Genetically Modified Foods: The Unnatural Approach
English 102
6 October 2013
The Unnatural Approach For many years, people have been eating fast food without knowing the process the food goes through to make it taste the way it tastes. Even some today don’t know how fast food comes to be when it is set on the tray in front of them. Well, one may think that it’s just prepared by someone in the back of the restaurant, but if you go beyond the preparation of the meal, there are things that may make him or her not want to eat this type of food any longer. A word that will come up many times throughout this essay is GMO. A GMO is short for “genetically modified organisms.” The way an organism can be genetically modified is by using sophisticated techniques of genetic engineering. These techniques …show more content…
Well the question is, why? Why do GMO foods have more health risks than foods without GMOs? The answer is so simple yet so difficult to see. This is because large companies that produce GMO foods don’t want the consumer to see what is actually put into the food. It all starts in the roots of the ingredients. These ingredients can be, but are not limited to, corn, wheat, and livestock. In Jason McLure’s article, “Genetically Modified Food,” he proves that some animals and crops are being fed herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, etc. So, how does this affect humans? Well, there is the expression “you are what you eat.” This expression can be taken almost literally in relation to GMOs. In Shelley Stonebrook’s article “GMOs: The Controversy Builds,” she mentions a series of tests that are done on animals that are fed food from GMOs and non-GMOs. The first test she mentions is a test on rats. The study “showed an increased incidence of tumors in rats given GM feed” (Stonebrook 16). The other study that she wrote about was on pigs and GM feed. She writes that: for about 23 weeks, one group of pigs in the study was fed a diet of GM corn and GM soy, while another group of pigs ate the same diet with non-GM ingredients. The two groups were then compared post-mortem, and the gastric and uterine differences were stark. Female pigs in the GM-fed group had uteri that were, …show more content…
This is because it is not required to have a label on food that clearly states that the food contains ingredients from a GMO. As a matter of fact, the food doesn’t have to have a label of any kind on it whatsoever. GM farms actually fight the conflict. They don’t want to label their food as GMO made. In the article “Genetically Modified Food,” by Jason McLure, he writes that, “GM farming giants and other referendum foes argue that the health and environmental concerns are unfounded, and that labeling effort is an attempt to demonize a technology with enormous potential benefits” (McLure 719). The reason that these concerns are unfounded is because they are easy to overlook. This is not an excuse because it still poses a threat to future consumers. Humans have a right to know that what they’re in their mouth may lead to health risks in the future. This can all be settled with a label on the food, but companies know that if they do this, sales will decrease because consumers will know that whatever has been put into the food has been genetically
6 October 2013
The Unnatural Approach For many years, people have been eating fast food without knowing the process the food goes through to make it taste the way it tastes. Even some today don’t know how fast food comes to be when it is set on the tray in front of them. Well, one may think that it’s just prepared by someone in the back of the restaurant, but if you go beyond the preparation of the meal, there are things that may make him or her not want to eat this type of food any longer. A word that will come up many times throughout this essay is GMO. A GMO is short for “genetically modified organisms.” The way an organism can be genetically modified is by using sophisticated techniques of genetic engineering. These techniques …show more content…
Well the question is, why? Why do GMO foods have more health risks than foods without GMOs? The answer is so simple yet so difficult to see. This is because large companies that produce GMO foods don’t want the consumer to see what is actually put into the food. It all starts in the roots of the ingredients. These ingredients can be, but are not limited to, corn, wheat, and livestock. In Jason McLure’s article, “Genetically Modified Food,” he proves that some animals and crops are being fed herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, etc. So, how does this affect humans? Well, there is the expression “you are what you eat.” This expression can be taken almost literally in relation to GMOs. In Shelley Stonebrook’s article “GMOs: The Controversy Builds,” she mentions a series of tests that are done on animals that are fed food from GMOs and non-GMOs. The first test she mentions is a test on rats. The study “showed an increased incidence of tumors in rats given GM feed” (Stonebrook 16). The other study that she wrote about was on pigs and GM feed. She writes that: for about 23 weeks, one group of pigs in the study was fed a diet of GM corn and GM soy, while another group of pigs ate the same diet with non-GM ingredients. The two groups were then compared post-mortem, and the gastric and uterine differences were stark. Female pigs in the GM-fed group had uteri that were, …show more content…
This is because it is not required to have a label on food that clearly states that the food contains ingredients from a GMO. As a matter of fact, the food doesn’t have to have a label of any kind on it whatsoever. GM farms actually fight the conflict. They don’t want to label their food as GMO made. In the article “Genetically Modified Food,” by Jason McLure, he writes that, “GM farming giants and other referendum foes argue that the health and environmental concerns are unfounded, and that labeling effort is an attempt to demonize a technology with enormous potential benefits” (McLure 719). The reason that these concerns are unfounded is because they are easy to overlook. This is not an excuse because it still poses a threat to future consumers. Humans have a right to know that what they’re in their mouth may lead to health risks in the future. This can all be settled with a label on the food, but companies know that if they do this, sales will decrease because consumers will know that whatever has been put into the food has been genetically