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Kimberly McCaig
English 1010
Professor Lisa Packard
March 25, 2014
GMOs, Are They as Bad as They Seem?
Genetically modified organisms, commonly referred to simply as GMOs, are a hot topic
when it comes to what is in our food. When browsing the grocery isles you run across food
prominently displaying non-GMO on its packaging. Talk about genetically modified crops
appears to be everywhere you look, and majority of this talk is extremely negative. Many are
arguing that these Frankenstein crops do not belong in our food supply in any form. I argue
that GMO crops are not as bad as they are made out to be, and that good can come out of the use
of genetically engineering our food.
When the topic of GMOs arises, many people dont seem to fully understand what
exactly a GMO is. It seems that the occurrence of GMOs in our food is fairly recent, but they
have actually been in our food supply for nearly twenty years (Food). According to the World
Health Organization (WHO) a GMO is an organism in which the genetic material (DNA) has
been altered in a way which does not occur naturally. (20 Questions) A GMO plant is made
by taking a fragment of DNA that contains the gene for a desired trait from one organism, such
as drought resistance, it is then inserted into the DNA of another organism. In this instance it is
the crop that is being grown. This process is carried out in a laboratory, and therefore these crops
do not occur naturally. (We Answer) In the United States there are currently eight GMO crop
seeds that are commercially available. These crops include field and sweet corn, soybeans,
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cotton, canola, alfalfa, sugar beets, papaya, and squash (We Answer). The most common
among these are cotton, corn and soybeans. In 2012, 94 percent of cotton, 93 percent of soybeans
and 88 percent of corn planted in the US were genetically engineered crops (Food). Genetic
manipulation of crops is nothing new. Natural genetic manipulation of crops has been going on
for hundreds of years. Do you think carrots have always been orange? Think again. Have you
eaten a banana lately? The bananas we eat have been specifically bred to have small seeds.
Though these two examples are not GMO crops, they illustrate the point that humans have been
manipulating their crops for desired traits for a long time.
Genetically modified foods undergo rigorous evaluations. In the United States these
foods are regulated by a combination of the FDA, USDA and the EPA. Most of the properties of
the crops that have already been commercialized pertain to herbicide tolerance and insect
resistance, but what about increased nutrition? One particular genetically modified crop that is
found in the pipeline is Golden Rice. Golden Rice is a rice grain that has been genetically
modified to produce beta-carotene. In developing countries, vitamin A deficiency is a sizable
health problem. Worldwide it affects 140 million pre-school age children, of which up to 3
million die every year (Qiam p.555). Supplementing vitamin A in their diet has been shown to
reduce the risk of death by 23-30 percent in 6-59 month old children (Vitamin A). Aside from
the mortality risk, vitamin A deficiency can lead to vision loss and an increase in infectious
disease. Though not a cure-all solution, Golden Rice proves a positive case in improving the
position of these rice-eating populations (Qiam p.555).
Genetically engineered crops can also be advantageous financially. This is especially
important in poor, developing countries, such as India. One of the first genetically modified
crops was BT Cotton. This cotton was developed by inserting a gene from Bacillus thuringiensis,
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which encodes a crystal protein that is toxic to many species of insects. Before the introduction
of BT cotton in 1996, cotton growers were losing much of their crop to insects. In 1995, just one
year prior to the introduction of this genetically modified cotton, insects reduced the U.S cotton
yields by 4%. This equates to over a quarter of a billion dollars of cotton lost. Some states were
harder hit than others. For example, in Alabama farmers lost 29% of their cotton crop to insects,
in spite of the fact that they applied the highest applications of insecticide in the U.S. (Bacillus
Thuringiensis). In years since, BT cotton has been introduced into various countries around the
world. In India, the increased profit gains resulting from the use of BT cotton benefits multiple
types of households. The profit gain is particularly important to those below the poverty line,
whose members accrue roughly 60% of these gains. For them, a rising income means better
access to food, even though the rise in income is due to a non-food crop. Food security could be
even higher as GM food crops become available in the future (Qaim p.554-555).
As more and more genetically modified crops are commercialized, the unknown health
effects of having these new organisms raise many questions. A review of the scientific literature
by Domingo and Bordonaba from the Laboratory of Toxicology and Environmental Health of
the Universitat Rovira in Spain, found this to be a complex area of research. This complexity is
compounded by the fact that GM crops have not been around long enough to know what the long
term effects may be, if any. Ongoing research shows mixed results, the most common result find
that GM crops are nutritionally equivalent to their non-GM counterpart. To a certain extent
adverse molecular effects have been reported, but the diversity among the methods and results of
these experiments show how complicated this area of research is. There is still much more work
to be done in this area to conclude upon the effects of consuming GM crops.
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Matin Qaim states this problem perfectly when saying more public support is needed in
biotechnology development, to ensure that other promising technologies for the poor are being
developedto ensure that they are widely accessibleSome regulation is needed to avoid risks,
but over-regulation unnecessarily increases the cost of technologies, thus introducing a bias
against small crops, small countries and small research organizations, which also implies a bias
against the poor. (Qaim p. 557) Ultimately, when it comes to genetically modified crops I
believe we need to evaluate them case by case. Not all GMOs are created equal, we need to
understand what has been done to that particular organism and why. Many may say that we
should ban GMOs altogether, and it is this negative public view that is overwhelming in the
media and the positive effects that come from GM crops are not mentioned at all..










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Works Cited
"20 Questions on Genetically Modified Foods." WHO. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/biotech/20questions/en/>.
"Bacillus Thuringiensis." Bacillus Thuringiensis. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.bt.ucsd.edu/>.
Domingo, Jos L., and Jordi Gin Bordonaba. "A Literature Review on the Safety Assessment of
Genetically Modified Plants." Environment International 37.4 (2011): 734-42. Web.
"Food." Biotechnology. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.fda.gov/food/foodscienceresearch/biotechnology>.
Qaim, Matin. "Benefits of Genetically Modified Crops for the Poor: Household Income, Nutrition, and
Health." New Biotechnology 27.5 (2010): 552-57. Web.
"Vitamin A." Health Professional Fact Sheet. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
<http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/#h5>.
"We Answer Your Questions about GMOs." GMOAnswers. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
<http://gmoanswers.com/>.