Gmo Labeling Research Paper

Unwanted weeds spiraling out of control. Revealing its true nature to surprised farmers, impacts from the GMO crops have no longer been gentle. Yanking each and every weed one by one, the formerly stringy plants have proven itself to be much more than an easy match for both the once effective herbicides and the farmer. GMOs, or genetically modified organisms are plants or animals that have been re-engineered with the DNA of bacteria, viruses, or other plants and animals. With the intention of being able to alter the crop to reap numerous benefits, GMOs have made its impact. While some states are not enforcing the labeling of GMOs in food products, most are rightfully agreeing that it is a necessity to have the controversial ingredients labeled
due to the countless health risks of GMO consumption and their deadly impact on the environment.
As the concern regarding GMOs has skyrocketed, people have been wanting the ingredients labeled.
As a New York Times poll found that 93 percent of today’s Americans want GMO labeling (Pro/Con To Label), the majority of Americans are hesitant towards the newly introduced GMO products. Currently throughout parts of the world, many nations are wary of GMOs. Accordingly, companies need to respect the opinions of people - respect their beliefs by doing their best to satisfy the majority. In addition, in 1998, the European Union, an association of states, passed a regulation that called for all GMOs to be labeled in food products. Soon, European companies found themselves removing the GMOs in their products due to the hesitation from the public (Pro/Con To Label). If a large amount of the world’s most successful nations have collectively decided to require GMO labeling, it reflects that the people of their respective countries believe that GMOs are “bad enough” to require labeling. On the contrary, some who believe otherwise may argue that the labeling of GMOs can imply that they are harmful and dangerous, which leads to the labeled being “misleading.” However, as proven with countless studies made by researchers, GMOs have been known to cause damage to one’s digestive system (Label GMOs.
Org).
To begin, the countless chemicals used on GMO crops have been linked with countless health risks amongst the consumers.
According to a report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they have, “... connected glyphosate to damage done to the human gut and the digestive system. It can even lead to hormone disruption, impaired liver detoxification and lowered nutrient absorption” (Just Label It). Because the GMO crops have been altered to withstand toxic chemicals like glyphosate, it has lead to people excessively dousing the strong GMO crops with toxins that will certainly affect those who consume the chemical-laced crops with health problems, requiring the need for labels as warnings. Additionally, there have been no long-term studies conducted on the safety of GMO consumption on humans. According to GMO Free, “... the adoption on the concept of substantial equivalence allowed permission to market and sell foods without any safety or toxicology test as long as they were not too different in chemical composition to foods already on the market” (Label
GMOs.Org).
Researchers are still uncertain of the long-term effects of GMOs, and since companies are exempt from tests as long as they are not deemed to be much different that the “natural” counterpart of the crop, this does not allow for GMO crops to be tested for more possible long-term effects. Like how we are uncertain of vaping’s long-term effects, the public needs to be granted access to important information and should be given the right to choose whether to consume the harmful foods. The government needs to find a way to ensure that people are aware of what they are consuming, and a label would do exactly that. Although some may argue that GMO consumption is safe and carries no effects, the researchers at York Laboratory prove this to not be the case of GMOs have been known to cause changes in major organs (Health Risks). The altering of genes has been proven to introduce new allergies amongst the consumers. As the York Laboratory reports, “Even the inserted gene can be damaged or rearranged and and may create proteins that can trigger allergies or promote disease” (Health Risks). This has led to many systems becoming unable to consume specific GMO crops and be fine with the wild, non-GMO counterpart. If a person with GMO allergies assume that a product is non-GMO, they can trigger an unpredictable allergy attack. Therefore, for the benefit of those with allergies, all food products containing GMO ingredients must be labeled. As there are many health risks linked to consuming GMOs, it is the customer’s right to have the dangerous foods labeled. Furthermore, as it is the customer’s right to have the dangerous foods labeled, consumers need to be informed that GMOs have a negative impact on the environment. As the farmers spray herbicides on their GMO crops to control and kill the weeds in their fields, the majority of the weeds die. However, over time, the ones able to withstand the chemicals are left to reproduce, and this leds to a generation of herbicide-resistant weeds taking over the fields, harming the environment as they require more chemical to manage. Because GMOs are often modified to withstand weed killers that would have otherwise damaged the crops from its toxins, farmers excessively dousing their fields to get rid of the “superweeds” with even more toxic chemicals like glyphosate and components used in Agent Orange to control the herbicide-resistant superweeds. These chemicals when exposed to humans are extremely dangerous as Agent Orange was once used by the U.S. Military as part of a herbicidal warfare (Agent Orange). These chemicals can destroy thousands of plants and poison humans if not sprayed correctly as humans exposed to these chemicals are likely to suffer from defects and health problems (Agent Orange). Additionally, if chemicals from the GMO crops accidently are sprayed by a forest, they will destroy the forest - harming the environment. Those who are passionate about the environment should be granted access to the information that the product they are consuming is hurting both people and the environment. GMO labels would right away tell the consumer of this additional piece of information.