Essay On Monsanto

Say No to GMOs: The Dangers Behind Monsanto’s Secret Ingredient When you eat a cheeseburger, you might know that you are eating a beef patty with cheese, lettuce, and ketchup on a sesame seed bun, but do you know what you are really eating? According to the documentary GMO OMG, “approximately 85% of all processed foods contain GMOs”, yet most consumers are unaware that this secret ingredient is included in most of their food. Although Monsanto believes their product is safely feeding the world, consumers should be aware of the hidden horrors of genetically modified food because research indicates that GMOs could drastically affect their health as well as cause environmental damage, all while violating the rights of consumers and farmers. So

Monsanto is a multinational agricultural and agrochemical biotechnology corporation based in America and is the largest producer of genetically engineered seeds. Monsanto argues that using science and newfound research to create genetically modified food is necessary in order to save our world from starvation. Eduardo Blumwald, a professor of cell biology and employee for Monsanto, says that genetically modified food could be “the only viable solution we have for our future” (Ostrander 24) where it is predicted that the temperature and population will soar. Blumwald argues that without genetically engineering food to produce under high temperatures with little water, the world could potentially starve in this predicted future. Yet regardless of “biotech industry promises, none of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit” (“GMO Facts”). Instead, Monsanto genetically modifies food to resist RoundUp, a pesticide the company has created to kill any plants or bugs other than the genetically engineered crop. According to the World Health Organization, this pesticide “is a probable human carcinogen” (“GMOs”) due to glyphosate, a

In other words, Nye is saying that GMOs could potentially be dangerous, because the affects of GMOs on our planet are hard to pinpoint since the variables in our environment are always changing. Emily Glass, author of “The Environmental Impact of GMOs”, presents one of the main issues with genetically engineered farming. Glass writes that “GMOs may be toxic to non-target organisms” such as bees and butterflies. The American Museum of Natural History reports that bees have been undergoing a “rapid and recent population collapse” and Katie Valentine also reveals that the population of monarch butterflies has “declined by 90 percent over the last two decades” due to the loss of plant biodiversity as well as the pesticides that harm insect pollinators. Since Monsanto creates their seeds in a lab, biodiversity is lost because all of the crops are identical copies created in mass-production. This monoculture farming style makes it harder for pollinating bees and butterflies and even some pollinating species of birds, like hummingbirds. Modern-day agriculture is affecting every living creature, including humans, because “the irrigation used to grow GM foods naturally carries all of these problems into water sources and into