Advantages of Genetically Modified Foods
A few days ago, I wrote a post titled ‘what are GM foods‘. Today, I am going to look at all the advantages of growing genetically modified foods.
Advantages (Pros) of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods:
- Saves the use of toxic chemicals. GM crops can be made resistant to pests, so pesticides do not need to be sprayed on them. This is also better on the environment!
- Prevents wasted crops. If pests cannot eat the crops, nothing goes to waste. Therefore, farmers make more money!
- It could potentially solve hunger. Many people agree that there is not enough food in the world to feed everybody. As genetically modified foods increase the yields of crops, more food is produced by farmers. Of course, others argue that there is enough food to feed everyone, but it is unequally distributed. Others argue the GM crops do not produce higher yields.
- We can begin to grow foods in different conditions. For instance, strawberries can be genetically engineered to grow in frosts. Other foods that grow in cold climates could be engineered to grow in hot climates (such as Africa where much of the continent does not have enough food).
- Some foods can be genetically modifies to contain higher amounts of important vitamins and minerals. Vitamin A deficiencies cause blindness. In Africa, 500,000 go blind each year. If rice can be modified to contain more vitamin A, the amount of people going blind will decrease.
- As more research is done the technology is bound to improve. Scientists are already considering genetic modification to make fish, nuts and plants grow faster.
Despite these advantages, many people refuse to eat genetically modified foods over concerns that it could be dangerous to their health. There is still no detailed study about the long term effects of eating genetically modified foods. There are also issues such as whether scientists should play God and whether biotechnology companies (the people that made the GM seeds) should have control over food supply (they could choose not to sell the seeds to certain people or countries).
Other Pros/Cons Topics:
AMINA HERNOUFI
IM WITH GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS
Mahantesha Naika B.N.
GM crop will solve some problems, likely conventional plant breeding work. If somebody thinks about miracle by introducing GM, they are more politicians rather than scientists. So it is true for who opposing GM crops. My request to all please avoid politics, think GM where conventional way we can’t achieve our goal.
Michael Grgis ONT
IM WITH GM FOODS TOO!
Visnu
I am all ok with GM food but what if causes new diseases that take doctors longer to figure medicine for?
Delaney - Ontario
Visnu – Genetically Modified Organisms have been eaten all over the world for the past 15 years and there have been no cases of any diseases anywhere. 15 years is a pretty long time so I think we’re almost certain Gm foods are fine to eat. Also, GM food goes through a lot of testing before it hits the shelves. They wouldn’t risk losing money because people get sick from their food, their pockets are too big.
Charlotte - London
GM crops are a big contributing factor to biodiversity, they may have these advantages… but if you take a look at the cons of GM food, then you’ll see that they outweigh each other.