The Pros And Cons Of Genetically Modified Organisms

In todays society, people are more concerned about what they put into their body. They eat healthy and maintain a stable diet, but unknown to a number of these people is their food may have been tampered with in the form of Genetically Modified Organisms or, for short, GMO's. Genetically Modified Organisms are plants or animals whose DNA has been altered to favor a certain characteristic or trait which is already in the DNA of other plants and animals. Which includes enhancing the DNA in plants to make them larger, invincible to pests, or invincible towards weeds. Although, the reason why GMO's are a controversial topic is because GMO's have been known to kill animals, are a threat to our natural environment in many ways, and little is known

Therefore, because GMO's pose a unknown threat to humans, and a known threat to animals and the environment, Genetically Modified Organisms should not be used to enhance our food products.

The United States uses GMO's today in the food we buy and not many people here in the U.S. don't have a basic knowledge of GMO's, but considering it is in most of our food we should be educated on them. For example, when going to the grocery store someone picks up a plastic container with strawberries. When they get home, they find one strawberry out of the bunch is bigger and deformed from the rest. The deformed strawberry is the result of GMO testing and the person in question eats it thinking it may be weird but it's still good, right? No, wrong. According to the Institute for Responsible Technology, "Genetically modified foods have been linked to toxic and allergic reactions, sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ studied in lab animals," (Lallanilla). Of course, the argument here

Genetically Modified Plant's can increase crop yields, they are resistance to pests and herbicides, and GMO plants stop the use of many pesticides. But there are drawbacks to these benefits. For example, field studies conducted in India found Bt cotton demonstrated a higher crop yield, but, "By 2004, however, farmers who had been growing Bt cotton for several years found that the benefits of the crop eroded as populations of secondary insect pests, such as Mirids, increased," (Diaz and Fridovich-Kiel). The new crops tamper with the natural structure of the environment, and attract bug who could eat the plants without dying. Another way in which GMO plants can tamper with the natural environment is bugs can adapt to the new crop. Therefore, the plants create super bugs which can survive the effects of the GMO plants. As a matter of fact, another way GMO plants can corrupt the natural environment is the use of more chemicals to kill herbicides. Some GMO crops are engineered to resist certain herbicides, "However, because HRCs (Herbicide resistant crops) encourage increase application of chemicals to the soil, rather than decrease the application, they remain controversial with regard to their environmental impact" (Diaz and Fridovich-Keil). In other words, GMO's are not only unsafe towards humans, they are unsafe for the natural balance of the environment. We as humans