What do you think of when you hear GMO? Maybe you think of McDonald’s or other unhealthy foods. Perhaps Golden Rice or ending world hunger may come to mind when considering genetically modified organisms. Or you might reference science fiction’s examples of biotechnology and its makers: the Borg, species 8472, or the Yuuzan Vong. While it is very important to understand the risks GMO’s have, we should know why continuing to use them is beneficial to human flourishing.
The biggest reason why we should use genetically engineered foods is reason enough. They would provide the ability to save human lives, and a lot of them. every day, 2400 people die due to chronic hunger. This number is astounding. To put this into perspective, the holocaust killed approximately eleven million people. That means every twelve and a half years, the amount of deaths due to chronic hunger equal the holocaust. I do not want to diminish or make light of the holocaust; it was an atrocity of astounding scale. But I do wish to help others understand the severity of this catastrophe. World hunger is a huge problem all over the world, and GMO’s can help us end it.
This has been illustrated in the genetically engineered Golden Rice. Golden Rice has been enhanced to meet the nutritional needs of underfed people. It has received a lot of support and has begun to answer the world’s growing need for sustainable food. Golden Rice is rice that has been modified to provide vitamin A, something that certain parts of the world readily need. Countries have also invested in GMO’s for domestic use. The United States, Argentina, and several other countries have begun to test and approve GMO’s for sale in their countries. The reason that countries do approve GMO’s the benefits they provide to the products.
Genetically modified organisms are not just food engineered to taste good with unhealthy side effects, as is the case with some fast food chains. Many GMO’s are fruit engineered to be more resistant to pests, or last longer. Many items such as bananas, strawberries, soybeans and other common items are genetically modified to be far more useful to consumers. Most GMO’s are usually made for the benefit of the consumer as well as the producer.
GMO’s have a multitude of benefits that we could capitalize on. I do not deny that there are risks involved in using GMO’s, but the quota we have is 2400 dying everyday. If we can do anything to lower that number, we should do it. I know that GMO’s are incredibly new and thus very mysterious to us, but they can still help us. I know there is still a lot we need to discover about genetic engineering, but I believe they are part of the solution to world hunger, and should therefore be used now.
