Gmos: Harm or Benefit

Today, genetically modified food becomes a controversial subject to American people since the United State is one of the top countries that create the most genetically modified food in the world. GM food increases crop yield, reduce the production cost, help conserve biodiversity, and takes an edge off climate change. There is no doubt that GMO is worthy and people in the United States should not worry about the safety of GMO because they are harmless.

There are significant reasons for farmers choosing genetic-engineering seeds. They are easy to grow, help maintain weeds, limit insects, and block crop diseases. Genetically modified crops are not new. American farmers have been manipulating agriculture genes such as B.t corn, soybean, and cotton for hundreds of years. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Fifty-two percent of the US soybean crop was genetically modified in 1998.In 2000, US farmers grew sixty-nine percent of all GM crop. There are 13 countries produce GM crop, while more than two-thirds is grown in the U.S (Appell,2003).

People are afraid and consider GMO is an unnatural thing, harmful to human health; in fact, some of them do not know what GMO stands for. Do people understand what GMO means before saying they are bad for human? Genetically modified organism (GMO) are plants that have had their genetic material affectedly generated or engineered in a research laboratory. These experimentation methods involve inserting the genetic code to create new genetic sequences and to design new organisms in ways that cannot happen in nature. Most of the GMOs have been engineered to resist the application of chemical or to produce a pesticide. (Thiel, ‘GMOs and Health: Any Risk?’)

Genetically modified organism plays a significant role in many developing countries. GMOs is not only making stronger crops and higher yield, but it is also keeping food’s cost low and allowing farmers to use fewer pesticide, which is good for the environment. For example, B.t corn can reduce production costs and kill insects such as Monarch butterfly. Consumers should not worry about the safety of GMOs because federal agencies like USDA, FDA, EPA must test carefully and approve all GM crops. According to Dr. Sally Mackenzie, before publishing out, every GM food has to go through regulatory, and a regulatory is 10 to 13 years process. Moreover, there is no evidence that GM causes any allergic health problem to human so far (Scientists refute the scaremongering about GMOs,2016)

Opponent claim people should know what in their food and argue that if GMOs are safe, then why they are not labeled? Despite decades of development and using of GMO, no experimental data is showing that foods containing GMOs are any more or less harmful for people to consume than anything else in the supermarket. If that does not satisfy some people, they have the option of getting food showing the “non-GMO” label. There is no need for the government to brand products with a label that implies the potential for harm.

In conclusion, it is safe to eat GMOS. GM crop are good for environment, they are helping farmers, they are keeping food’s cost low, and they are not hurting anyone. There are a lot of sources out there saying GMO is harmful, in fact, these sources do not have any science or nutrition background. Consumers should trust scientists because they are credible sources.

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