The New Panacea: Genetically Modified Good

Is the food safe today? This is a big question that millions of people around the world
want to answer because supermarkets sell increasingly genetically modified food (GMF).
Actually, scientists, investors, and farmers have changed the way of producing aliments due to
application of new knowledge especially in genetic engineering. Experts in this area make
specific alterations in the DNA of plants, fish, and animals in order to create food with more
nutrients which are resistant to insects, and can grow in different climates. On the other hand, in
others countries GMF have been a controversial topic because some governments for
recommendation of their scientist have prohibited to generate and commercialize it. For this
reason, it is important to know about what the positive and negative effects of GMF are in three
main areas which are human health, agriculture, and the economy.
The effects of GMF in human health are the most important that governments have to pay
attention before to approve permissions for producing and selling this product. Some experts said
that increasing the amount of vitamins, minerals, and quality of the food is possible through
genetic changes, but other are not agree with this argument because according to Lancet, The
population of the USA, where up to 60% of processed foods have genetically modified
ingredients, seem, as yet, unconcerned. Also, he said that, Governments should never have
allowed these products into the food chain without insisting on rigorous testing for effects on
health. The companies should have paid greater attention to the possible risks to health and of the
publics perception of this risk; they are now paying the price of this neglect (1881). The author
explains there are many unknown risks when people consume GMF, and recommend to
governments to not permit these kinds of food, until they are fully tested. In addition, there are

unofficial cases of studies in people about allergies and resistance to antibiotics due to eating
GMF. The actual studies are not enough for taking a right decision if it is possible to use or not
GMF, but scientific around the world are working in it.
The agriculture activity has been changed by genetic engineering because the way of
planting is different than it was many years ago. Genetic engineers have invented new kinds of
seeds which are genetically modified in order for the vegetation to be able to resist more insects
decrease the using of insecticides, and grow in places which it have not done before. In addition,
these positive effects provide benefits in environment by reducing the emissions of greenhouse
gases, and for millions of hunger people. On the other hand, many farmers are losing their jobs
due to the new technique requiring less space. Usually, these people have dedicated all their life
in this activity, and many of them do not have studies, and know to do another activity to get
income. Using new technology is only positive for humans if it does not affect their life quality.
The consumers had been accepted slowly to buy GMF since it appeared at the market.
For this reason, the economy impact for creator and investors of GMF is positive, and they have
gained important amount of money because they need less employees and field than the
traditional method of sowing. On the others hand, there are groups as Greenpeace International
which are against to GMF, and they have started awareness campaigns about potential damage of
human health and environment. Consequently, in German, it has made an economic experiment
about the behavior of the customers when they go to buy a product with labelling of genetically
modified food. As a result, the consumer preferred to select the product without GMF
ingredients, but if the transgenic food had a discount around 59 percent the public accepted it
(Dannenberg 381). With this in mind, it is possible to inference that people start to avoid GMF
products which is only bought if it is really inexpensive. This is a great opportunity for the

traditional farmers to take back the vegetable market, and also in some countries the organic food
is sold more expensive than genetically modified food because the demand exceeds the supply.
Finally, genetically modified food looks like the new panacea for saving millions of
hungry people around the world, but there are not enough official investigations about its impact
in human health, agriculture, and the economy. The effects of GMF in human health have been a
really controversial topic because some governments as the USA, Canada, and Australia permit
producing GMF even though it is possible to have negative effects on humans. In addition, the
environment, and agriculture have been impacted positively by using the new genetic technology
which reduces the greenhouse gases. In contrast, farmers are getting laid off due to companies
needing fewer employees for producing GMF. Furthermore, Companies in the genetically
modified food business have made a lot of money due to people consume the transgenic
products, but recently studies have discovered that people prefer to pay more for organic
products free of GMF ingredients. It is necessary make more studies about all the possible effects
of GMF in order to governments provide a better life quality to their citizen and it is
irresponsible to approve commercialize transgenic products without know..

Works Cited
Schellekens, H. "Health Risks of Genetically Modified Foods." The Lancet 353.9167 (1999):
1811-. 29 May. 2009. Web. 03 Aug. 2015.
Zainol, Zinatul A., Rohaida Nordin, and Frank I. Akpoviri. "Mandatory Labelling of Genetically
Modified (GM) Foods." International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and
Economics 15.2 (2015): 199-216. May. 2011. Web. 03 Aug. 2015.