Genetically Engineered Crops

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Recommended: Environmental impacts of GMOs

Many of our crops today are what you would call genetically engineered. This means that certain plants are taken to a lab where specific genes are genetically enhanced with desired traits such as resistance to herbicides, insecticides, drought, and even improved nutritional content. While that may sound like a win for everyone such as the farmers as well as the consumers, there are many disadvantages that not only affect our health, but our environment as well as the economy. With several facts that have been shown, the good in GE crops should not outweigh the bad and in the end, we may be solving a problem now, but creating a much bigger one for our future. Genetically Engineered crops were first introduced 1996. They now constitute for more than 80 percent of our soybean, corn, and cotton grown in the United States today (Genetically Engineered Crops Benefit Many Farmers). Many farmers adopted the use of growing GE crops because of all the benefits they seemed to have with not only less use of herbicides and insecticides but the less of an environmental impact they were having. For some crops it is not cost effective to pull out weeds by tilling. Instead, some farmers take not only the more time consuming, but more expensive task of having their crops sprayed with a large amount of different herbicides to kill the weeds. Although that doesn’t sound like a total bad idea it is because many of those herbicides can stay in the soil and linger in our waterways. However, there are genetically engineered crops with very powerful herbicide genes that not only fend off many weeds, but prevent environmental damage as well by cutting down the need for herbicide sprays (Harmful or Helpful?). Although that may sound like an easy win f... ... middle of paper ... ... trump any pro that there is and that’s not even going into the health risks that comes along with eating GE foods. So although the intention of these crops were for good as of right now there is too much bad that comes along with them. Remember, “You are what you eat” and solving a problem now will only create a much larger one for the future. Works Cited csa.com/discoveryguide/gmfood/overview.php Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful? By Deborah B. Whitman April 2000 nationalacademies.org Date: April 13, 2010 Contacts: Jennifer Walsh, Media Relations Officer Molly Galvin, Senior Media Relations Officer Alison Burnette, Media Relations Assistant Office of News and Public Information 202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.edu wanttoknow.info/gmoinyourfood Genetically Engineered Foods (GMOs) May Pose National Health Risk © Copyright 2004 by Jeffrey M. Smith

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