Pros and Cons of GMO Foods
http://www.livestrong.com/article/213053-pros-cons-of-gmo-foods/
This picture shows a cob of corn. The different colored peices
of corn are supposed to represent the GMO parts of the corn.
As we all have learned, GMOs are genetically modified organisms that have new genes added from another organism to their existing genes. GMOs are an extremely controversial topic since there are so many pros and cons. The idea of having genetically modified food is appealing to some because it can help them with their issue of malnutrition; vitamins and minerals may be added to a food that were not recently present to enhance the food's nutritional value. On the other hand, some people may experience allergic reactions to genetically modified foods since scientists may mix/add protiens that were not present in the original food. Another con to GMOs is decreased antibiotic efficacy. What that means is that the food is altered so it is immune to certain diseases, then when we eat the food we are also immune to those illnesses. This may seem good at first, however with the GMOs from the food in your body it will make the real antibiotics less effective. Plants can also be altered to be resistant to insects. This is a pro because the GMO helps keep insects away whil still remaining safe for humans to eat. GMOs that keep away repell insects and weeds are also environmentally protective. By using a GMO to keep away the pests/weeds there is no more need for the harmful chemicals to destroy the environment. One of the major cons to GMOs would be the fear of the altered organisms transfering to the wild and mixing thier genes. By doing so, some species may become endangered or even extinct. As you can see there are the pros and cons to GMOs, which is what makes it an extremely controversial topic.
Opinion:
I think that certain GMOs are good, while others are not. I like the idea of the GMOs that repell pests so we don't have to use chemicals. By not using chemicals we are eliminating so much pollution and the idea of GMOs is very positive. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of changing the vitamins, protiens and minerals around in foods. I believe it is very dangerous to do that because someone could have a major allergic reaction to somthing they had always eaten without a problem. I think that GMOs should be allowed when scientists are making the plants resistant to ceratin pests and weeds, but GMOs that alter the vitamins, minerals and protiends of a food should not be allowed at all.
Questions:
1. If you had the power to do so, would you ban all GMOs? Explain why or why not.
2. What are some examples of GMOs that we are in contact with everyday and may not even realise it? Why are we not aware of these GMOs?
3. Do you believe that altering an organism to be pest resistant is better that using pesticides/chemicals? Explain.
Opinion
ReplyDeleteI agree with Allison that this topic is considered to be conversial. Many people still have mixed emotions about this issue because there are an equal amount of pros and cons in my mind. GMOs are dangerous and you should not alter the minerals, nutrients in the food without putting a label on it. As we read on the agriculture test many people beleive that by putting a label on the genetically modified foods it will the decrease the sales rate. Not being allergic to one food could change because scientists are putting different substances in the food that could potientally make you have an outbreak. I have a very strong opinion on GMOs because people need to know whether they are eating regular or modified food for there own good. To help the fact that we are not using chemicals we are helping our environment/world.
Question 3
I beleive that making a organism pest resistent is better than using pesticids/chemicals. The only thing is that too much of anything is bad. By making pest resistent organisms you are actually using less pesticides/chemicals. Using less of pesticides/chemicals reduces the amount of air or water pollution it causes. The only problem with this idea is natural selection. Bugs/insects can form within generations to within the resistence and become immune. This will be a very big problem in the future people are not looking at. Making each indiviual plants pst resistent is better than spraying the plants with pesticides from a plane. Not every plant could have gotten pesticide on it. Make a GMO plant can make sure every plant is pest- resistent.
OPINION:
ReplyDeleteI also think that this topic is extremely controversial. People hear so many different opinions about GMO's, so they dont know who to trust. I think that companies that produce genetically modified foods must make sure that the customer knows that it is not in its natural form. I do also agree with alison when she said that some are good and some are bad. I can tie this to my life from our science homework over the long weekend with the GM products. I remember thinking about how some seemed really great, and others not so much.
Question #1:
I would not ban them because they provide more advantages than disadvantages. They can combine the best traits of two similar organisms. That would allow us to get more nutrition from a single food. Also they are manufactured to increase productivity. For example, salmon that is genetically modified can reach its full size 4 times faster than regular fish. This allows more to be sold to consumers. And finally, like Alison said, pest resistant crops take away the need to use chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
opinion:
ReplyDeleteI don't think that there will ever be positives to GMO's that will outweigh the cons. The concept and use of GMO's is going to be controversial for a while because it has an effect on basically everyone. In some places like China they already have GMO's because of their population's large daily intake of rice. Their population had a low Vitamin A count so they added Vitamin A to the rice.
Question 3
In a way yes. Bugs eventually become resistant to pesticides and chemicals and those chemicals and pesticides on the food are then consumed by humans. But that also causes bugs to feed off of other plants that we may need as food sources as well. And we can't modify every plant to be resistant to every bug that would be too expensive and the bugs would eventually die off if they don't find another food source.
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteGMO's are very controversial but i think that they are a great advancement. You can protect against pesticides, grow the food in half the time, and also provides nutrients that wouldn't normally be in the food. Unlike what Andrew said i think that companies should not have to label that they are GMO's. I feel that would turn off consumers. They might think that their is something wrong with. All in all i think GMO's are a great advancement.
Question 1)
Like i said before i would not ban GMO's they are a good thing. Sometimes we have to take risks and i think this is the perfect risk to take.