Angelica Moises
Nick Rowell
Citizenship Paper #1
The Problem about GMOs There are many political issues and problems in the world today that affects us all as citizens, consumers, and free spirits. These issues may reside in potential areas such as immigration, biodiversity, pollution, education policies, air pollution, etc. Each of these issues have the potential to fully effect us as people and how we live out our lives, especially as a governed nation. Two very important political issues that I believe that we should focus our attention on however, has to do within the aspect of food and agriculture. Monsanto, an agricultural biotech corporation, and the genetic engineering of food are two topics that I believe are active problems in our society today. They both hold the power to impact us as a nation by effecting what we eat, how our food is produced, and our future endeavors of our agricultural ways. Looking back in time, especially during the era where ancient civilizations have existed, food was as simple and natural as it was meant to be. Livestock and crops were raised and nurtured by farmers and the result of each harvest was what consumers have survived on for the duration of humanity. Agriculture is a major part of our lives, if not most of our lives. It sustains us and it sets the basis for our health mentally and physically as a human race. In comparison to today, we are now seeing foods that are not at all in it‘s purest form. Today, our scientists have figured out a way to genetically engineer our food. Genetically engineering food allows the creation of plants and/or animals by splicing genes together using biotechnology. This allows us to incorporate and conjoin DNA from different types of organisms together to create genes not attainable in nature. This exercise does not at all involve traditional cross breeding practices, but rather it consists of creating our very own food in a lab by scientists, researchers, and engineers. The genetic modification of food has been banned in 27 countries. However, the FDA stresses to it’s country that GM foods aren’t much differential to traditional foods. GM has been a topic of controversy since the start of it’s practice. It has sparked up many debates about it’s uses and effects. Most importantly, it affects many groups of people in our country. To start off, one group deeply affected by this issue are the people who are eating and consuming genetically modified products. Research shows that GM foods have the potential to trigger allergic reactions in humans, may cause antibiotic resistance, may contain much higher levels of toxicity than natural foods (especially plants), may be potentially dangerous to all organs in the human body, and may also lack nutritional value compared to natural and pure foods. Though, there hasn’t been many significant cases within the consumer population to confirm these accounts. There hasn’t been much research on the effects of GMOs to begin with, especially not long-term. According to the Institute for Responsible Technology, vital insights are given to us, “Human studies show how genetically modified (GM) food can leave material behind inside us, possibly causing long-term problems.” This appears to be a problem because people who are consuming these GM foods are at risk and fault to the unknown. However, the FDA still promotes biotech companies to continue to provide GM food to the public without ever knowing it’s potential risks. Speaking of the unknown, foods aren’t at all labeled for the public to indicate which foods are genetically modified and which foods are not either. Therefore, leaving the public with a blind eye to what exactly they are eating and to fend for themselves when it comes to the possible health effects that might possibly occur. Moreover, other groups who are, if not the most effected by this issue, are the working middle and lower class. People claim that because of their inability to afford high quality