english gmo project Essay

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Genetically modified foods are very controversial yet many people don’t know about this issue. Genetically modified foods have been around for quit awhile since the mid 1990’s, but it wasn’t until recently that people are getting concerned about these different types of foods. A genetically modified food or GMO is a food that has had its DNA modified which changes its characteristics. This yields benefits like shorter growth time, resistance to insects, and are more nutritional. Even though these modified foods have benefits they also have some serious issues. Genetically modified foods are considered unhealthy by many scientists. Since genetically modified foods have new genes there are many unpredictable effects of these new genes and how they will affect other crops and humans. These foods can cause new allergies among humans because many of these new characteristics of the foods has never been in the human diet before, and therefore could cause new allergies when ingested. According to an article written by Shelley Stonebrook these genetically modified foods can cause “numerous health problems in animal studies, among them birth defects, reproductive damage, cancer and endocrine disruption.” (Stonebrook)These health problems are caused by over exposure of pesticides that are sprayed to keep weeds and bugs away, the farmers are able to spray them directly onto the plants because they are immune but the pesticides are still on the plants when harvested. Yet the FDA approves these products for sale. Why would the FDA approve these products for consumption if the pesticides are still in the foods? The reason the FDA is approving them is because the testing being done is being done by the companies making the foods. Therefore why would they say they are not safe that would mean they wouldn’t be able to sell their products, meaning they wouldn’t make any profit. If the companies aren’t making profit then they will go bankrupt and no longer be in business. Another big issue with these genetically modified food crops is that they spread to other crops incidentally that leads to the organic crops being turned into genetically modified food crops. This causes foods that are supposed to be organically grown to be changed and nobody knows. Say you go to the store and you decide to buy an organic corn which is unknowing labeled wrong and the result is that you end up eating a genetically modified version of that corn, which could cause an allergic reaction that could, in the worst case, result in death. Genetically modified foods are often sprayed with pesticides days before harvesting. This causes the herbicide to remain on the food. According to an article written by Shelly Stonebrook “On average, 44 percent of people [still] had the herbicide in their bodies.”(Stonebrook)This in my opinion is way too high of a number how can these farmers harvesting and selling these products get away with this; this could cause, major health problems among women children and men. This can cause problems like infertility, cancer, and birth defects. Many people don’t even realize that they are eating these genetically modified foods like corn, soy products, and different types of rice. These genetically modified crops are spreading throughout the country and even right now 70% to 80% of food in our
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