GMO

[moe42]

GMO's Potential disaster of modern science?

When Adam and Eve bit into that first apple or ate their first banana they never had to think about if the DNA from the pig that was on the table was also in the tomato's. Today modern science creates food using test tubes and laboratories rather than seeds and soil and then markets these concoctions without alerting the general public to the bio-genetic waste witch they are consuming. When you go to the supermarket and go to the fruit and vegetable section and pick up a peach you assume that fruit is a natural product of mother nature but this idea no longer applies to our groceries. By law grocers must mark if a product is organic so that we, the consumer, can regulate weather we are consuming pesticides due to the fact that it is not a natural enzyme of the food. This law is profound but why shouldn't the same rules apply to the same food when not chemicals but DNA and bacteria are interpolated into our diet. Many questions are raised about the safety, morals, and the necessity of the use of GMO's in our food. For years the American people have unknowingly been consuming these GMO's, in fact most people don't even know they exist. The question is if these companies which produce these products believe they are so safe and so worthy why do they object to labeling them? They vindicate the use of GMO's as a safe, resourceful alternative for pesticides but very few studies have been done to prove this theory, in truth many of the companies who produce these products pay off scientists who think about doing studies on this matter. Some tests conclude that consummation of GMO's can lead to birth defects, mental retardation or slowness, learning disabilities, vulnerability to certain bacteria and disease. Pesticides are chemicals used on crops to prevent disease and insect infestation. Organic foods are foods which do not use these pesticides and are meant to me completely free of them. GMO stands for "Genetically Modified Organisms", this means that in a laboratory they alter the food in question using DNA or bacteria to improve these foods some how. One type of GMO was used on corn. Every year the monarch butterfly migrates to South America, along the way they stop to eat at corn fields. As an alternative to the previously used pesticides they used GMO's to modify their corn. This was supposed to be a natural way to prevent the butterfly's from eating the corn and destroying the farmers crop but in turn it ended up killing over half of the population of the migrant monarchs. These GMO's are so common now that we have lost track of which food contains them, some of this though could be devastating. Just like when a genetic disease enters a persons system and is passed on to offspring it becomes a part of the organisms genetic make up. What is supposed to be food which is untouched by GMO's is now being proven to have unintentionally infected. Due to wind the seeds from the plants containing the GMO's are blown into fields which do not contain them. After a while the entire field becomes infected with the GMO makeup thus destroying a GMO free crop. Soon the hard fact is that none of our food will be without these modifications. Even food which we believe is organic could be infested and without knowing the long term effects of these practices we don't know if we are creating any problems with our bodily systems. Soon all our crops will contain GMO's weather we intend them to or not and if we do discover that they are in fact dangerous to our health and environment the damage could be irreversible. We could be unintentionally poisoning ourselves and our land to a point where we could kill off the entire population of Earth and damage the soil and seeds so much that future life forms could not survive. We should not be using these GMO's until we know the full effects of their use. The FDA does not release a drug until ever side effect, danger, and risk is found out. Why should our food be any different.

[Ms Omaniac]

Im sorry...im lost...what exactly is GMO? your article was interesting but i couldnt help but wonder...what does GMO stand for.

[GuiltyAsCharged]

GMO stands for Genetigally Manipulated Organism/Organic. Put it simple, moe is talking about genetically manipulated food.

[RayKay]

The only problem with all this is...genetic modification is not new.

 

People have been "genetically manipulating" in order to cross crops...most of the food we have today is a result of splitting and combining different species of food (ie vegetables) to get a result. What we eat is tasty because of some of that! What our ancient ancestors ate would be almost inedible to our standards today without these refinements. In fact, many of what we have NOW would not be here without cross-breeding and manipulation.

 

Genetically manipulation also allows us to fortify rice for poor third world countries to ensure they get required nutrients when their diets are so limited, and allows us to grow stronger crops, meaning often more success so that less land needs to be used to get enough healthy crop. Sure the corn killed many butterflies, but pesticides would of done the same as well and maybe we need to find out the stats on the pesticides as well.

 

There is always more than one side to every story. One must be aware of what they are eating, but also to label ALL genetic manipulation in our food is also jumping the gun a bit. There is not enough research to show that GMO's cause damage to our bodies, though yes likely combined with the other factors quite possible they do. Just as the sun increases our risks of cancer, exhaust from cars damage our lungs, the saran wrap on our food may also give us issues. But whether GMO's are WORSE then pesticides - I don't think we can have an answer for that yet - I feel better eating a GMO apple than a pesticide covered one! It is also unreasonable to think all things can be grown without pesticides on a small scale - our economy & consumption is too large for that or have enough people willing to run such expensive operations.