Josh Pope
Dr. Lantzas
FILA 120 8:00
11/31412/1/14
Assignment 4
Genetically Modified Food Throughout society humans have been evolving with one common goal in mind which is to make things easier. Easier may not always be better, and sometimes it is better to keep some things the way they are and focus on quality not quantity. A severe controversy in today’s world is the manufacture and marketing of genetically modified foods. This is a special kind of food where the producer injects chemicals to benefit the convenience of them and also consumers worldwide. This is a special type of food that has been injected with chemicals making it more convenient for companies to produce. These genetically modified foods are easier to make by shielding off pests and other animals. They also can make plants grow faster which is beneficial to companies because they can then maximize productivity. These genetically modified foods were first discovered in 1980 when the Supreme Court made the ruling that genetically altered organisms can be alteredorganisms can be genetically altered. At this point scientists came across a breaking discovery and it changed the world forever. However what the scientists did not know is that this breaking discovery could potentially harm human nature as we know it. Should companies be able to hide the fact that they are putting these harmful chemicals in the food we eat just to produce them at a cheaper rate? Without the people knowing about this I do not think that it should be legal since it is against everything we know. The government should be protecting society by making dominant companies like Tyson and General Mills put a warning label on their products to let them know what is going inside of their bodies. The food industries are harming their consumers by deceiving them, by mistreating animals and industry workers and by selling food with dangerous chemicals in them. The United States population has skyrocketed in the past twenty years and all of the food producers need a way to sell as much food as possible at a quick and cheap rate. Population increase plays a huge role in the genetically modified food category because the companies know they can sell more products. The problem with all of this is that they are not properly labeling these foods so that the consumers can know what they are buying. America needs to make every state require GE label laws so that people who do not like the fact that their foods are being modified can at least have the choice.
The public, Largely unaware of the major technological changes in agriculture food production, uninformed regarding the potential negative environmental effects of genetically modified food and largely excluded from the relevant decision-making processes that ultimately determined the commercial marketing of genetically modified food, had little basis for assessing the potential dangers of engineered food.
(Wohlersneeds a yearWohlers 2010, 22).
This quote by Wohlers shows that people have no idea what is going on in the food production and they are taking no responsibility in learning that they are harming not only the environment, but themselves by consuming these goods. Without labels how can someone know what they are actually eating? The proper way to let the general public be known about these GMOs is to make an addition to the nutrition labels on the side of most food products. The addition should include at least the name of chemical being added to this product. This would not scare shoppers away from their products and would not be meant to be, however it would let people know what they are eating. This might then also benefit the variety and the marketplace for some of these products. It would allow organic and natural products have a chance in the popular trend. It would allow them to have at least an argument of why their product is more expensive yet more natural. The fact that the United States has not required