GMO's: The Whole Story--All Those in Favor (Part 2 of 4)

All Those in Favor

There are three main reasons that crops are genetically engineered: 1) to resist pests, 2) to grow more easily in a variety of climates, and 3) to boost nutrients (“Should You Worry,” 2013).  These GE crops could lead to a decrease in pesticide use, help countries experiencing food crisis (especially because of drought), and even increase developing countries’ economies with increased yields (Wohlers, 2013).  They could also help with the rise in population growth, because “the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that by 2050, the world will need to produce 70% more food” just to keep up (Curry, 2013).  In the United States, crops have been modified “for increased yields rather than nutritional enhancement” (“Should You Worry,” 2013, p. 4), but other countries are looking into crops that also boost nutrients, as well as grow in a more diverse climate range. 

An example of this is Golden Rice, which has a gene that adds beta-carotene to the rice giving it 60% of the daily requirement in one bowl (“Should You Worry,” 2013).  This is especially important as “vitamin A deficiency is responsible for 250,000 to 500,000 cases of blindness in children annually, and contributes to some 2 million deaths from weakened immune systems in Asia and Africa” (“Should You Worry,” 2012, p. 4).

Advocates of transgenic crops point to the fact that humans have been hybridizing plants for years.  They do not see a difference between what happens in nature as plants grow and adapt their features and what they do in the laboratory.  “Modern corn resembles teosinte, its wild ancestor, the way a teacup Chihuahua resembles a gray wolf” (Curry, 2013, p. 6).  “A genome is not a static entity but a dynamic structure continuously refining its gene pool” on its own (Curry, 2013, p. 6). 

The American Medical Association (AMA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) all state that there is no proven health risk in consuming GMOs (“Should You Worry,” 2012).  Processing of GM crops (especially corn, soybeans, sugar beets, and canola) “eliminates almost all the modified genes and the proteins they produce” (“Should You Worry,” 2012, p. 4).  Almost all GMO plants undergo some type of processing before reaching grocery store shelves, and most fresh produce (not just organic) is actually not genetically engineered.

Key Terms

biotech (biotechnology): “the use of living cells, bacteria, etc., to make useful products (such as crops that insects are less likely to destroy or new kinds of medicine)” (Biotechnology, 2014).

BT (Bacillus thuringiensis): naturally occurring bacteria which lives in the soil; allowed to be sprayed on organic farms as an insecticide.

genetically engineered (GE): refers to seeds that “have somehow been altered by science in order to produce more positive results such as bigger size, brighter colors, or sweeter flavor” (Barnes, 2005, p. 53).

genetically modified organism (GMO): “the rapid and accurate alteration of genetic material in such a way that does not occur by natural recombination” (Wohlers, 2013, p. 74).  “The technology inserts genetic material from one species into another to give a crop or animal a new quality” (Mather, 2012, p. 1).

organic: “yielding, or involving the use of food produced with the use of feed or fertilizer of plant or animal origin without employment of chemically formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants, antibiotics, or pesticides” (Organic, 2014).

stacked hybrids: “varieties that have been manipulated to express several GM effects at once” (Mather, 2012, p. 3).

substantial equivalence: “’embodies the idea that existing organisms used as foods, or as a source of food, can be used as the basis for comparison when assessing the safety of human consumption of a food or food component that has been modified or is new’ (p. 14)” (Wohlers, 2013, p. 76).

transgenic crops: “being or used to produce an organism or cell of one species into which one or more genes of another species have been incorporated” (Transgenic, 2014).

unauthorized GMO (UGM): genetically modified plants found outside of their designated place.