Informative Speech: Genetically-modified ingredients

Date: December 12, 2014

Visiting a supermarket has become a very tiring experience, since we have to read all labels that
warn us against genetically-modified ingredients. I try to calm myself down that epidemic
services take control over dangerous products. Yet, I have doubts, swallowing a steak that is
done to a turn, and envying vegetarians who have no meat-eaters' problems. I am strongly
inclined to believe that genetically modified ingredients must be banned once and forever, for
us not to undergo degradation as human species because of our blind trust in what food
producers make us lightheartedly believe. The cumulative effect of genetically-modified foods
is particularly dangerous for sensitive populations, including kids, elderly people, and people
who have indigestion problems. I have studied literature on genetically-modified ingredients,
trying to be objective in my judgment.
Genetically-modified ingredients glorify modern molecular biology achievements. These
ingredients strengthen resistance to herbicides and improve nutritional content of foods. GM
foods production is less time-consuming than conventional breeding. For example, Bacillus
thuringiensis is a bacterium that breeds crystal proteins that effectively kill insect larvae.
Transferred into corn, B.t. makes the plants produce their own pesticides to fight insects. GM
ingredients are used in tomatoes, soybeans, sugar beets, corn plants, vegetable oils, breakfast
cereals, and potatoes. You consume these foods without knowing that you own organism is
involved in a GM process.
The advocates of GM ingredients claim that the advantages of their use are many. First, GM
ingredients are pest resistant. Second, they are herbicide tolerant. Third, they are disease
resistant. Fourth, they are drought and salinity tolerant. Yet, nothing is said about you and me.
But high mortality rates in monarch caterpillars are signals of danger. Molecular biologists have
not discovered yet how harmful GM ingredients are. But they claim that GM ingredients may be
environmentally hazardous. They do not consider potential hazards to humans. Only
allerginicity is a recognized negative impact of GM ingredients.
You can't escape from GM ingredients, since over two-thirds of genetically modified crops are
corn, cotton, canola, soybeans, and potatoes. You can't escape from them because the U.S. is
the leading producer of genetically-engineered crops. I do not want to be invaded by alien
genes, I can wait until strawberry ripens in June and young potatoes appear on my table in their
usual time. My organism is vulnerable to all deceptions. I may be too fussy. But I may be not. I
would like to have a choice. I want to be told genuinely: Yes, your health may be endangered,
but you will survive if you reduce your interest in foods. Good health and reduced appetite!