12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Genetically Modified Foods

by Natalie Regoli

Genetically modified foods, often classified as GMOs, have changed the way that people view
their food. Although genetic modifications have occurred throughout history with selective breeding and
growing methods, scientific advances have allowed this practice to advance to the genetic level. In the
modern GMO, plants can be resistant to specific pesticides and herbicides while becoming adaptive to
changing environmental conditions.

The primary advantage of genetically modified foods is that crop yields become more consistent
and productive, allowing more people to be fed. According to Oxfam, the world currently produced
about 20% more food calories than what is required for every human being to be healthy.

GMOs are not without disadvantages. Although there are no conclusive links, Brown University
concluded that changes to foods on a genetic level combine protein that humans are not used to
consuming. This may increase the chances of an allergic reaction occurring. Since 1999, the rates of
food allergies in children has increased from 3.4% to 5.1%.

Here are some of the additional advantages and disadvantages of genetically modified foods to
think about.

What Are the Advantages of Genetically Modified Foods?

1. Food supplies become predictable.

When crop yields become predictable, then the food supply becomes predictable at the same
time. This gives us the ability to reduce the presence of food deserts around the world, providing a
greater population with a well-rounded nutritional opportunity that may not have existed in the past.

2. Nutritional content can be improved.

Genetic modifications do more than add pest resistance or weather resistance to GMO crops.
The nutritional content of the crops can be altered as well, providing a denser nutritional profile than
what previous generations were able to enjoy. This means people in the future could gain the same
nutrition from lower levels of food consumption. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization notes that
rice, genetically modified to produce high levels of Vitamin A, have helped to reduce global vitamin
deficiencies.
3. Genetically modified foods can have a longer shelf life.

Instead of relying on preservatives to maintain food freshness while it sits on a shelf, genetically
modified foods make it possible to extend food life by enhancing the natural qualities of the food itself.
According to Environmental Nutrition, certain preservatives are associated with a higher carcinogen,
heart disease, and allergy risk.

4. We receive medical benefits from GMO crops.

Through a process called “pharming,” it is possible to produce certain proteins and vaccines,
along with other pharmaceutical goods, thanks to the use of genetic modifications. This practice offers
cheaper methods of improving personal health and could change how certain medications are provided
to patients in the future. Imagine being able to eat your dinner to get a tetanus booster instead of
receiving a shot in the arm – that’s the future of this technology.

5. It creates foods that are more appealing to eat.

Colors can be changed or improved with genetically modified foods so they become more
pleasing to eat. Spoon University reports that deeper colors in foods changes how the brain perceives
what is being eaten. Deeper red colors make food seem to be sweeter, even if it is not. Brighter foods
are associated with better nutrition and improved flavors.

6. Genetically modified foods are easier to transport.

Because GMO crops have a prolonged shelf life, it is easier to transport them greater distances.
This improvement makes it possible to take excess food products from one community and deliver it to
another that may be experiencing a food shortage. GMO foods give us the opportunity to limit food
waste, especially in the developing world, so that hunger can be reduced and potentially eliminated.

7. Herbicides and pesticides are used less often.

Herbicides and pesticides create certain hazards on croplands that can eventually make the soil
unusable. Farmers growing genetically modified foods do not need to use these products as often as
farmers using traditional growing methods, allowing the soil to recover its nutrient base over time.
Because of the genetic resistance being in the plant itself, the farmer still achieves a predictable yield
at the same time.
 What Are the Disadvantages of Genetically Modified Foods?

1. GMO crops may cause antibiotic resistance.

Iowa State University research shows that when crops are modified to include antibiotics and
other items that kill germs and pests, it reduces the effectiveness of an antibiotic or other medication
when it is needed in the traditional sense. Because the foods contain trace amounts of the antibiotic
when consumed, any organisms that would be affected by a prescription antibiotic have built an
immunity to it, which can cause an illness to be more difficult to cure.

2. Farmers growing genetically modified foods have a greater legal liability.

Crops that are genetically modified will create seeds that are genetically modified. Cross-
pollination is possible between GMO crops and non-GMO crops as well, even when specified farming
practices are followed. Because many of the crops and seeds that produce GMO crops are patented,
farmers that aren’t even involved in growing these foods are subjected to a higher level of legal liability.
Farmers that do grow GMO crops could also face liabilities for letting seeds go to other fields or allowing
cross-pollination to occur.

3. Genes go into different plant species.

Crops share fields with other plants, including weeds. Genetic migrations are known to occur.
What happens when the genes from an herbicide-resistant crop get into the weeds it is designed to
kill? Interactions at the cellular level could create unforeseen complications to future crop growth where
even the benefits of genetically modified foods may not outweigh the problems that they cause. One
example: dozens of weed species are already resistant to atrazine.

4. Independent research is not allowed.

Six companies control most of the genetically modified foods market at the core level. Because
most GMO foods are made from corn, wheat, or soybeans, even food manufacturers that use these
crops are at the mercy of the manufacturer’s preferences. Over 50% of the seed producers that have
created the GMO foods market prohibit any independent research on the final crops as an effort to
protect their profits.

5. Some genetically modified foods may present a carcinogen exposure risk.

A paper that has been twice-published, but retracted once as well, showed that crops tolerant to
commercial pesticides greatly increased the risk of cancer development in rats. The information from
this research study, though limited, has been widely circulated and creates the impression that all GMO
foods are potentially hazardous.
 The advantages and disadvantages of genetically modified foods can spark a bitter debate.
There is an advantage in providing the world with better food access, but more food should not come
at the expense of personal health. GMO foods must be labeled in Europe and petitions in the US are
seeking the same thing. We deserve to know what we’re eating and how that food is grown. Knowing
more about genetically modified foods allows us to do just that.

QUESTION 4

All conventional animal and plant breeding produce genetically modified organisms. You
probably refer to GMO using laboratory based recombinant DNA technology? This too will continue. It
will focus on ‘natural’ promotors and the techniques will become more precise. CRISPR is a new, more
precise technique but over time we will look on it with amusement as it is superseded. Recombinant
gene technology use for animal and plant improvement will not go away.

The thing that will change is that an emerging population of young scientists with cutting edge
communication skills will develop techniques to directly explain to the public how these technologies
work.

Much of the fear about GMOs has been generated by environmentalists trained in the humanities
rather than in science. Aided and abetted by news hounds and editors shooting for news that engenders
fear rather than satisfies a thirst for knowledge.

The research so far, provides a plant that can withstand the increasing amounts of herbicides
and pesticides, so that food crops can be grown on factory farms. First though, the crops were approved
as safe(edible) then license granted for the use of up to ten times more herbicide and pesticide use.
How the technologies work is not the issue, the health and wellness of the population is not
being safeguarded. The epidemics of diseases, is quite sensibly linked to the growing of our food with
poisons (herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers) As far as funding though, the conglomerates
fund most research, and the research is tainted as there is no real scientific proof that the crops grown
in poisons are safe. The enzymes that people so desperately need for good gut health, are only
available on correctly grown organic food. The government regulations for organic food, is not
adequate, and yes, food grown to government standards for organic, are a joke. There is such a thing
as Farmacy, - which is the best for health and wellness - properly grown organic food, and exercise,
will heal 80% of illnesses now in epidemic proportions in the Western World. One day we will ask
ourselves what were we ever thinking when we grew our food with poisons.
 So far G.M.O. research is done to make factory farming profitable, and has little to do with human
health. There is no scientific method, no sensible reasoning in the process of making good nutritious
food.

The vast majority of factory farmed food is fed to livestock, where the effects are more
accumulative, and meat is now more toxic than ever.

Never! We've been genetically modifying plants and animals since the first guy decided to gather
wild seeds and plant them behind his lean to or cave.

People today, at least in our progressive, affluent western nations, are so far removed from real
agriculture and so ignorant regarding food production, that they're nearly child-like in their perceptions
and demands about the food they consume. Most people have just enough information to be dangerous
to themselves and the people they influence. The issue isn't gmo's, it's the crap between a lot of
people's to two ears!

My own opinion here, but I think the non gmo activists ought to be sent out naked to live in a
mud hut on the prairie for a year or three to seek out an existence with only a bag of wild seed and a
sharp stick to work the ground with. The ones that are still alive at the end of the experience. Then, and
only then will they have earned the right to climb up onto a pedestal to preach to all the rest of us, the
virtues of non gmo food and exactly how they are going to feed all the world with their new found
knowledge!

Why should it stop. Will nature stop it as well, that would be good since due to nature doing it
CANCER is the result.

Or … can I say it … if THE one and almighty one that created everything GOD got of his lazy fat
ass and fixed things he started; we would not have to do it. Send your objections to someone who
cares, or go and … whatever you do. What's the thing they say … ‘well I have never … ‘ get out more
and get a brain to think. God might have given you one, but it is your responsibility to fill it. I'll pray for
you, not.

Added — Yes, I know this is not the answer you expected or wanted but … you asked