chains, and ultimately poor standards of living, the need for cheap, healthy GM foods in every household becomes more necessary by the minute. GM foods pose no feasible threat to humanity; in fact, GM foods have the potential to one day save humanity from humanity, due to causes such as global nuclear and biological warfare, human driven climate change, or super diseases that might wipe out the “clean,” organic foods some people still desperately cling to.