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Maddy LeSage

Emma Boone and Liz Cartwright

Science 8a

3 May 2019

Genetically Modified Organisms

The debate around genetically modified organisms is huge and heated on both sides. The

World health Organization defines a GMO as a “organisms whose DNA has been altered in a

non-natural way.” GM modified plants are typically changed to be insect resistant, virus

resistant, or herbicide tolerant. With these changes come potential environmental issues as well

as human health issues. Engineers have began to grow plants out of genetically modified

organisms, to be tougher, last longer, taste better, and be more nutritious. However, people have

concerns over their safety, and there is a great debate over the effects it has on human and

environmental health.
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All organisms change over time, that's evaluation. However, about 10,000 years ago humans

found a way to speed up this process. They found that by selecting individual organisms that had

a specific trait and crossing them or breeding them they could speed up the process of evolution.

To achieve these outcomes, that once took thousands of years and many failures scientists found

a way to speed the process of evolution up and create precise changes in the physical attributes to

create specific benefits. In this first generation genes are cut from plants that have a desired trait,

and is then pasted into plants in a precise location to create a specific and beneficial outcome. As

we advance and become more knowledgeable about this topic scientists are continuing to grow

these crops and they are becoming much more available to commercial use. This process is

becoming more and more popular and many have concerns over the environmental issues and

human health issues that could possibly apply with this non-natural process.
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As the amount of genetically modified organisms increase, there has also been a increase

in interest for information concerning the safety of these products. The majority of the concerns

regard how it could affect the environment or how it could affect the consumer. Human health is

the greatest concern. This could result from differences in ​nutritional content, allergic response,
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or undesired side effects such as toxicity, organ damage, or gene transfer.(​Agriculture

Biosecurity​). One example is an anti-GMO advocacy group called the (IRT) reported that rats

fed a diet in which containing a GMO potato had every organ system affected after just ten days

of feeding the rat. Another group had found similar results in a potato and sweet pepper on

different rats. Though these scientist claim this, there have been many studies that clam this

untrue. There is still a debate over the effects it has on human health, and it is uncertain, however

that is not the only concern. Many are worried about the effects it has on the environment.

Firstly, toxicity is an issue surrounding chemical pesticides and herbicides, that are often used

when growing GMOs. GMOs may be toxic to non-target organisms, such as bees and butterflies.

Bees are extremely important in the pollination of many food crops, but are unfortunately

extremely endangered by modern agricultural techniques, such as GM crops. Monarch butterflies

are specifically at risk from GMO maize plants. In addition to bees and butterflies, birds are also

at risk from pesticides, and work as biological control agents and pollinators. (Newton 125)
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This is a common and often discussed topic in our society. The increase in GMO farming

is a huge concern and we need to come up with a solution or even just a compromise. The first

step is going to be to just continue further research and maintain scientific development. In the

meantime, we can start by properly labeling food products so people can easily choose weather

or not they want to consume the products. As, far as the environmental concerns there are a few

steps we can take to improve this issue. One, possible step we can take is limit the amount of

outside farming. So, grow the crops in a enclosed structure such as a greenhouse. This could be

effective because wildlife and insects would not be able to get to them as easily. Though these

steps could be a step forward, the amount of human knowledge needs to increase.
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¨A GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process where

genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an

unrelated plant or animal. The foreign genes may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or

even humans.¨ (Non-Gmo Project). There are concerns over this and it is only getting more

popular. There have been many scientific tests and studies to determine the health of these

products and the environmental impacts, however it is still uncertain. Scientist are going to

continue their research and find possible solutions.

Work Cited

“How are GMOs Regulated.” ​GMO answers, Council for Biotechnology Information,
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https://fas.org/biosecurity/education/dualuse-agriculture/2.-agricultural-biotechnol

ogy/us-regulation-of-genetically-engineered-crops.html

Newton, David. ​GMO Foods​. Contemporary World Issues, Mar 24, 2015

“Pros and cons of GMO foods.” ​Medical News Today, Amanda Barrel, 27 Feb 2019.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324576.php​.

“U.S. Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops” ​Agriculture Biosecurity, Federation of

American Scientists, 2011,

https://fas.org/biosecurity/education/dualuse-agriculture/2.-agricultural-biotechnology/u

s-r

egulation-of-genetically-engineered-crops.html

“What is a GMO?” ​Non-GMO Project,​ Non-GMO project, 2016,

https://www.nongmoproject.org/gmo-facts/

Images

https://agsci.psu.edu/magazine/articles/2015/spring-summer/the-science-of-gmos
https://www.eoi.es/blogs/guillermojoselatorre/2014/02/27/gmos-solution-or-problem/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kevinzl/ecoqube-c-your-window-to-nature/posts/1787863