GMO's and Extinction

Syed Furqan Sayeedi
Ms.Jodi Klemme
Biology Honors
February, 22 2014
Earth, Version 2.1
(Our Genetically Modified Future) 'Man is what he eats' (Feuerbach) or more commonly known as ‘you are what you eat’ is ironically true considering Genetically modified food. Genetically modified organisms (or GMOs) have been capturing our attention in the news and media, they are not recent as it seems but have been used during and even before the 1900’s.GMOs stand for Genetically Modified Organisms and in the magazine Environmental Nutrition a GMO is described as: an organism that has been genetically altered using a laboratory process in which genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially placed into the genes of another organism to produce a desired trait in the plant. Genes may come from other plants, bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. This process uses the “strong” genes in other organisms and implants them in the animal or plant that is to be modified, it makes them stronger, bigger, and a lot better. But, can we allow the uncontrolled use of GMOs? If the genetically modified animals or plants were to reproduce outside of their controlled areas would they be able to pass down genes that will lead to a new variety of offspring or will the better and more stronger GMOs wipe out all the natural and organic organisms through competition? Governments should limit the production of GMO's inside a lab and work to expel the uncontrolled production of GMOs, because of the fact that the genetically modified organisms can interact with the environment and cause the transfer of harmful genes which can lead to the elimination and extinction of all natural organisms. It may not be a well known fact but GMOs have greatly increased our quality of life. GMOs have mainly helped our agricultural industries by increasing the size and the quality of our crops and/or cattle. In fact, GMOs have helped to improve selective breeding by cutting down on the time and effort, but you will learn later that all these good things that GMOs pose do have consequences. According to the article Update: GMOs in Foods Modern agricultural advances have led scientists to develop more time-efficient techniques, including genetic engineering, which can offer greater precision in isolating specific genes for important traits that have the potential to offer benefits. Additionally according to the same article agricultural biotechnology has been driven by the demand to improve agricultural efficiency, including increasing production yields by protecting plants from natural pests, reducing water and maximizing land usage (Ruhs). Also another big point for GMOs is the fact that they can save some of our most favorite foods, in fact genetic engineering saved the Hawaiian papaya from extinction. The papaya ringspot virus had previously wiped out crops in the 60s and 70s and when traditional plant-breeding failed, researchers turned to genetic engineering and successfully saved the papaya (Ruhs).GMOs are not necessarily bad or harmful, based on the information from Update: GMOs in Foods they have reduced the risk of pesticides and herbicides the past few years, and their capability to produce a big crop every year makes them a big addition to the economy. Their effectiveness in using the water also helps us with our ever declining water supply. Some GMOs are even modified to have more beneficial nutrients which ensures the well being of everyone and helps fight malnutrition. GMOs have proven to be a great addition to our agriculture, they have boosted crop yields and helped cut down on the chemicals we used on plants, they have even boosted the amount of nutrition we are able to get from food. But, nothing ever has one side GMOs may sound good, and they are in many ways, but not everything GMOs contribute is helpful to us and our future. GMOs have been in the news for a long time, their source of fame that put them in the media? The potentially bad side of GMOs. Each potentially good side of GMOs have an ugly bad side and unfortunately it is the bad side that is more pronounced in the media, and it is because GMOs long term impact on the environment greatly outweighs its positive effects, that is why they should be controlled. According to the head of biotechnology controls at the Department of Environment some GM crops have been manipulated by scientists to be resistant to antibiotics. According to the article Stop GM Foods: Modified Crops `Out of Control’ Scientists and environmental campaigners fear that the antibiotic resistance could be passed to animals, then the humans who eat them. Civil servants have warned it could create bacteria immune to antibiotics. The passing of antibiotic resistance shows that GMOs have the potential to create new superbugs. A big issue of GMOs is their property to make aberrations and defects inside a living organism. According to a study in the early 1900’s when rats were forcefully fed GM tomatoes (they actually refused to consume anything that was genetically modified), Several developed stomach lesions and seven out of 40 died within two weeks. In accordance many rats developed potentially pre-cancerous cell growth, damaged immune systems, partial atrophy of the liver, and inhibited development of their brains, livers and testicles (Smith). Even though GM foods were tested on rats, there is no way to tell for certain what effects it might have on humans. the amount of unknown variables in a test for GM foods in humans is too vast to directly link any disorders or aberrations to GM foods, despite that there are many movements against the use of GM foods in the world and many governments have responded by giving their support, that is why we have to continue to study the effects of GMOs in a controlled environment, to assess further risks.. GMOs may have a lot of benefits to gain from but it may take a while for the acceptance of GMOs to catch on. When GMOs were tested on rats there were severe and harmful effects. There is no way to test if they can have the same effects on us humans and we have too many questions to deem GMOs 100% safe to consume and live with we have to wait until technology can catch up with answers to our concerns. GMOs have a big indirect impact on our precious and already threatened environment. GMOs do reduce the use of chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides but they can cause other things such as extinction and long term extermination from their habitats. Things like unfair competition in the food chain, gene pollution, and bioaccumulation can eventually lead to the wipeout of species. Genetic pollution can be directly linked to GMOs, according to Earth Talk Magazine genetic pollution is when altered genes (that were in the GMO) get spread throughout the natural environment . This can happen through breeding, this breeding leads to unfair competition. When a GMO breeds with its natural counterpart their genes are exchanged, the resulted offspring turn out to be more enhanced and capable of surviving in their environment due to their heightened abilities that were gained from each parent, these abilities can give the offspring a better chance at finding food and shelter but the cost is the failure of other organisms to survive. A good example of this would be salmon, genetically engineered salmon are enhanced to survive the cold winters and become bigger physically, as a result they need more food and because they survive year round they consume all the food before the organic salmon can feed (Myhr, Ingeborg, Traavik). We as humans can also be caught in this cycle because of bioaccumulation, the genes ingested into the organisms we eat can accumulate in our bodies, scientists have proven that certain genes do remain after we eat a GMO but we do not know if they will cause any harm (Chainark). The combination of genetic pollution, unfair competition, and bioaccumulation can lead to the wipeout of all organic organisms because they do not have the abilities to compete with their genetically enhanced counterparts, also if scientists prove that the genes that are passed when we eat GMOs are harmful, then the organisms at the top of the food chain will suffer the most because of bioaccumulation,soon all we will have is GMOs and we may even have to turn to genetic engineering ourselves to save ourselves from our own extinction. Genetic engineering has a big ripple effect if we do not limit its production to controlled environments, this way we can monitor the spread of its genes and prevent it to spread into the environment through genetic pollution which can then lead to unfair competition and bioaccumulation in the food chain. GMOs have their good and their bad sides, especially their bad sides, because of the fact that the genetically modified organisms can interact with the environment and cause the transfer of harmful genes which can lead to the elimination and extinction of all natural organisms.But if we can work together we can use GMOs to our benefits. As noted before if governments can learn to limit the production of GMOs to a controlled environment, such as a lab, then we can monitor the spread of genes and assess any potential harm that result from consuming the genetically modified animal or plant. We can probably work to make GM plant only greenhouses where we could mass produce produce like potatoes and canola which we can use to eliminate world hunger and possibly cut down on the malnutrition in the human race. We can also use GMOs in other ways, such as to produce cotton that is stronger to wear or biofuels which are better than natural gas,again there are countless benefits that can result from GMOs. Labelling is a very good example of our efforts to notify the public about GMOs. Even though there is still a big doubt if GMOs are safe or not, technology is improving and we just have to be patient for results, even if we have to wait another century, it is better to be safe than sorry. GMOs can be our rise our our fall, they can create the future or they can destroy it, and because we have too many questions and concerns lets limit the use of GMOs to labs so we can ensure that our children can witness normal and organic organisms the way we are able to witness them today.