We all have heard some ridiculous stories on the news of government spending gone awry. Spending cuts are made to fund unnecessary programs, meanwhile education and healthcare programs are lacking. This isn’t always the case, sometimes the programs are for our benefit. One program that has government spending backing it, is the research of GMO’s (genetically modified organisms), and the double edged sword this creates for consumers.
GMO’s are in virtually everything that is not certified organic in the United States. I was not even aware of what they were, until a few months ago my children were eating a box of Kellogg’s cereal and I was reading the back of the box. I was shocked to read that it was produced with partial genetic engineering. …show more content…
They have chosen to spend money to study the side effects of the GMO’s on the public and then proceed to claim they are safe for consumption. While I do think it is good to put money into research of alternative food sources, I do not think that it was right to continue funding something once it was determined that it is unsafe. In terms of scarcity, this is the whole reason GMO’s have even become what some would consider a necessity. Many are worried about the ever growing world population, and how to sustainably provide food sources at very little cost. The flip side of all of this, could have been studying real sustainable ways, that do not require any modification to the plant seeds which are already unaltered. If they would choose to do this, a healthier substitute could be made available to the American public. It could be more cost effective for consumers who try to eat natural food than to buy all organic (which is very costly to those on a tight budget), and would also prevent millions of deaths due to cancer (Lim, 2014). It is the most insane thing I have ever encountered; that our own government is not willing to save their citizens health. It is now getting to the point that they are considering removing the labeling that indicates genetically modified foods. This will make any food you eat in the future an unknown, unless you do your own homework and look up the website to find out what you are eating. This opportunity cost should have been weighed much more heavily before the choice was made to allow corporations like Monsanto win, all because of the money backing them. This does not speak well for the consideration the government puts into its residents, but in the end they too will be eating their
GMO’s are in virtually everything that is not certified organic in the United States. I was not even aware of what they were, until a few months ago my children were eating a box of Kellogg’s cereal and I was reading the back of the box. I was shocked to read that it was produced with partial genetic engineering. …show more content…
They have chosen to spend money to study the side effects of the GMO’s on the public and then proceed to claim they are safe for consumption. While I do think it is good to put money into research of alternative food sources, I do not think that it was right to continue funding something once it was determined that it is unsafe. In terms of scarcity, this is the whole reason GMO’s have even become what some would consider a necessity. Many are worried about the ever growing world population, and how to sustainably provide food sources at very little cost. The flip side of all of this, could have been studying real sustainable ways, that do not require any modification to the plant seeds which are already unaltered. If they would choose to do this, a healthier substitute could be made available to the American public. It could be more cost effective for consumers who try to eat natural food than to buy all organic (which is very costly to those on a tight budget), and would also prevent millions of deaths due to cancer (Lim, 2014). It is the most insane thing I have ever encountered; that our own government is not willing to save their citizens health. It is now getting to the point that they are considering removing the labeling that indicates genetically modified foods. This will make any food you eat in the future an unknown, unless you do your own homework and look up the website to find out what you are eating. This opportunity cost should have been weighed much more heavily before the choice was made to allow corporations like Monsanto win, all because of the money backing them. This does not speak well for the consideration the government puts into its residents, but in the end they too will be eating their