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Genetically Modified Foods Having a Negative Impact

Christina Burkett

Northwest Career and Technical Academy

English 12 Period 3

Ms. Acosta

December 3, 2021
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Abstract

This paper is about genetically modified organisms and foods that people are constantly

consuming. Genetically modified organisms are things that are genetically modified to be larger

or more nutritious, depending on what they are trying to achieve. All of these modifications are

through science and genetically engineering to mess with the DNA of the organism. These

GMOs are affecting people in all different negative ways such as antibiotics, allergic reactions,

and pesticides. So many people have different views on GMOs and if they are harmful to the

body and environment. However, there are others that use genetically modified plants and

animals to benefit themselves with the nutrients so they can consume less of the product but

more value of it. The purpose of this paper is to show you the negative effects of GMOs and why

they should be banned and how they’re affecting people in a bad way instead of a positive way in

the community.
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Genetically modified organisms or some may say GMOs are in plenty of different types

of foods you consume. GMOs are living things or foods that have been modified through genetic

engineering. Genetic engineering is when scientists use technology to alter the genetics of an

organism. A natural way farmers use GMOs is by enhancing the nutritional value or protecting a

certain food from pests by using pesticides. These GMOs can cause harm to the body after a long

term intake of these modified foods. In some opinions most think GMOs should be allowed for

multiple different reasons. These reasons can be because these modified foods are adding extra

DNA to the foods that aren’t necessary which can harm the body after a long period of time.

Another thing is that people may get sick from the pesticides being on the vegetables or fruits.

The last reason is that modified DNA isn’t good for anything if one thing has too much of one

thing, which can make their DNA have an unusual pattern. Although some may say that GMOs

are healthy, they also do have a lot of negative effects because of pesticides, double stranded or

extra DNA, and allergies.

To begin with, modified foods that have extra DNA in them can harm the body over a

long period of time. When thinking of genetic engineering, it's basically just messing with the

organism’s DNA patterns and not having the natural perks to it. A good example of this is red

meat, genetically modified meat would have more antibiotics in it than regular natural meat.

Having too much antibiotics in the blood will lead to your body being resistant to the good

antibiotics to fight off infections. Any meat can have antibiotics in some examples include cows,

pigs and poultry.

Continuing on a lot of people may get sick from pesticides or having a certain protein

they shouldn’t have when consuming something like chicken. By this they mean if somebody is

eating chicken and if they put peanut protein in the chicken when the person is allergic to peanuts
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it might start an allergic reaction. These reactions can be life threatening depending on the

situation but the consumer won’t be able to do anything about it. Another thing is that the

farmers spray pesticides on the plants to help protect them from bugs but also mess with the

DNA to have things make bugs resistant as well. For example if the person doesn't clean their

food they might get a taste of the pesticide which will also make them sick. People should not

consume these types of genetically modified foods everyday to prevent long term effects.

Lastly, with having all of these genetically modified things in the environment, it leads to

animals losing their habitats. Forests get destroyed by gmo seeds falling into the natural soil

which will eventually push out the all natural trees. This can ruin animal habitats and not benefit

them because if they eat the wrong seed, it can possibly kill them. With this being said it doesn’t

help anyone but the people who are getting paid for the GMOs because the weaker the logs the

weaker houses will be. So you have to take all of these into consideration about how it will

benefit your everyday life.

On the other hand some may say that genetically modified foods and organisms are good

for your body and the environment. There has been a lot of pros and research about how you can

benefit from these GMOs. To begin with, the FDA also approves that GMOs do not harm the

human body and that is why they are able to sell them in stores without any problem. People may

say that GMOs can benefit the body because some things will have more of a nutritional value so

you can eat less. Other things is that they can improve crop breeding to make more food for the

population and help out the environment. One con that a lot of people agree with is that they can

make food that has medicine in it to heal people. By this they mean if a baby or a person who

can’t for some reason take the normal medication, they will have another chance by eating an

apple with that type of medicine in it to make sure they get their full dosage.
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So as you can see a lot of people are against genetically modified foods for plenty of

different reasons. There’s more to it than just what you are consuming but it also depends on

your environment and if it would last or not. GMOs may have an effect on you in the long run

but if you consume them correctly you should be able to live with them just fine.
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References

Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. (n.d.). How gmos are regulated. U.S. Food

and Drug Administration. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from

https://www.fda.gov/food/agricultural-biotechnology/how-gmos-are-regulated-food-and-pl

ant-safety-united-states

BioExplorer. (2021, June 12). 6 major disadvantages of Genetically Modified Foods:

Biology Explorer. Bio Explorer. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from

https://www.bioexplorer.net/disadvantages-of-genetically-modified-foods.html/

Why do we use gmos? (n.d.). Retrieved October 20, 2021, from

https://ag.purdue.edu/GMOs/Pages/WhyGMOs.aspx