For my topic, I have chosen to research genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). GMO’s are plants or animals whose genetic code has been altered in order to give it characteristics that it does not have naturally. Scientists do this by cutting an organisms DNA and combining it with a new organisms DNA to make one new molecule. Plants and animals are genetically modified for reasons that I will discuss later on. Whether GMO’s are a good and sustainable way to grow and produce food is an important question, because we eat these genetically modified foods, and it does affect our environment.The two articles I have chosen are both peer-reviewed and have two different opinions about GMO’s.
The first article, titled “GMO’s and Global Justice” by Kristian Toft, is against the use of GMO’s, explaining how they are bad for us as human beings and for our environment. Her biggest concern is that we do not know the extent of what these genetically modified foods are doing to our bodies because of the lack of long-term affect testing. When trans-fats were first introduced, corporations battled to get them onto our grocery shelves. It is only decades later that this once novel food has been proven to be extremely unhealthful.This could be a glance into the future of GMO’s.
It is similarly a concern that GMO’s in food are causing an increase in allergic reactions. The process of genetically modifying a plant or animal adds new proteins that weren’t indigenous to the original plant or animal, causing an allergic reaction increase when ingested in the human body. Also, some GMO foods have had antibiotic features added to them so they are resistant to certain diseases and viruses. When humans eat them, these antibiotics features persist in our bodies and make actual antibiotic medications less effective.
Toft goes on to say that GMO’s are banned in more than 60 countries around the world including, the European Union, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. In the U. S. , the government has approved GMO’s production and sale based on studies that were conducted by the same companies that created them and profit from their sale. Food items that contain GMO’s are unlabeled in The U. S. , making it hard to know exactly what we are eating.
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She closes by suggesting that the U. S. should follow the smart and discerning example of our fellow countries.The second article I chose titled, “The Safe Foods Risk Analysis Framework” by Dr. Harry Kuiper is very different from the first one I chose, because it is for the use of GMO’s. Dr.
Kuiper says that GMO’s are good because it is helping farmers, increases food supply, and is assisting underfed nations. Some of the other benefits that he claims are better food quality and taste, making crops disease resistant, and higher yields and more efficient production. GMO’s help farmers by allowing them to skip steps in the process, like spraying pesticides, because the crops are already resistant to disease.In some crops, they claim the foods are modified to contain additional vitamins and minerals. These are supposed to be beneficial to people in countries that do not have an adequate supply of these nutrients. They claim that since fewer pesticides are used, it is good for the environment.
The author does acknowledge that we do not have long-term affect testing and that it may become a problem in the future. His most important claim is that with all the conducted research, he believes GMO’s are safe for human consumption.That is one that I personally am not sure about. When I compare these two scholarly articles, I see that they don’t have a lot in common, coming from two different sides of the spectrum. The only thing that they both mention is the fact that no one has any long-term affect testing on GMO’s.
That seems to be the main problem; no one knows what could happen in the near or far future from these organisms, and that seems to scare people. Both articles were written by very credible people and give lots of reasonable facts along with their sources.These two articles give me great information that I can use on my research paper. I think it is important to be able to argue both sides of the topic, whether you agree with it or not.
These articles have educated me on what questions may rise with this topic and have guided me in the path I want to take with this research paper. After reviewing and comparing these articles, I have learned so much more about my research paper and what I need to include in my area of focus. This is a very controversial issue that more people need to be educated and aware of.
