GM Food - Good or Bad?

GM food is today's topic and as I’m sure you are all aware this is an extremely controversial issue. It has most recently been in the headlines due to the fact that it has been banned in Scotland, there will be more about that in a bit.

I want to start however by telling you my opinion on GM foods, I’m all for them and personally believe that they are and will be an answer for increasing food production as demand increases. So sorry if there is any bias in this post but I truly believe they are the way forward and I plan to explain why.

Now as everyone should know GM stands for genetically modified, this means that changes have been introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. It is the whole idea of changes which causes concerns in some groups, a few of the larger organisations against GM foods are Greenpeace, some religious groups/individuals and as stated before the Scottish government. Their main arguments and dislikes of GM food are that it is not natural and ‘against gods will’ and the more scientific argument being that could open up the food type to new form of disease or  the GM  crop might out compete the native species if it was able to reproduce.

I want to start however by talking about the domestication of animals instead of plants, which most people assume to be the focus of GM food. Genetic modification has been going on for many thousands of years, since man first captured and domesticated animals, they have been breeding for bigger, or improving the production of their products such as milk. This in its essence is what genetic modification is, the difference now days is genetic manipulation is done in labs targeting specific genes instead of broad guesses like domestication employs.  This is a sort of GM food which many of the people against seem to forget about, it’s not just food however where animals have been genetically modified, animals such as dogs have been undergoing the same process for many years. If you now look at any modern day dogs compared to wolves there is a stark contrast between the two species. Dogs have been going through genetic modification or human directed evolution just like animals used in food production and this sort of genetic manipulation is of very little concern to many people, some do not even connect this selective breeding with the term genetic modification. 

Enough on animals however as when you talk about GM food lots of people's minds instantly just to a crop of some kind. I just wanted to point on the fact that some form of genetic modification has been going on for many thousands of years.

The first argument for GM food I’m going to bring to your attention is Golden rice; this is famous cases, which causes much up roar. It is strongly opposed by Greenpeace as they argue that “GE (genetically engineered) 'Golden' rice is environmentally irresponsible, poses risks to human health, and could compromise food, nutrition and financial security.” While others believe it’s amazing and in 2015 it was awarded Patents for Humanity award as it can save 2.7 million children under 5.

Golden rice has been developed to produce β-carotene which is then providing those who eat it with vitamin A. Vitamin A is vital for developing children so they are able to develop good vision and an strong immune system. 250 million preschool and pregnant women are vitamin A deficient across the world, due to the majority of their diet being rice or other carbohydrate rich foods which do not contain any β-carotene. A 50g (dry weight) of Golden rice can now provide ~60% of the Chinese recommended nutrient intake of vitamin A for 6-8 year olds, which is why it’s capable of saving so many lives.

Now onto Scotland has completely ban the use of GM foods within their borders, but they aren’t  the  only European country to have at least some form of  ban on GM foods whether it is just one particular crop or a collection of crops. For instance the majority of countries in Europe have banned the cultivation of Monsanto’s maize MON 810, it is however used across most of the rest of the world because it has been genetically modified to be more resistant to insect attack. They achieved this by inserting MON810 into the plant which produces the protein Bt toxin which is poisonous to insects in the Lepidotera order. It is cases such as this that anti GM food protestors argue against as they believe this new poison will be damaging to the environment and ecosystem.

Scotland has banned the cultivation of all GM food, because “it refuses to gamble with the future of our £14 billion food and drink sector”, and because there was, “no evidence” of any form of demand for GM food in Scotland. This is a questionable declaration from Scotland as GM food have done so many good things across the world saving so many lives, and although the service GM food provide are not needed in Scotland, this sort of publicity is generally bad for GM food.

So overall I’m all for GM food and I hope I have persuaded you that they are well worth using.

I want to leave you with a couple of different facts; carrots used to be purple and are now orange thanks to genetic modification of the

Dutch who wanted them to be the same colour as their nation. Also the bananas which people eat everyday are nothing like the original wild bananas whose body was filled with large inedible seeds. The process of genetic modification has been going on for many thousands of years and no one has raised an eyebrow, it is only once the process is sped up in a lab that people find issue with.

Thanks for reading

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