Argument Essay

Gentically Modified Crops are the Future of Agriculture

English 1A

Genetically Modified Crops are the Future of Agriculture

Abstract:

This paper explores five different published articles containing information

on the pros and cons of genetically modified food and why genetically modified crops

are the future of agriculture. The articles vary in their support or disapproval of GMOs.

Toft believes GMOs are the future of agriculture due to the rising use of GMO farming

and being able to farm more food on less land. Schonwald talks about the health

benefits humans can receive from GMOs. Brookes and Barfoot talk about the effect

GMOs have on the environment. Miflin argues GMOs have been around for thousands

of years, by providing proof of cross breeding from those times, and are risky but the

impressive record they hold matters more. Smith disapproves of GMOs and discusses

the potential harmful effects they can have.

Genetically modified organisms are the future of agriculture even when there

are many people who support and oppose its purpose. The good of GMO farming is that

it can create more food on a less amount of land to supply for more people. The vast

majority of countries have made GMO farming their primary food source. It can help to

save lives with its excess nutritional value and the ability to prevent certain diseases.

The genes of GMO plants can be passed to neighboring traditional farms and those

crops can grow to be pest resistant. The environment will become less polluted due to

GMO farming. There are some cons to GMO farming such as the diseases obtained from

tests conducted on animals. The genes can be passed into humans through

consumption and even change some vital functions of the body. The chemicals required

to create GMOs cost a lot of money. Also the GMO agriculture system conflicts with

traditional farming and could change the agriculture ecosystem.

In an analysis conducted in 2012, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

Kristian Toft goes into detail about the GMO farming industry expanding to all countries

around the globe. She argues that genetically modified crops are the future of

agriculture since they are on the only crops capable of producing the amount of food

needed for the global population. In her argument she shows the importance of GMO

farming fields and the rates of how much more GM crop is planted every year.

Developing countries are even planting GM crops and are increasing the amount of land

used substantially every year. GM crops were first introduced in 1996 and since then

they are now planted on 3.7 billion acres each year. Toft has provided evidence of 15

million small resource poor-farmers gaining a substantial income from growing GM

crops. Toft got his information from Jahea Lee, interactive producer at Mother Jones,

and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).

GM crops are the future of the agriculture industry because the amount of food GMO

farming produces is already out-producing traditional farming methods for starving

countries.

Another article by journalist John Schonwald written in 2012 focuses on how

genetically modified crops can help save lives and have a huge impact on the health of

millions of people. He believes GMOs can make humans live healthier lives and save

their lives from diseases. One of the GM crops Schonwald talks about is golden rice,

which was created in a lab and is widely opposed by non-GM activists around the world.

Golden rice is fortified with vitamin A and over 250 million children in developing

countries, and around the world, die or go blind from lack of this essential vitamin. If

this GM crop could be available to the children in need then it could save millions of

lives. Schonwald believes by 2030 GM fruits and vegetables will take over, as they will

contain all the necessary nutrients human bodies need. Health benefits such as breeding

the “ fountain of youth” gene into GM crops can improve human life and potentially

slow the aging process. Schonwald states we should not “miss opportunities to build a

long-term sustainable future for our planet” (Schonwald p. 46). The GM crops will be

much more nutritional than traditional grown crops. The genes of these GMOs can

create more productive farm animals such as cows being able to produce more milk

than usual. Many vaccines can be introduced through GMOs which will help to save

people from certain illnesses. He recieved his information from the World Health

Organization and various biologists from universities around the United States

conducting experiments on GMOs. GMOs can benefit society and save millions of

people’s lives every year.

In a brief analysis by Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot conducted in 2010, they

discuss how the use of pesticides when farming GM crops has been reduced by 443

million kg and is helping keep less green house gas from polluting the air. The impact of

GMOs had on green house gas emission in 2010 was equivalent to taking 8.6 million cars

off the road.( Brookes,Barfoot P.133) This is a huge environmental benefit and can help

the devastating climate change the world is going through. The GM crops are resistant

to pests, which make herbicides and insecticides no longer needed to keep the crops

alive and growing.The benefits of the GM crops and their resistance to pests can spread

to neighboring fields through a bacterial toxin that is lethal to pests but not to humans.

This will allow traditional farmers, who have fields nearby to GM farmers, the ability to

not use insecticides which will save them a lot of money. GMOs are good for the

environment and can help in many different ways. They can help traditional farmers as

well as reduce the pollution in the air. This adds to the benefits of GMO use around the

globe.

Ben Miflin wrote an article in 2011 which talks about GMOs actually being

around for thousands of years due to the manipulation of genes in crops. He supports

GMOs and believes they have helped provide the world with crops for a very long time.

In his article he talks about wheat, the world’s major crop, being a hybrid of different

species. This proves humans have been altering crops since 10,000 years ago. Even

though the occurrence happened naturally, people maintained its mutation artificially

and expanded similar hybrid tactics to different crops. The modern GM wheat we use

cannot exist in the wild because we have been using the hybrid for so long thus the GM

wheat cannot spread its seed. Miflin also talks about GM crops being the most regulated

crops in existence due to the high controversy about them. GM crops have to pass

rigorous regulations in order to be accepted to be sold on the market. GMOs have been

around a lot longer than people think they have. Purposeful breeding and GM crops are

similar but not exactly the same. Purposeful breeding is combining two or more breeds

of crops and cross breeding them to make one new crop. GM crops are created in a

laboratory.

Jeffrey Smith discusses why people should be against GMOs and not

support them in an article called The Fight Against GMOs written in 2011. He does not

believe GMOs will help fight against hunger in starving countries. He discusses

GMOs tested on animals and the illnesses they obtained from them. In one study

various animals were diagnosed with infertility, immune dysregulation, increased aging,

and changes to major organs in the body(Smith p.21). The reason for no humans being

diagnosed with any of these diseases is because there are no human trials for GMOs.

Tests are only conducted on animals so outside of the laboratory GMOs can look

harmless to human consumption. More than 70% of the food on supermarket shelves

contains 8 GMO derivatives. The Food and Drug Administration(FDA) is against the use

of GMOs and warns of the potential consequences they may have. He also reveals

GMOs use more pesticides and insecticides. The increase of these uses would bring

more pollution to the environment. This article speaks against GM crops as the future

of agriculture because the author is saying GMOs can cause diseases, but tests have only

been conducted on animals. Many doctors and organizations support Smith’s article.

Smith says the FDA warns of the consequences of GMOs yet there is no evidence of

humans having any consequences from eating GM crops. GM crops have also been

proven to use less insecticides and pesticides so Smith is wrong when he says GM crops

increase their use.

People should not fear GMOs based on genetic mutations. GMOs have

proven to be the crop of the future and without them we will not be able to feed the

world of an increasing population. The tests in Smith’s article have only been conducted

on animals so it has no validity for human consumption of GMOs. Also GMOs have been

proven to reduce insecticide and pesticide use due to the genetically modified

insecticides built into them. GMOs have helped to reduce the pollution in the

environment so environmentalists should be pro GMOs. Diseases that are transmitted

through conventional crops can be prevented with GMOs, which would mean fewer

people with illnesses. GMOs are the future of agriculture and without them our

existence will be threatened. GMO food can be forced to label that it is a GMO on its

packaging, but the complete recall of all GMOs would devastate the world as a whole.

References

Brookes, G., & Barfoot, P. (2010). Global impact of biotech crops: Environmental

Effects, 1996-2010. GM Crops and Food, 3(2), 129-137.

doi:10.4161/gmcr.20061.

Miflin, B. (2011). Agbioworld. Retrieved from

http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/articles/biotech-

art/in_favor.html

Schonwald, J. (2012). Engineering the Future of Food. Futurist, 46(3), 24.

Smith, J.M. (2011). The Fight Against GMOs. Share Guide, (114), 10-33.

Toft, K. (2012). GMOs and Global Justice: Applying Global Justice Theory to the

Case of Genetically Modified Crops and Food. Journal of Agricultural &

Enviornmental Ethics, 25(2), 223-237

References: Brookes, G., & Barfoot, P. (2010). Global impact of biotech crops: Environmental Effects, 1996-2010 Miflin, B. (2011). Agbioworld. Retrieved from http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/articles/biotech- Smith, J.M. (2011). The Fight Against GMOs. Share Guide, (114), 10-33. Toft, K. (2012). GMOs and Global Justice: Applying Global Justice Theory to the Case of Genetically Modified Crops and Food