Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?
The debate about Genetically Modified Foods/Organisms (or GMO's) becomes a question regarding the effects that these products have on the body, surrounding plant habitat, and environmental effects.
Background
“The term GM foods
or GMO's (genetically-modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer to crop
plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular
biology techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to
enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved
nutritional content. The enhancement of desired traits has traditionally been
undertaken through breeding, but conventional plant breeding methods can be
very time consuming and are often not very accurate. Genetic engineering, on the other hand, can
create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great
accuracy.… Not only can genes be transferred from one plant to another, but
genes from non-plant organisms also can be used.”
According to the USDA and FDA there are over 40 plant
varieties that have completed all federal requirements for commercialization.
These include
·
Tomatoes
·
Cantaloupes
·
Soybeans
·
Sugar beets
·
Corn
·
Cotton plants
Specifically the soybean, used as a staple food additive in
the United States, ensures that most US consumers have been exposed to GMO’s. Of all GM crops, the US grows 68% with
soybeans and corn as the top two foods grown.
While GMO’s do have increased tolerance and resistance to
the variable that usually would worry the farming community, can have special
nutritional value added to them, and can improve their pharmaceutical use,
there are many negative aspects.
The GMO industry is criticized for “pursing profit without the concern for potential hazards and the
government for failing to exercise adequate regulatory oversight.” The
industry is facing doubt majorly concerning environmental hazards, human health
risk and economic concern. GMO’s can cause unintended harm to other organism,
reduce the effectiveness of pesticides causing increased dosages to be used,
cause gene transfer to non-target species, and allergies. The effects on human
health are mostly unknown but the potential for a large risk to human health is
great.
In 1999 FDA held there meetings with the US public to
begin the process of establishing a new regulatory procedure for government
approval of GMO's. While some countries (Brazil) have banned GM crops, in the US,
a more (lenient) regulatory system is in place.
“In the United
States, the regulatory process is confused because there are three different
government agencies that have jurisdiction over GM foods. To put it very
simply, the EPA evaluates GM plants for environmental safety, the USDA
evaluates whether the plant is safe to grow, and the FDA evaluates whether the
plant is safe to eat…The FDA counters that the agency currently does not have
the time, money, or resources to carry out exhaustive health and safety studies
of every proposed GM food product. Moreover, the FDA policy as it exists today
does not allow for this type of intervention. “
It is the labeling of GMO’s that is the easiest to make
people aware of what they are putting into their bodies. But with that comes
the question of the level of detectability of GM food cross-contamination. A 1% threshold may already be below current
levels of detectability.
We must be wary about jumping ahead in science and releasing products without the backing about the risk that they may cause. As now organic produce is extremely important and popular to prevent ingestion of chemicals, avoiding GM crops will most likely be in our near future.
-Marshelle
