Genetically modified food in some communities is still mistakenly considered as too risky technology. For instance, an anti-GMO group called the Non-GMO Project maintains that there still are not enough trustworthy studies, this type of food can be avoided and GM does not have any pros at all. And, it is easy to understand this statement because many people do not like when natural processes have interfered with anything unknown, and they're doubtful about that direction. So, what is so erroneous in this type of view?
Firstly, it is not so easy as it seems to avoid all GMO products, because 79% of soybeans, 70% of cotton, 32% of maize and 24% of canola are modified globally (James, Clive. 2013). In the USA it is even harder to not consume them due to the fact that 94 percent of the soybean crops in the United States were genetically modified (M. Shahbandeh, Oct 8, 2019). Moreover, according to the same research USA takes first place by hectarage of the biotech crop. In addition, about 60% to 70% of all processed grocery store products have some GMO ingredients, according to a 2015 story in Vox made by Brad Plumer.
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Secondly, most recent studies are in a wide disagreement with this statement. In actuality, there have been more than 1000 studies on the safety of GMOs, which were not bought by interested parties. The most referable recent research is ‘Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects’. For this study in the spring of 2016 more than 20 scientists, researchers, agricultural and industry experts with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) gathered to analyze 2 decades of data and about 900 researches and tests of GMOs. Their conclusion says that genetically engineered (GE) crops are safe to eat and does not influence our environment, even their nutrition is not distinguishable from non-genetically modified crops. Even if this research does not give you enough satisfaction to rely on it, then look at the information given by the World Health Organization in 2014. According to their words, all of the international market’s genetically modified products have been approved by the safety assessments that were carried out by national authorities.
Thirdly, GM seeds will help to face the ‘feeding the world’ issue. The population in the world is anticipated to grow by 2 billion people in the next 3 decades, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050, according to a new United Nations report published on 17th of July of 2019. Sometime after publication of this report, a World Resources Institute’s work, called ‘Creating a Sustainable Food Future: Final Report’, stated urgent changes in the global food system are needed to make sure there is enough food for nearly 10 billion people by 2050. The report says that increasing the use of genetically modified crops is one of the most crucial steps to achieve desired result. The WRI recommended making significantly more genetically modified crops than just corn, soy and wheat, and to work with crops not trafficked globally such as sorghum, millet, peas, and barley. According to them, genetic engineering tools such as CRISPR can be able to solve the future problem of deficiency of food by developing more crop resiliency.
Despite all the information above, like all things in our world GM food cannot be completely safe. There are plenty of major factors that give some people reasons to join a non-GMO community: cross-pollination, the economy.
Cross-pollination is the process, during which one plant pollinates a plant of another variety. Plants have been doing this process since the emergence of life on Earth. GM crops are not the exception. The cross-pollination between GM and GM-free crops or in other words combining of GM and organic seeds may cause to a large quantity of problems for farm workers. Due to the asynchrony of the deregulation of GM crops around the world, GM crops might unexpectedly appear in organic food. Cross-pollination of those seeds might lead to difficulty with the GM-free status of agricultural companies and menace markets for them (Van Acker, McLean, & Martin, 2007).
Providing a GM crop to market is both high-priced and takes a great deal of time, and agrarian bioengineering companies are able to develop only those products that are more likely to bring a return on their investment (Ramaswami, Pray, & Lalitha, 2012). It is expensive, due to the fact that, the prices of bioengineered seeds are high and they are not affordable for smaller companies (Ramaswami et al., 2012). It is time-consuming because all GM products must be tested before getting to the market shelves (World Health Organization, 2014). A considerable range of problems comes from these characteristics of GM crops, including debts of small companies and only huge corporations have GM crops on the market (Finger et al., 2011).
So, as can be seen from the above information, genetically modified food has both advantages and obvious disadvantages. However, the attitude towards it, as well as the support of the anti-GMO or pro-GMO group, remain up to the individual.
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