GMOs Effect On The Environment

Many people are concerned with eating GM foods. However, the FDA doesn’t require testing
and labeling of these foods so you don’t know what you are eating. This conflict should be
watched because people and countries could be majorly affected by GMOs. Research shows
that test animals have had major side effects from GMOs, and many articles discuss the
negative economic, environmental, and health effects of GMOs. GMOs (genetically modified
organisms) are living organisms who have had genes added to them. GMOs can be as a result
of selective breeding or genetic engineering, but for the purposes of this essay, GMOs will be as
a result of genetic engineering. People should stop using GMOs because when consumed,
GMOs could have a major effect on your health, GM crops hurt our environment, and GMOs
have no clear economical advantage. They have even been known to hurt our economy. People
consuming GMOs could have major health effects. In addition, there are many other signs that
GMOs could be dangerous, although there have not been many studies done to provide
information about long term health effects.
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A rat feeding study found side effects linked with GM corn due to the toxicness of it, possibly
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from the pesticides on the corn. If the pesticides found on corn could hurt rats, imagine what
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could happen to us! As mentioned above, the FDA does not require labeling of GMO products.
However, “The FDA… admitted in court that it had made ‘no dispositive scientific findings,’
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whatsoever, about the safety of genetically engineered foods”. This means that the FDA lets us
unknowingly consume possibly dangerous foods. Smith quotes the American Academy of
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Environmental Medicine, which states that, “‘Several animal studies indicate serious health
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risks associated with genetically modified (GM) food,’ including infertility, immune problems,
accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the
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gastrointestinal system”. With all these possible health effects, people really should not
consume GMOs. In conclusion, due to the possible serious and unknown health risks,
consumers should not use GMOs. Unfortunately, this is not the only impact of GMOs. GM crops
hurt our environment in several different ways. This is important because our environment is all
around us and if we hurt our environment, we will hurt where we live and where other organisms
live. According to Glass, “Biodiversity, while it is critical in all ecosystems and to the
sustainability of all species, is put at risk by GMOs”. This is because there is little diversity in the
seeds planted and because of the toxins in the GM plants and their effects, which reduce the
amount of diverse organisms in the environment. It will be bad for the environment if there are
fewer unique organisms and more toxins in it. Hammer states that another problem with GM
crops is that they might create superweeds, which are resistant to pesticides or herbicides.

Superweeds can be formed if genes that are resistant to pesticides or herbicides move from GM
crops to weeds which are close relatives of it. If this happens, we’ll need different pesticides to
get rid of them, and using even more types of pesticides will hurt our environment even more.
The article “The Environmental Impact of GMOs” states that GMOs’ DNA could be transferred
from the crops to its surrounding environment. If the crops’ DNA is transferred to the
environment, the environment will never be the same again. Besides affecting our health, GMOs
can affect other organisms in our environment by releasing toxins, creating mutant weeds, and
tainting everything around with their DNA. GMOs will not only damage our Earth, but also our
economy. Finally, GMOs have no clear economical advantage, even hurting our economy.

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 Although the effects of GMOs may not be noticable, the effects of GMOs on small farms and
developing countries are very real. Using GM seeds could prevent developing countries from
becoming developed and small farms from growing. According to Murnaghan, “Consumer
groups worry that by placing a patent on a new kind of GM plant, the price of the seeds can be
raised to such an extent that small-scale farm operations and farmers in developing countries
will not be able to afford these GM varieties of crops”. This means that large companies will
dominate the GM market and smaller companies might struggle to keep their head above the
water. In addition, GM plants are supposed to yield much more than unmodified plants, but
research has shown that their yield is the same as or less than plants that are unchanged. Why
would you pay more for plants that produce the same amount of or fewer crops? “Some of the
farmers who have grown GM products from companies such as Monsanto have cited that they
did not do so by choice… Biotechnology companies can insert a 'suicide gene' into the modified
plant.… The end result is that farmers would be forced to purchase new seeds each year. Yet, if
you consider the economic challenges of third world countries and developing nations, this
would be an economic disaster. They would be unable to afford the seeds every year”. If
developing countries buy GM seeds with a “suicide gene,” they will not have enough money to
grow and be successful. Even though a suicide gene helps protect the companies’ design, it
hurts small companies and growing countries. If GM seeds cost more than normal seeds, you
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would expect them to be better, right? However this is not actually the case. These plants yield
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the same as or less than normal plants and you have to buy some seeds every year, unlike
unmodified seeds.
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In conclusion, people shouldn’t consume GMOs because of the possible side effects and
uncertainty. In addition, GMOs could hurt the Earth from their DNA, genes, toxins, and less
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diversity in seeds. Finally, GMOs won’t help our and other countries’ economies and even hurt
them because they cost more without producing more and sometimes require you to buy seeds
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every year.
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The risks involved with GMOs are high. You should also carefully watch what you eat as GMOs
are not required to be labeled. Finally, GMOs can negatively affect our environment, possibly
forever. GMOs could have major health effects, GM crops hurt our environment, and GMOs
have no clear economical advantage, even hurting our economy which is why people should
stop using GMOs.

GMOs can pose a risk to your health, of which even the FDA doesn’t know. The author
describes 6 different ways GMOs could affect our health negatively and describes the reasoning
behind these concerns. He or she most likely believes against using GMOs as the website is
about the health risks of GMOs and is probably targeting people who are health-conscious and
want to learn more about how food affects them. I believe this is a good source because it is
very detailed and gives evidence to support its claim. Compared to other sources, this source
has some of the same information, such as the FDA on GMOs, but also new information. One
part of this source I enjoyed was interactivity of the site. However, I would have liked links to
where I could find out more about this topic.

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