by In the world today we face the problem of what ways in which we can ensure that food is delivered from producers to consumers, and GMOs provide an alternative solution to ensure that crops are yielded. GMOs or genetically modified organisms, most commonly seen through GMFs (genetically modified food) present an alternative to traditional natural grains in which farmers use to make their crops. GMOs provide a successful alternative to traditional seeds as a way to ensure that farmers are able to yield their crop in a cost effective manner, but safety of GMOs must be ensured to protect consumers.
GMOs help farmers to ensure that they are able to yield their crop while also not having to pay for thing such as expensive pesticides. In any harvest no farmer can ensure that they will be able to have a high yield for that respective year. Things such as weather conditions, pests, and other outside factors can all be pivotal factors that affect a year’s crop yield: GMOs provide an effective solution in which farmers can be more guaranteed a high yield of their product. This is because of the GMOs crops that are resistance to drought, disease and insect pests, ensuring higher yields and growth of crops, helping farmers and generating extra income. Consumers also have an increased number of crops that they can buy from the market. Farmers also do not have to pay for expensive pesticides and reduces pesticide exposure, further ensuring the health of farmers (1).
GMOs may be the solution to world hunger and needs for increased food in the future. Golden rice is a GMO grain that had been created to ensure that consumers get vitamin A and has been proposed as a potential solution to malnutrition of young children in developing countries. With the world population at a steady exponential increase we also run the risk of running out of viable food sources. Being able to ensure that yield of crops and ensure that all people get a healthy source of food with proper nutrients will be imperative in the future.
GMOs have environmental effects on the ecosystem. When we introduce GMOs into an environment there have been recent studies that have shown that the soil after GMOs are put into place are less viable for other crops to grow on. GMOs often use chemicals such as glyphosate which is toxic to the environment and to humans. Contrarily, some scientists believe that GMOs in fact are better for the environment and consumers as they decrease pesticide use. The creation of GMOs must also have a responsibility to the environment and not just hurt ecosystems and the natural soil to ensure crop yield (1).
GMOs must be safe to the consumer and must go through extensive testing and clinical trials to ensure safety. GMOs have the potential to be helpful to both farmers and consumers, but this must be done in a safe way. All GMOs should go through FDA approval before they can be grown. In addition, in grocery stores or farmers markets that sell GMO foods, there should be large signs that tells the buyer that these are GMO foods to ensure transparency of the product. GMOs have every potential to help both farmers and consumers of GMOs, but it must be done in a way that ensures transparency as well as scientific backing for safety.
Sources:
Source 1: https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2018/08/the-gmo-debate/
Image 1: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/03/07/173611461/in-a-grain-of-golden-rice-a-world-of-controversy-over-gmo-foods
Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TmcXYp8xu4&ab_channel=Kurzgesagt%E2%80%93InaNutshell