When biotechnology is put to use with the foods and animals we eat, how safe are we? Are we actually benefiting from these changes? Genetically modified food is an example of biotechnology in agriculture, and one which has brought quite a controversy to the scientific, and not-so-scientific world. There are many positive effects of genetically modified food, but many risks are also taken.
Genetic modification could be a way to offer cheaper, safer and more nutritious food. If plants were altered to produce more substance, with the same amount of seeds, prices on these products would drop. Furthermore, plants which possibly contain diseases or pesticides could be changed to be made safe for humans to eat. This not only would work for plants, but meats, and other products which can contain deadly bacteria. By altering the structure of the DNA of a plant, it’s possible to select which nutrients the plant will contain, and how much of each are produced. This is an easy way to pack more vitamins into a small amount of food, and to help humans, as well as animals.
Although there are many good reasons for genetic modification, there are also several risks and dangers. If plants were modified, but did not correctly generate what they’re supposed to, how will that affect humans? Will extra nutrients prevent us from eating more of a particular food? Does hunger go away when you have the correct amount of minerals? In addition, there have been attempts to make plants frost resistant, pesticide resistant, etc. but what if this resistance transferred to something else; for example, a weed. This weed would then produce more weeds, which would produce even more. Since the offspring contains the DNA of the parent, the resistance will transfer to all of the new weeds; which could cause weeds to take over the crops that were planted for a purpose, and which were intended to be changed due to the resistance to, let’s say, weed killer. As well as the visible dangers, what about the long term effects? In 100 years from now, will everything still be the same? Will animals and humans still be the same size as they are now? Will these modifications kill off some animals which are unable to consume large amounts of nutrients? With the way our ecosystem and food chain work, if one species were to become extinct, you could expect a lot more to happen.
Although the negative effects of genetically modified foods appear to be more severe than the positive ones, I think that if we work hard enough to understand just how this DNA is composed, and consider the long and short term consequences of today’s actions, that eventually we will be able to find a solution, and to be able to modify foods to do exactly what we want them to, with little or no danger.
*** All sources from http://www.agbiotechnet.com/
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