GMO's

Sebastian Gomez
CompII (section 01)
Xiaoping Du
5/5/2014
Genetically Modified Organism Use on Human Food.
Over years many scientists have done many studies to prove how genetically modified organism (GMO’s) have played a big role in people’s diets with genetically altered foods, which has affected human health and also the communities neither the fields. GMO’s are an organism that is created by dividing genes of different species that are combined together by a scientist; this is something that will be impossible to do in nature. When this genetically altered your organism and even worst it will increase the risk of diseases and to death. Most of the times eating this organism without knowing what we are eating is really bad for us. Larger corporations are the ones that have practiced and grown these organisms as if this can get more profits and less time and effort involved. GMO’s also have many positive aspects; one of those aspects is how they help on economy side and many others things that they will help. Genetically modified organisms have been in the business for over 20 years and we still don’t decide if they come for good or bad. In my opinion, I believe that GMOs will affect human health, but for fit all the people in the world we need this organism.
GMOs are widely used in our society today whether it is in crops, animals or medicines. One of the biggest uses is in agricultural crops. “At least 90 percent of the soy, cotton, canola, corn and sugar beets sold in the United States have been genetically engineered” (The New York times, np). Without the ability to use GMOs the world would be starving due to not be able to produce enough food. The crops that are genetically modified have been to control pests. Other genetically modified plant resistances include drought tolerance, hot or cold weather, stalk thickness, and nutrient uptake. These are just a select few that have been incorporated but have a significant impact on how the plant is able to fend for itself.
I believe the article is agreeing with the use of Genetically Modified Organisms. The author quotes a couple sentences made by anti-GMO groups that make it look like they are harmful. He comes back though with statements made by the AAAS, The World Health Organization, the American Medical Association and many more highly viewed organizations that say GMOs are safe and research has shown to be no negative effect on people or animals through many research tests. GMOs were first commercialized in 1996 and have been researched in over 59 different countries and have been labeled as safe for consumption by all of them.
Ill-informed, many people sit back and listen and agree with others who are against GMO crops and particularly corn because it is so widely produced. People who do not like change believe in staying with Non-GMO. Scientists work on producing corn that will yield more by genetically modifying it and this has created way more bushels. Over the past few years more people have brought this topic up and created organizations that are trying to stop people from planting or eating GMO. Farmers have been planting GMO crops for many years before I was born and not until recently have people brought the issue to the public media. More people do not live on farmers or are not involved with farms and this makes many people just go with the bandwagon and join the groups against GMO. Without GMO farmers would not be as successful as they are today or as far developed. This issue is something I am around or deal with everyday because my dad farms and sells about ninety percent that is GMO corn. Planting Non-GMO crops is not really even a thought for my dad because of the hassle to spray and deal with it. Endless rules and regulations on when farmers can spray and handle the crop is such a pain in the rear. GMO corn has created so many advances and has helped many other countries than just ours.
Global warming and environmental problems are issues that come up with genetically modified corn. People believe that using genetically modified corn and spraying chemicals on the corn is hurting our environment. Everyone should know that GMO crops help rather than hurt the environment. “This greatly simplifies weed control for farmers, reducing the need for tillage and, in many cases, the amount of herbicide applied” (Smith np). This goes to show that being able to spray and plant GMO crops help reduce the number of times a farmer goes out into the field and burns fuel. Another problem or issue is that when the GMO corn is fed to animals, it is not as healthy as the Non-GMO corn. A study using one of Monsanto’s corn variety that has been genetically modified showed that
A group of anti-GM scientists examined one safety study using rats and found “a highly significant and sustained 3.3 percent decrease in body weight in males, and a 3.7 percent increase in females” A male rat weighs roughly a pound, and a female perhaps two-thirds of that, so we’re talking about half an ounce: and even so, other studies found contradictory results. (Devlin, np)
This goes to show that it may make a little of a difference in an animals weight, but sometimes it doesn’t bother it at all. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has to perform so many tests to make sure that GMO corn is safe just to double check what farmers are doing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved 74 different gene-spliced crop varieties for commercial-scale cultivation: potato, soybean and tomato, as well as a handful of other crop species. In each case, the department’s Animal and Plant Health reviewed copious amounts of data from several years’ worth of controlled field trials that evaluated the variety’s agronomic and environmental effects. And because each one of these plants is highly similar to conventionally-bred varieties already grown throughout the United States—differing only in the addition of , at most, a few genes that introduce useful and well characterized traits—aphis concluded that they would have no significant environmental impact. (Kruse, np)
The Environmental Protection Agency makes so many strict rules and regulations that farmers and ag companies have to follow. The EPA would not allow GMO corn if it really hurt our environment. “Although the health risks of eating genetically modified foods haven’t been established, these new transgenic seed shave been dispersed throughout millions of acres of American farmland without much study of their potential effects upon human begins or the environment” (Rodale 5). People writing books on how there is no research on GMO corn aren’t looking very hard because the United States Department of Agriculture has to perform many tests. Major concern in our market today is bushels! How many bushels of corn farmers can produce and sell. Our production level over the past few decades has risen. “From 1950 to 1992, the world 's grain output rose from 692 million tons produced on 1.70 billion acres of cropland to 1.9 billion tons on 1.73 billion acres of cropland—an increase in yield of more than 150 percent. Without high-yield agriculture, either millions would have starved or increases in food output would have been realized only through drastic expansion of acres under cultivation—with losses of pristine wilderness a hundred times greater than all the losses to urban and suburban expansion.” (Borlaug 2). This really shows in perspective how technology in GMO corn has helped feed many people around the world. These advances create more bushels than America needs which means it can have an export market that helps create more money for our economy to work with. A good question to ask people is what would the growing population do if farmers didn’t plant GMO corn? People around the world would not live their lives as good as they do now. How can farmers feed a growing population with corn that has only a certain potential it can make? Farmers can’t and that is why most farmers plant GMO corn. One writer who is all for organic claims that “Organic farm yields are higher than those of chemical farms in years of drought, due to organic plants’ stronger root systems and better moisture retention in the soil.” (Rodale 152). Claims like these are misguided because corn has GM it means that it has traits or genes that help it prosper in conditions where there is less rain than normal. Why would companies be spending millions of dollars on drought resistant corn if Non-GMO corn was better? GMO corn has had a significant advantage over the past fifty years. Look at our increase in yield since farmers started plating GMO corn. It has gone up over one hundred and fifty percent. (Hansen, 1) The issue of who has benefited greatly from farmers being able to produce more bushels every year? Third World Countries have because when farmers in U.S. have a surplus or too much corn then they can buy it from Americans at a reasonable price. Not only when we have a surplus can consumers buy it, but almost any time because of the export market the U.S. has and its dependency on foreign buyers. The government of the U.S. has had in recent year’s subsidies payments where it buys corn from farmers to give farmers money in years when growers need it. The government then gives it away to countries in need through government programs. Other countries than just third world countries benefit “Mexico now imports 6 million tons of corn from the United States, as much as 60 percent of which may be genetically modified” (Amin, 1). These six million tons of corn helps their economy in so many ways. Being able to export corn also helps our economy because then the price of corn does not fall because of an outside market that keeps the demand up. Without having GMO corn that has produced more yields farmers could not help other countries. Poor farmers in tropical countries are facing unsolved problems from crop pests, crop disease, low soil fertility, and drought. This is one reason per capita food production in Africa has been declining for the past 30 years. Since 1975, the number of malnourished children in Africa has more than doubled, reaching 30 million. Fifty million Africans suffer from vitamin A deficiency, and 65 percent of African women of childbearing age are anemic. Two-thirds of all poor and poorly fed Africans are farmers; for them, increased farm productivity would be the best escape from poverty and hunger. GM technologies hold considerable promise for these people. (Hansen, 1)
To keep using Non-GMO corn in these countries would definitely hurt them with their growing population. If farmers in other countries want to plant Non-GMO corn that has lower yields than GMO corn people should let them. Farmers have the choice to plant what they want to. Decisions like whether or not to plant GMO corn or Non-GMO corn are huge decisions that farmers have to make every spring. Those decisions are made on whether or not GMO corn will help them or not help them. GMO corn is like buying insurance on the corn farmer’s harvest. Some years farmers need resistance to certain pests that attack their fields, which could harm the yields tremendously and affect Americans in so many ways. Other years farmers need resistance to certain diseases that were spread to their fields. Without being genetically modified corn would be greatly hurt by these attacks to their overall health. Farmers have to produce yields that will provide sustainable agriculture for our world. Using the same old Non-GMO corn will definitely leave us lacking in so many ways. Just like in every other aspect of our lives everything is being improved to help us and people usually don’t reject it. So why reject GMO corn that will help us? People need to understand and stand up to people who are against GMO corn.
In my opinion GMOs are going to be a huge part in food production for years to come. It not only is going to save us from world hunger but it is also going to allow for cheaper food. The fact of the matter is we are going to have to use more and more GMOs as the population keeps increasing. More crops are going to have to be produced on less land to feed more people. Without our ability to use GMOs our world would not survive and there would be many many more people who would be starving. In conclusion there are many things that people need to think about when they hear people who state things about the benefits of Non-GMO corn. Do your own research when it comes to this topic. Yes, there are some benefits that Non-GMO corn has to offer while GMO corn doesn’t. There are always advantages and disadvantages to everything people do. Farmers fed the world and they could not do that today without the advances in technology of corn. Corn is a product that is used widely in the world and most of that corn is genetically modified. Adapting to eating and using GMO corn is something people will have to do because farmers will simply not stop producing it.

Work Cited
SMITH, MELISSA DIANE. "SAY NO TO Gmos." Better Nutrition 73.3 (2011): 46. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

MARSA, LINDA. "Anti-Gmo Grass-Roots Effort Gains Ground In U.S." Discover 34.3 (2013): 42-43. Academic Search Elite. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.

Fight the GM Food Scare." Scientific American Sept. 2013: 10.Business Source Elite. Web. 16 Mar. 2014

Hansen, Michael. "The GMO Tipping Point." Natural Foods Merchandiser (2014): 14-15. Business Source Elite. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.

G.M.O. Foods and the Trust Issue." The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.

Devlin, R.H., et al. "Genetically Modified Growth Affects Allometry Of Eye And Brain In Salmonids." Canadian Journal Of Zoology 90.2 (2012): 193-202. Academic Search Elite. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Amin, Latifah, et al. "Determinants Of Public Attitudes To Genetically Modified Salmon." Plos ONE 9.1 (2014): 1-14.Academic Search Elite. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Kruse, Nancy, and Bret Thorn. "Gmos: Problem Or Progress?."Nation 's Restaurant News 48.3 (2014): 42. Business Source Elite. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Cited: SMITH, MELISSA DIANE. "SAY NO TO Gmos." Better Nutrition 73.3 (2011): 46. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. MARSA, LINDA. "Anti-Gmo Grass-Roots Effort Gains Ground In U.S." Discover 34.3 (2013): 42-43. Academic Search Elite. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Fight the GM Food Scare." Scientific American Sept. 2013: 10.Business Source Elite. Web. 16 Mar. 2014 Hansen, Michael. "The GMO Tipping Point." Natural Foods Merchandiser (2014): 14-15. Business Source Elite. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. G.M.O. Foods and the Trust Issue." The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. Devlin, R.H., et al. "Genetically Modified Growth Affects Allometry Of Eye And Brain In Salmonids." Canadian Journal Of Zoology 90.2 (2012): 193-202. Academic Search Elite. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. Amin, Latifah, et al. "Determinants Of Public Attitudes To Genetically Modified Salmon." Plos ONE 9.1 (2014): 1-14.Academic Search Elite. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. Kruse, Nancy, and Bret Thorn. "Gmos: Problem Or Progress?."Nation 's Restaurant News 48.3 (2014): 42. Business Source Elite. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.