Experts and studies have argued for and against the consumption of certain food types based on systematic information to support and oppose the consumption of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, respectively. This debate has been going on for a while. Consuming organic and natural foods grown without pesticides during planting, pest management, or storage has long been associated with healthy eating. Many nutritionists believe that eating GMO foods hurts a person’s health and that they can increase the size of other body organs and cause cancer. Additionally, the production and consumption of GMO foods have been linked to three medical conditions, according to the WHO (World Health Organization). These include gene duplication, outcrossing, and allergies. GMO foods were created to increase food production and protect food. Still, they have instead improved other health, environmental, and financial problems, making them more dangerous to human existence than beneficial (Levitsky, 2016). While GM crops may have some evident advantages, I think they generally pose more risks. Before its use expands, long-term research should be conducted because their influence may be so significant and irreversible.
My major concern when trying to choose the side of the problem is to know whether the product is safe or not for the health of human beings. When talking about GMO products, we all know that the foods that have been genetically altered are also unnatural. However, they could be harmful to human health and the environment, and they have a detrimental cascading effect that affects domestic animals. The main benefit of GMOs is just the financial gain that comes from increased production, decreased pesticide and herbicide consumption, and the preference by many consumers due to improved tastes and longer shelf lives. Before fully embracing the idea of cultivating GMO crops, it is vital to take safety precautions even though there has not been any conclusive evidence of their effects.
Secondly, it is important to know if the products used bring harm to the environment in which we are living. However, after the development and distribution of crops that can withstand harsh conditions, such as floods and drought, GMOs are intended to improve food security. Environmental change and global warming are the main causes of that. Many farmers will profit when GMO foods are made public. However, this will increase the reliance on international corporations to supply pesticides and seed goods, which will be costly for small-scale farmers (Levitsky, 2016). As a result, we can conclude that farmers’ future financial situations will be unknown because they will have to spend more money on chemicals and seed supplies than they would have if they had not started cultivating GMOs.
In addition, proponents of GMO foods assert that crop anatomists will drastically reduce or eliminate chemicals in managing pests and diseases. This claim benefits large-scale farmers by lowering the enormous costs of purchasing and delivering spraying herbicides and pesticides (Levitsky, 2016). On the other side, growing plants resistant to disease and infestations, especially in broad areas, will promote the growth of weeds and good insects that are typically resistant to pesticides used on crops, necessitating the use of more deadly pesticides to manage the new pests. Vigorous weeds and excellent pests are examples of plant life and pests that are resistant to herbicides and pesticides, necessitating more potent and better pesticides to eradicate them.
Consuming genetically modified foods is unnatural and will eventually hurt a person’s health and well-being. The care of those whose health has been affected by consuming GMO foods would result in unnecessary financial costs. The altered food content may affect a person’s health for some chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes. In summary, growing GMO crops is neither safe for the environment nor suitable for human consumption. Making a firm decision about whether or not GMO foods should be harvested requires further research. After assessing different options, it is evident that the cultivation of GMOs should be discouraged because the results have both short- and long-term positive effects. Governments and international health organizations should lead an expert examination to address concerns about GMO safety, even though it is still a matter of contention between pro- and anti-GMO activists.
Reference
Levitsky, E.L. (2016). Problem of genetically modified foods safety: A toxicologist’s view. Biotechnologia Acta, 9, 7-25.