In recent years, the development of new technology has allowed the scientific community to grow in leaps and bounds, inventing new products and improving the old. Genetically modified organisms — commonly known as GMOs — are such a product of recent scientific gains. As with any new technology, however, GMOs are widely contested and are the subject of an overabundance of misinformation, especially concerning their safety and potential risks. Many critics label GMOs as so-called Frankenfoods, painting them as dangerous with few benefits to offer in exchange for many possible risks and dangers. However, contrary to this distorted, widely held belief, in actuality, GMOs present both a safe and beneficial way to provide for the world’s growing
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Opponents of GMOs often claim that because not enough research has been conducted, it is impossible to know for certain whether GMOs are safe to consume. However, this is completely untrue — at least, according to nearly every major international science body in the world. Renowned scientific organizations and regulatory agencies such as the American Medical Association (AMA), the National Academy of Sciences, The Royal Society of Medicine, and the European Commission, among others, all agree that GMOs are indeed safe (“GLP Infographic”). Likewise, the European Union has spent “more than $425 million studying the safety of genetically modified crops over the past 25 years . . . and has come to the conclusion that crop modification by molecular methods is no more dangerous than other methods of crop modifications” (Fedoroff 1) — which is to say barely dangerous at all. It comes as no surprise then that not only do most scientific organizations hold this common point of view, but “the scientific literature shows no compelling evidence to associate such crops, now cultivated worldwide for more than 15 years, with risks to the environment or with safety hazards for food” (Simon 1). A staggering number of research studies affirm this stance — more than 1,700 in number (Entine 1). One such study …show more content…
Indeed, feeding the world’s growing population is quickly becoming a problem — in fact, according to the United Nations, “by 2050 the world’s population will grow by more than two billion people” (Folger 42), and because of this, new food supplies will be necessary to feed these people. For this reason, now more than ever, GMO crops are nothing short of vital to help to increase crop yield without exhausting worldwide resources. Although modern super crops, as Tim Folger of National Geographic calls GMOs, are not the sole solution to this problem, they will play a key role in boosting the quantity of food grown to better provide for the world’s growing population in years to come. For example, a seven-year study of Indian farmers showed that those growing a genetically modified crop “increased their yield per acre by 24 percent and boosted profits by 50 percent” (“Labels for GMO Foods” 1). This percent increase in yield will obviously vary depending on a variety of factors; however, the fact still stands that GMOs are raising crop yields everywhere, not just in India. In much the same way, GMOs revolutionized rice production in Asia, where rising water levels regularly poison rice fields. In response, scientists have developed “a salt-tolerant rice
Opponents of GMOs often claim that because not enough research has been conducted, it is impossible to know for certain whether GMOs are safe to consume. However, this is completely untrue — at least, according to nearly every major international science body in the world. Renowned scientific organizations and regulatory agencies such as the American Medical Association (AMA), the National Academy of Sciences, The Royal Society of Medicine, and the European Commission, among others, all agree that GMOs are indeed safe (“GLP Infographic”). Likewise, the European Union has spent “more than $425 million studying the safety of genetically modified crops over the past 25 years . . . and has come to the conclusion that crop modification by molecular methods is no more dangerous than other methods of crop modifications” (Fedoroff 1) — which is to say barely dangerous at all. It comes as no surprise then that not only do most scientific organizations hold this common point of view, but “the scientific literature shows no compelling evidence to associate such crops, now cultivated worldwide for more than 15 years, with risks to the environment or with safety hazards for food” (Simon 1). A staggering number of research studies affirm this stance — more than 1,700 in number (Entine 1). One such study …show more content…
Indeed, feeding the world’s growing population is quickly becoming a problem — in fact, according to the United Nations, “by 2050 the world’s population will grow by more than two billion people” (Folger 42), and because of this, new food supplies will be necessary to feed these people. For this reason, now more than ever, GMO crops are nothing short of vital to help to increase crop yield without exhausting worldwide resources. Although modern super crops, as Tim Folger of National Geographic calls GMOs, are not the sole solution to this problem, they will play a key role in boosting the quantity of food grown to better provide for the world’s growing population in years to come. For example, a seven-year study of Indian farmers showed that those growing a genetically modified crop “increased their yield per acre by 24 percent and boosted profits by 50 percent” (“Labels for GMO Foods” 1). This percent increase in yield will obviously vary depending on a variety of factors; however, the fact still stands that GMOs are raising crop yields everywhere, not just in India. In much the same way, GMOs revolutionized rice production in Asia, where rising water levels regularly poison rice fields. In response, scientists have developed “a salt-tolerant rice