Veronika Kalugina

ENV 1150-02

Critical Analysis 4

November 15th, 2021

GMOs & Diet

GMOs are a controversial field of science. For a thousand years, the genes got modified on their own. So
why are GMOs are treated differently? With genetic modification, we can choose what we want to do
with plants and make them better. Some people may ask if it is safe for the human body, and the answer
is that GMOs are meant to be eaten, they get checked for possible danger to people. GMO plants are
engineered to be resistant to certain weed killers and harmless to humans. It can be extremely helpful in
agriculture fields, where farmers can use them widely and grow more safe produce, instead of using
very expensive harmful pesticides. GMOs are a peaceful solution to this issue.

99% of GMOs right now produce their pesticide or are resistant to them. Using genetic modification
technology, we can create fruits that cure their diseases and can be resistant to the weather or other
changes and plants that collect their own nitrogen, which can result in a slow down or reverse of climate
change.

If GMOs are great for the agriculture industry, where the criticism is coming from? It is criticism of
modern agriculture and business practice of the huge corporations that control our food supply. GMOs
as technology are an ally and not an enemy in this fight, helping to save and protect nature and
minimize our impact on the environment.

On another hand, the newer technology of Crispr doesn’t require a gene transfer, it is a gene-editing
tool, that can achieve the same effects, but is simpler, cheaper, and faster. It is a more efficient way to
improve agriculture productivity. With this technology, we can create the plants using gene editing, a
natural process technology, that can cut out certain parts of DNA that help control traits, which repairs
itself automatically and leads to larger food production. And besides larger production, food can have
better nutritious components and drought the pests, and be resistible to the weather change.

People in the world consume more than 11 million pounds of food every day. With such a large number
intensifying farming can be a solution instead of expanding the farms. Where intensified farm products
can become a new organic for us.

Why do we ship the products all across the country instead of consuming them locally? An example of
Santa Barbara County, where they couldn’t ship or receive any product due to the natural disaster issue
of a mudslide in 2005, which blocked the railroad and closed the transportation for at least a week, led
to the research about why people don’t consume what they produce within the county. After the
research was done in Santa Barbara County, the results stated that less than 5% of locally produced
products were consumed within the county, the rest 95% was the imports. It doesn’t make sense
because they can grow pretty much everything right there, so somehow there is a disconnect between
economics and the reason why we grow food in the first place. Our modern economy conspires against
the main factors of good nutrition, environment, and community.

We need to be aware of what we eat and where our food is coming from because it can help the
environment if we make better food choices, and we are aware of how it affects our planet. The
advantages of the newest technology in the field of agriculture are extremely important to know
because of the media misinterpretation or misrepresentation or misinformation that people share.