Rayna Wolff

Cell 1030

GMO Food Essay

March 24, 2019

GMO is a source of debate among the scientific community, governments, and

consumers. Changing the biological composition of plants through traditional cross-breeding is

not a new thing, but specifically genetically modifying food is. GMO food is food that has been

genetically modified through plant breeding where desirable traits are put into the gene (Making

Sense 8), and genes that come from other sources can be put into plants. For example, a gene

from a cow can be inserted into a strawberry. There are many arguments for and against GMO

food, but most people agree that this method is faster, more accurate, and able to do more than

traditional methods, which may be why it is used in 23 countries (Making Sense 7).

Some examples of GMO food are golden rice and EAHB Ugandan sweet banana. Golden

rice produces beta-carotene, which helps people get Vitamin A. The creation of this rice is

justified because Vitamin A deficiency causes blindness in 0.5 million people every year. This

deficiency most significantly affects people in developing countries living in poverty. These

populations also rely on rice as a staple food source, so it makes sense that this golden rice is

distributed by governments free of charge (Making Sense 11). The creation of the genetically

modified sweet banana is justified because the fungus Black Sigatoka causes leaf spot disease

that reduces the yield of the plant by 50%. Modifying the banana makes it resistant to this

fungus, which is essential to eliminating the threat to food security because Uganda relies on

bananas as a staple crop (Making Sense 13).

 The main reasons scientists want to create GMO foods is because that food can “increase

crop yields, reduce damage to crops after they are harvested…more tolerant to stress…improve

nutritional value” (Making Sense 10). The idea behind reducing damage is that the plants will be

protected from insects. When referring to stress, scientists mean cold, drought, and heat. One

argument for GMO foods is that land is become harder to produce food because of “overgrazing,

too much salt due to irrigation, and desertification” (Making Sense 20). Another argument is that

farmers don’t have to use as much pesticides which benefits the environment (Benefits

Margulis). Additionally, “changing the rate of ripening would seem to be a benefit to both the

farmer, by decreasing post-harvest losses, and the consumer by increasing shelf life” (Falk

1385).

Even after hearing these arguments, there are scientists that disagree and claim that the

risks outweigh the costs. One argument against GMO food is that it might have harmful effects

on the people eating the food. However, there is the counterclaim that “over a trillion meals

containing GMO foods have been consumed without adverse health effects” (Making Sense 18).

This is a difficult area because there are several studies with different results and conclusions.

More risks are that this type of genetic modification is unpredictable and can mutate (Risks

Rifkin). Furthermore, it is argued that genes are “inserted more haphazardly than in traditional

cross-breeding” (Risks Rissler). Others argue that it has damaging effects on the environment

and animals because of the cross-pollination between GMO crops and wild species (Halford 68),

one example being the Monarch butterfly (Falk 1385). Finally, some suggest that the use of

foreign genes can lead to increases in toxicity and allergenicity (Halford 70).

I am in favor of GMO food because as an international development major, I see the

benefits to the developing world, the greatest being better nutrition where before their diet didn’t
sufficiently meet their nutritional needs. Also, I recognize that the population is rapidly growing,

which leads me to worry about the amount of food we are producing and food security for the

future. The Green Revolution in the 1960s tripled the world food production (Making Sense 20),

and I believe we need this again to catch up with our increasing population. Additionally, I

realize that the world is urbanizing at a greater rate than ever before. This means that there will

be a decrease in available land because more houses need to be built to sustain the growing

cities. We need GMO foods because they can produce more food and with less space. Finally, I

believe that genetically modifying food is critical because climate change is increasing extreme

weather and climate conditions which is negatively impacting plants. We need plants that are

able to combat these extreme conditions. Although I believe that the benefits outweigh the risks,

I believe that more research is needed to fully evaluate GMO food’s nutritional benefits,

environmental impact, and any adverse effects on the consumers.

 Works Cited

Making Sense of GM: What Is the Genetic Modification of Plants and Why Are Scientists Doing

It? . Sense about Science , 9 Feb. 2009, senseaboutscience.org/wp-

content/uploads/2016/11/MakingsenseofGM.pdf.

“What Are the Risks?” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,

www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/viewpoints/risks.html.

“What Are the Benefits? .” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,

www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/viewpoints/benefits.html.

Halford, Nigel G, and Peter R Shewry. “Genetically Modified Crops: Methodology, Benefits,

Regulation and Public Concerns.” Vol. 56, no. 1, 2000, pp. 62–73.

Falk, Michael C., et al. “Food Biotechnology: Benefits and Concerns.(Abstract).” The Journal of

Nutrition, vol. 132, no. 6, 2002, pp. 1384–1390.