Based on the study done by “The State University of New Jersey” 53% of Americans do not know what GMO’s stand for and 63% refuse to eat GMO’s or say they are not safe to consume. What are GMO’s and why don’t people like them? These are questions people ask themselves whenever GMO’s come up in the media or while reading an article like this one. So, what does GMO stand for? GMO’s are genetically modified organisms which means that a gene from one organism is transplanted into another organism to improve it in some way. Farmers and researchers are using the GMO’s to find ways to increase crop yield and prevent against pest and diseases.
This sounds like a great idea for many people especially agriculturalist, but there are many people who do not agree with GMO’s. In the 90’s it wasn’t required by the FDA for companies to label whether they used GMO’s or not, today it is still not required but is highly encouraged. If you grew up in the 90’s or before you probably remember and organization called Earth Liberation Front. In 1999 they found out that Michigan State University had research labs devoted to agricultural research and helping countries with high poverty rates. When ELF found out about these labs they burned them down in protest against GMO’s. Around that time it was introduced to the public that many of the food they consumed had GMO corn in them, the public over reacted. The main reason they freaked out is lack of information all they knew was they were eating GMO’s. The questions surging the media was “What are GMO’s used for? Why did companies keep this a secret? What are the side effects?”With the public not knowing what to believe this was a gateway for the media to make false accusations about crossbreeding animals into mutants. They even went as far as to make the nickname”frankenfoods” to scare people into not buying GMO’s. Organizations & activist also took this opportunity to vandalize GMO companies and some groups even destroyed crop fields that used GMO’s.
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One of the main problems that sprung up when GMO’s were brought into the public eye was many people said that scientist were “playing God”. Being a christian myself I would say that in my opinion we are not. Personally I believe that if God did not mean for us to use genetically modified organisms that He would have intervened and not even have given us the knowledge to create them. I also believe that He wouldn’t have given us the resources to be able to do the research for genetically modified organisms. Some people can agree with that statement, but then surfaces the question that “If we can do this to plants what’s to stop us from genetically modifying people”, and “Where do scientist draw the line?” Genetically modifying could be used for the better or worse depending on whose hands the technology falls in. The technique used to prevent disease in crops could possibly be used in humans to prevent against terrible diseases that we face such as cancer,diabetes and many other diseases both chronic and communicable. Henceforth it could also be used to genetically modify humans into weapons whether it’s a super human who can’t get hurt or used to set off an epidemic through biological warfare.
While there are many terrible things genetically modifying could be used for GMO’s are currently being used for the greater good. Many organizations are using this technology to find ways to bring commodities to career fields that other wise wouldn’t have any income through agriculture because of poor crop land or a poor environment. An organization called "Harvest Plus" has found a way to genetically modify sweet potatoes to not require large amounts of water to grow. These sweet potatoes have been used for a great purpose such as being taken to parts of Africa to help them fight world hunger. This discovery could increase the export income for the country as well as giving them a major commodity. The sweet potatoes by Harvest Plus are one of the hundreds of uses for GMO’s that affect our world in a positive way. Farmers and researchers all over the world agree that GMO’s are the way to a healthy and sustainable future for our world.
GMO’s are not only incredible products of research to scientist, but many farmers agree that GMO’s are a positive aspect to agriculture. Recently I had the opportunity to speak to an Indiana farmer and travel to his family farm “Shuter Sunset Farms.” The farm had a wide variety of commodities from beef cattle to organic crops. They grow both organic and genetically modified crops and they saw better results from the GMO crop. Brian Shuter of Shuter Sunset Farms states “Any technology like genetically modified crops, I think are really beneficial to humans.The only way we are going to feed this world is to produce more and take up less land doing it” This is just one farmer who agrees with GMO’s but he does not stand alone because there are thousands that also agree with him..
This was an agriculturalist point of view and I hope this article helps you to make your decision on whether you support genetic modification or not. Maybe you do not support this type of research and that is okay because everyone is entitled to their own opinions and beliefs, however I hoped this article helped you realize some of the great attributes GMO’s have. After reading this I hope you can effectively generate your own opinion on GMO’s and whether you want to eat them or not.
