Genetically Modified Foods
In the mid-1800s, Gregor Johann Mendel, now known as the father of genetics, experimented with pea plants and drew many conclusions about genetics from his results. Ever since then, scientists have bred crops to try to create strains that could give greater yields or thrive in harsher conditions.
In past years, however, scientists have taken this one step further, by actually manipulating the genes of organisms and crossing the DNA of completely unrelated organisms. In this essay, I will analyze the trends of how much different regions use genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, and what positions different people, including myself, have about GM foods.
In the middle of the 20th century, scientists such as the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug experimented with breeding of crops and came up with high-yield strains of rice such as IR8 and IR36 (Huke). These strains were more resistant to damage than traditional rice, had higher yields, and had shorter growing seasons. From there, other scientists bred strains that could utilize fertilizers more effectively, and strains that could grow with less water. Shortly afterwards, scientists began to experiment with gene modification and introducing genes of one organism to other unrelated organisms. This step increased the potentials of crop strains immensely. However, it has also attracted widespread opposition for various reasons.
Most usage of GM crops occurs in the US, Argentina, and Brazil. The US grows 54 percent of the world’s genetically modified foods; Argentina grows 18%, and Brazil grows 11% (Raney). Growing GM crops has generally had positive effects on the profits of farmers. China and South Africa have had significantly large increases in revenues. Despite these benefits, many people in every country oppose the use of genetically modified foods (Raney). Several African countries and Venezuela have partially or fully banned importation or usage of GMOs. Other countries have required all retail outlets that sell genetically modified food to label it as such. These countries dislike genetically modified foods for many similar reasons.
Proponents of genetically modified crops claim that they could solve or at least help with the problem of world hunger, since they can have extra nutrients, give higher yields, and be resistant to insects and adverse weather. GMOs could also be used to deliver vaccines to people. An example of a genetically modified food is “golden rice”. Two scientists named Potrykus and Beyer created “golden rice” which had an increased amount of beta-carotene, a building block for vitamin A (Nash). This would help prevent blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency, and also would help feed hungry people. Other examples of these modified organisms are “bananas that produce human vaccines against infectious diseases such as hepatitis B; fish that mature more quickly; cows that are resistant to mad cow disease; fruit and nut trees that yield years earlier, and plants that produce new plastics with unique properties (Human Genome Project Organization).”
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