Genetic Modification: Pros and Cons

Genetic modification is the process of forcing genes from one species into another entirely unrelated species. (""GMO Defined,"" 2011). Most of these transgenic combinations do not occur naturally and they are made to create a certain trait within foods. GMOs affect a huge number of products that everyone consumes on a daily basis. This connects with another rising issue in America- which is poverty. Most of the processed foods are more affordable than the healthy, organic food. This is very effective when it comes to unhealthy diets. This kind of food is developed and marketed because farmers and agricultural companies are benefitting from it. The companies and Farmers are having to use less pesticides and they deliver higher crops (Deshpande). By higher crops, the food is bigger than the normal size and they last longer on the shelf. They are also able to withstand droughts and have been said to increase the richness and taste.

However, this does create rooms for a large amount of problems with the general public in the long run. According to The Non-GMO Project, GMOs safety is unknown. They have been linked to causing infertility, which is one of the most crucial problems that is caused men and women when it comes to reproducing. In 2008, the Austrian Health Ministers presented how the fertility rates have dropped. This will definitely put a strain on the future generations. It is said that woman have had less pregnancies and men have had a lower sperm count. This not only has occurred in humans, but in animals as well. Women has had more of a difficult time than men have had. They have higher risk of infertility, premature births, and lower birth rates.

It’s vital that we, the general public, are aware of GMOs. GM foods have been on the market only since 1994, and research on their long-term effects on humans is scarce. Most of the studies have been done on animals. As stated by Rachel Mount, a journalist with Oprah, some of those studies link GM foods to altered metabolism, inflammation, kidney and liver malfunction, and reduced fertility. In one experiment, multiple generations of hamsters were fed a diet of GM soy; by the third generation, they were losing the ability to produce offspring, producing about half as many babies as the non-GM soy group (Smith). This can change the human population in a very dramatic way. Consuming GMOs will cause a serious problem in our future generation. Our bodies are made to be a specific, detailed system made up of cells. When this system is disrupted, the body will try to change itself to get rid of that particular problem, but when there are unknown factors that are like aliens in the body, our detailed system of cells will not know how to properly dispose of that alien. People should be aware of what they are eating and putting into their bodies. The body is like a baby. It needs to be nurtured and treated with proper care.

There have been over twenty-five countries that require companies to replace their GMO ingredients in their products. Hethir Rodriguez, a certified herbalist, and Dr. Christine Taxler, an OB/GYN, has stated that GMOs has caused so many problems that the EU has actually banned the use of GMO products throughout Europe, while the United States continues to allow them throughout the nation (Rodriguez). Other countries are banning GMOs because of the problems that they cause with health-related issues. This is very important because other nations are being very cautious on what they allow in their country. America needs to do the exact because GMOs are harming our population. Russia being another of the major countries that have banned these kinds of products as well. The prime minister of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, expressed his opinion by saying, “If the Americans like to eat GMO products, let them eat it then. We don’t need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce organic food.” We need to cut down on the dependence of modern technology. It is ruining the health of Americans and is causing a dramatic decrease in our fertility levels. Russia, just like many other countries, can see what GMOs are doing to our health and they don’t want it to happen in their country. This is a drastic change that we need in America. We could save hundreds of people from birth defects, many health problems, and infertility.

There have been no long-term studies on the impact GMOs have on the human body. This is very important because we don’t know what will happen later on in the future. With this being said, people should care about what they put in their bodies. If they don’t have a clue as to what it, they need to raise questions about and try to figure out what if it will harm them. The Reproductive Medicine Center of First Hospital of Lanzhou University, stated that genetically modified foods may impact our reproductive potential in several levels (Spear). Since GMOs are genetically engineered, they transfer new genes and DNA into the human body. When the body come in contact with DNA they aren’t familiar with, It doesn’t know what to do with it. This is also why the infertility levels are decreasing. These genes that are being passed down from generation to generation are harmful genes that the body does not know how to dispose of them properly. People may think that this only occurs in women, but that is false. GM foods have also been implicated in the reproductive capacity of males as well. Since the 1970s alone, sperm counts among the world’s male population have declined as much as 40-50% (Torres). People mostly hear of women being infertile and not being able to bear a child. In many rare cases people will hear about men having a low sperm count.

The best solution for people who want to avoid GMO foods is to learn how to grow their own food and stay away from processed foods. This is a safe way to maintain people’s diets and health. This will be a very effective solution because everyone could benefit from it. If we look at other countries like Russia or Europe, we can see a huge difference between the population and the health of the population. America is known for being the unhealthiest country in the world. If people start to care about what they put in their body, and start to make a change in their diet we will be able to see a vast difference within our population. Instead of depending on modern technology, we should go back to our roots of the cultivation of crops. Before genetic engineering, our ancestors planted their own crops, raised their own cattle, and other animals. If we could make that change and go back to what our ancestors started, we could change our future generations for the better. This will cut down on high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and hundreds of other problematic health issues that are prevalent in America. Growing foods will not only keep people healthy, but it will also save them money and give them a new hobby.

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