Lack of food and the destruction of our environment are two of the most prominent world problems. We as a species often worry about the future of ourselves and our surroundings, but we do not always have the technology to solve these issues. These problems arise and only worsen over time without any real option for success. However, GMOs are a solution to several of our problems and we have used it since we discovered agriculture thousands of years ago via selective breeding. Although GMOs are said to cause health problems in humans and ecological issues, they are beneficial to humanity and are necessary for the development of inventions and the growth of the human population.
GMOs stands for Genetically Modified Organisms, which means the genes of that organism are altered in order to favor a certain outcome. It does not only affect plants but also other organisms, such as animals, bacteria, and even fungi! In most scenarios, GMOs are heavily experimented with and take a lot of time and effort in order to get the desired result. Precautions have increased over time and the security of the people is heavily considered when working with GMOs. According to Dr. Ken Foster, a professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, during the 1990s, when GMOs were first introduced, there were nearly no regulations on what ingredients were used that were genetically modified in some way.
Several health concerns arise when GMOs are mentioned. They are assumed to cause health problems in people because the genes themselves are changed immediately, instead of the thousands, millions of years it usually takes with evolution. GMOs are seen as unnatural by some people, and although the concerns surrounding them are mostly theoretical, fear still strikes the heart of many. These fears are irrational, as stated by The New York Times:
It is not possible to prove a food is safe, only to say that no hazard has been shown to exist. The fears of G.M.O.s are still theoretical, like the possibility that the insertion of one or a few genes could have a negative impact on other desirable genes naturally present in the crop.
The introduction of GMOs and selective breeding allowed the human population to successfully grow and prosper in ecosystems where foods may be scarce. Without the progression of agriculture, we would be unable to maintain our population and it would likely decline rapidly without the aid of improved crops. GMOs are a vital part of the growth of our population, the lack of food in certain areas of the world due to the inability to farm in parts of the globe overrun with droughts, floods, and barren lands is something GMOs can solve with enough experimentation. According to Pamela Ronald’s 2015 TED Talk The Case for engineering our food, “500,000 children go blind every year because of a lack of Vitamin A. More than half will die.” She later goes on to state that the help of GMOs will save the lives of thousands of these unfortunate children. GMOs are not something we are meant to fear, and instead, something we are obligated to improve upon to help ease the rate at which we humans suffer to the point where we can eliminate death by starvation entirely. This is evidence that supports the usefulness of GMOs in the real world.
Our crops are altered in a way that will benefit us in multiple ways, including higher yields, more resistance to pests, more nutrients, and even better-tasting food. A lot of thought is put into the traits that would be helpful to us and how they will affect the human body. Scientists pick out the desirable traits while making sure the unwanted traits are not present in future generations of the crop. This process of targeting the beneficial traits in our food has been present since the beginning of agriculture and has simply gotten quicker and more precise. According to the FDA:
Crop improvement happens all the time, and genetic engineering is just one form of it. We use the term “genetic engineering” to refer to genetic modification practices that utilize modern biotechnology. In THD changes to a plant’s genetic makeup to give the plant a new desirable trait.
Resistance to pests in areas of the world where insects are rampant, such as in Bangladesh or Asia. Farmers finally have the opportunity to save money by not having to spray their crops with pesticides as often, which also preserves their physical health. Pesticides have been shown to be harmful to us humans and GMOs are an easy way to protect us from the over usage of them. GMOs and pesticides have both been important for the success of crops. There are 3 types of pesticides according to Jennifer Hsaio from Harvard University:
There are three main categories of biopesticides: 1) microbial pesticides, which are microorganisms (e.g. bacteria, fungi, viruses, or protozoa) that have relatively specific pest targets; 2) biochemical pesticides, which are naturally occurring substances that control pests using nontoxic mechanisms (e.g. mimics of insect sex hormones that interfere with their mating); and 3) plant-incorporated-pesticides (PIPs), which are pesticides that the plants themselves produce after genetic material has been added to them.
Crop yields are no longer a major issue because of GMOs, farmers will always have an idea of how much food will be produced during each harvest. Over time, crop yields will keep increasing to the point where food from a single farmer will be enough to sufficiently feed a large group of people. The main issue of agriculture is that not enough food is produced for everyone in the world, there is always a small amount of people that do not get fed. GMOs slowly but surely fix this problem by increasing the amount of food produced for the same amount of time, effort, and land. According to the Genetic Literacy Project, GMO crops produce 5.6 to 24.5% more than non-GMO crops. The extra amounts of crops will steadily increase as time progresses and will lead to the end of world hunger.
Developed crops and farming techniques assist in keeping the land’s fertile and full of nutrients for future harvests. Since both food production and population are increasing rapidly the land, we produce food on will be worn down and be limited to certain amounts of land. Healthy soil is key to feeding 9 billion by 2050, the USDA says, which is true because without any land full of nutrients to put our agriculture on we would not be able to survive. The land will not be required to be tilled as often because of GMOs' increased resistance and ability to grow quicker and more efficiently. Without these developments in our agriculture, we would stand no chance in our rapidly changing world.
GMOs help grow crops efficiently in struggling areas around the world. Imagine a world where our crops are unable to grow because of a lack of water, where cacti never evolved to survive in the desert's hot and dry climates and a world where rice never evolved to create abundant amounts of food in water-oriented environments. GMOs help provide a stable form of crop production in unstable environments.
GMOs are extremely beneficial to us. For example, disease, strong against agrochemicals, high content of specific ingredients, dry and salt. It is resistant to harm and has an environmental purification action. By using GMOs the breed improvement is compared with the breeding method by conventional crossing and artificial selection. It was also possible to efficiently introduce the gene of interest from other organisms. Therefore, the time required for breed improvement can be greatly shortened. By adding the function of reducing the amount of agricultural chemicals used, improvement of food productivity, food demand response, desertification control, and environmental measures. Benefits such as the possibility of new possibilities, cost reduction, improvement of product value, development of new industrial fields, etc. are greatly improved upon, increasing the chances of beneficial development.
Although the initial cost of working with GMOs is somewhat high, the outcome of GMOs far outweighs it. GMOs have put us in a position of economic and agricultural improvement.
Citations
Brody, Jane E. “Are G.M.O. Foods Safe?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Apr. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/well/eat/are-gmo-foods-safe.html.
“Can GMOs Be Used in Organic Products?” Butter Grades and Standards | Agricultural Marketing Service, 13AD, www.ams.usda.gov/publications/content/can-gmos-be-used-organic-products.
“Food from Genetically Engineered Plants - Consumer Info About Food from Genetically Engineered Plants.” U S Food and Drug Administration Home Page, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, www.fda.gov/food/ingredientspackaginglabeling/geplants/ucm461805.htm.
Goldsbrough, Peter. “Do GMOs Harm Health?” What Are GMOs? ag.purdue.edu/GMOs/Pages/GMOsandHealth.aspx.
Hsaio, Jennifer. “GMOs and Pesticides: Helpful or Harmful?” Science in the News, Harvard University, 26 Jan. 2019, sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/gmos-and-pesticides/.
Ronald, Pamela. “The Case for Engineering Our Food.” Ted, Ted, Mar. 2015, www.ted.com/talks/pamela_ronald_the_case_for_engineering_our_food?language=en.
Thompson, Stuart. “How GMO Crops Can Help Feed World's Growing Population in Time of Climate Change.” Genetic Literacy Project, Genetic Literacy Project, 12 Jan. 2018, geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/01/25/gmo-crops-can-help-feed-worlds-growing-population-time-climate-change/.