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GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are one of the most controversial areas of science. Genetic engineering is used in a variety of fields. Some of its applications, for example, GMO insulin, are widely accepted. However, when it comes to food and agriculture, things get more controversial and debate heats up.
Things can be dangerous in many ways, so for the sake of clarity of this article, we will address how dangerous are so-called genetically modified organisms to human health and to the environment.
Let’s delve ourselves into the fascinating field of genetic engineering to understand the nature of GMO food and the reason why society treats essentially the same thing so differently. Let’s explore the facts, fears, and the future of the GMOs.
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What is Natural?
For centuries, our ancestors were practicing selective breeding. When people noticed that some plants were more fruitful, some of the wolfs were especially loyal, some cows produced more milk, they did a smart thing. They interbred animals and plants with favorable traits with each other.
Traits suggest the expression of the genes. So with each generation traits that are useful to us got more pronounced in the offsprings of that animal/plant as a result of artificial selection. After thousands of years, all the animals and plants around us changed substantially from their pre-domesticated state.
If humans have been genetically changing animals and plants for millennia, what makes “genetically modified organisms” so different?
In both practices, we try to get select and emphasize beneficial traits in species by altering the genome of the organisms. The difference is that selective breeding is like hoping for lucky hits, while genetic engineering eliminates this factor via direct manipulation of the traits.
We can alter the size of the fruit, make a plant naturally resistant to the insects, decrease the emission of the methane, and increase the plant’s capacity of fixing carbon. With genetic engineering, our imagination is virtually our limit!
Therefore, not only there is nothing novel in the practices of genetic engineering in agriculture, but also GMOs are useful weapons in combating global issues like food security, malnutrition, hunger, and global warming.
What are the Shortcomings of GMO Food?
One of the main objections to GMOs is gene flow, which is the unintentional cross of genes of engineered and traditional crops, introducing unwanted new characteristics to them.
One way to completely prevent this is by introducing the terminator seeds. Terminator seeds are sterile, which means that no genes will be crossed but at the same time farmers will need to buy new seeds each year. However, the very concept of this caused a public outcry, which forced the technology to be put in use.
There are some agricultural methods, like the buffer zone, that can help to prevent the unintentional crossing of the genes.
However, if the crossing of genes plants is possible, it leads us to a more important question: is food that comes from GM crops is different from the food that comes from non-GM crops?
