GMO's

For a class assignment, I had to research and hold a discussion on GMO's. Half of the class was to research the pros, and the other half, the cons. Doing so, I not only educated myself, but my family as well. Before I did this in-depth study, I was moderately against the use of GMO's in food. Now with the studies, I am still against it for my personal kitchen and family. However, with enough studies and better technology, GMO's may be able to be accepted in more homes around the world. 

Currently, I do believe that GMO's like "golden rice" is great for those in third-world countries and do not obtain enough Vitamin A in their diet. However, the rice must be paired with sufficient fat intake, or else it is useless. Therefore, rice pumped up with just a vitamin, but not the needed fat, is inadequate to help humans retain their eyesight. 


As with anything that deals with health and food, I am not a professional (yet!). Do your own research, and think for your own self and family. This is just my opinion from gathered material. I also have listed some of the sources that helped me come to my conclusion.

 Reasons Against GMO's:

-Unknown allergens in food may be created.

-Cross-pollination of pest and herbicide-resistant crops may create super-weeds that cannot be killed.

-Unexpected mutations can create unsafe toxins in food.

-FDA doesn’t require labels for GMO’s, so any problems concerning them cannot be traced.

-Genetically modified crops contain genes that can be picked up by bacteria and allow them to become antibiotic-resistant (We could accidently create the next MRSA).

-FDA is more concerned about the wealth of agri-business, not the health of consumers, which allows in-depth testing to not be conducted.

-Insects may become pesticide-resistant to the GM crops, making it harder to create better GM crops in the future.

-Creating more genetically modified foods is expensive because of all of the research and experiments required – so it hurts our wallets when a new GMO is introduced to our food supply.

-Only way to make sure you are not eating a genetically modified crop is to eat organic foods, which is costly, and harder to find than modified foods. Only 14% of soybean is non-GMO. Think about it next time you eat or drink something with soy ingredients.

Reasons for GMO's:

-Pesticide resistance helps saves millions of dollars, and gallons of chemicals.

-Herbicide tolerance allows the weeds to be killed without harming the crops.

-Disease and cold/drought resistant allows crops to be grown longer in conditions it previously was not able to with less care and maintenance.

-Edible vaccines may be produced, eliminating bio-hazard waste, and allowing more individuals to be inoculated with the needed vaccine.

Whether you are for or against GMO's, I ask you to vote whenever possible to make it mandatory for all food labels to list if it contains GMO's. This alone will allow the population to become more aware of what they are eating, and will soften the argument against having GMO's in our supermarkets.

Safe Food.org
http://www.safe-food.org/-issue/dangers.html
Green Facts.org
http://www.greenfacts.org/en/gmo/index.htm
Pro Quest and CSA
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php
Organic Valley Foods
http://www.organicvalley.coop/why-organic/gmos/