Genetically Modified Foods

May 3, 2013
Genetically Modified Foods My environmental issue is genetically modified foods. I will explain why the foods should not be modified and the dangers of eating modified foods.
Why this issue is important Evidence shows that food that has been genetically modified is a danger to the health of humans. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine says that the public should not eat genetically modified foods because several studies have shown that there are a variety of health problems such as organ damage, reproductive disruption, accelerated aging, immune dysfunction and insulin disorders associated with GM foods. The process of genetically modifying food is done by changing the original DNA by adding other organisms to it, also called GMO which stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. Consumers have been eating foods that contain genetically modified ingredients in them not knowing the risk factors. (Doctors Warn About Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods, by David Gutierrez)
The FDA claims to have no knowledge that these foods were any different than naturally grown foods and labeled them as being Generally Recognized as Safe or (GRAS). The law says that a substance has to go through a certain amount of peer-reviewed published studies and has to have a certain amount of consensus among the scientific community that agrees that the product is safe. This allows them to be put on the market without any additional testing. Even though the GRAS labeled them to be safe, there are no proven facts that show that Genetically Modified foods are safe; the information that was given to the FDA was altered to expedite the approval of the products at the expense of the safety of the consumers. There has been no credible study done on genetically modified food safety.
Evidence in Support of the Thesis

In 1998 there was a lawsuit against the FDA for not listening to the warnings of their own scientists who were telling them that GM foods were not safe. The scientists warned that the GM foods could create unpredictable side effects that were hard to detect such as allergies, nutritional problems, toxins and new diseases and said that long-term studies needed to be done, but was ignored. (FDA ignored own scientists’ warnings about GM foods by Ken Roseboro)
Even though it may be true that food crops are bio-engineered to produce their own pesticides and herbicides, these traits transfer to weeds and insect, which means that there effects are not long lasting. GM foods have not yet been proven to be safe.
Rebuttal of the Evidence that Contradicts the Thesis
Genetically modified foods have the potential to help benefit consumers by improving nutritional qualities in fruits and vegetables. Some of the crops are genetically engineered with herbicide resistant so that when the farmer uses herbicides to kill the weeds it doesn’t hurt the crop, which benefits not only agriculture but also the economics. Losing crops due to insects can be a tremendous loss to farmers. Biotechnology also generates crops with genes that are resistant to long periods of drought and frost. Since there is an increase in population, more land will be needed to grow crop on harsh landscapes. Farmers will need to grow crops in places that will be unsuitable for agriculture. With the world population increasing, it will be a challenge in the years to come to make sure that there is enough food for the growing population. Genetically modified foods will help to produce enough crops in these harsh times. It will help to feed malnutrition in third world countries. There is a widespread of undernourishment in the worlds where people are poor. They depend on one main crop which is rice. Rice by itself doesn’t have enough nutrients that a person need. But rice can be genetically modified to contain extra vitamin and minerals.
Biotechnology has allowed people to be able to receive crucial vaccines and medicines which are hard to distribute. With vaccines and medicines being so expensive and the need to be stored a special way, they have come up with a way to put vaccines in food products so that they are easier to administer to people and easily transported. (The Benefits of Genetically Modified Food Crops)
Rebuttal of the above claims
Although malnutrition is a big problem in the world, according to the United Nations World Food Program, there is enough food being produced to feed the world without GM foods. The reasons that people go hungry are, they don’t have enough money to buy it or don’t have access to growing their own. The UN’s world food body is not in favor of using GM foods because of the effects on health and the environment. The Food and Agriculture Organization says “although GM crops could help with hunger in the world there are still questions about their implications for animal and human health and the balance of the ecosystems.” (Say No to GMOS)
Conclusion
Genetically modified foods have some pros and cons as I have showed you, but I am still a believer of the traditional way of growing foods. Since the foods will be labeled, that will give people the choice of rather to eat GM foods or naturally grown foods. that also have pro and cons to them.

Reference http://www.naturalnews.com/028245_GM_food_side_effects.html http://www.non-moreport.com/articles/october2011/FDAignoredscientistswarningsGMfoods.php http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Genetically_modified_foods http://www.saynotogmos.org/
http://suite101.com/article/the-benefits-of-genetically-modified-food-crops-a218670