The Truth About GMO's

GMO’s, or genetically modified organisms are a highly debated topic within the larger sustainability, environment, and agriculture conversations. The benefits and concerns of genetically modified organisms are thought provoking and important to the food security and public health of the world’s population. It seems that anti-GMO activists have done a great job in branding them as unequivocally bad over the past decade or so, considering the preconceptions it seems that a lot of us have about them. However, before diving further into the pros and cons I asked myself what preconceptions I have of GMO’s that paint them in a negative light. The main point I could recall was negative health risks. In reality, there is no evidence, as of now, that proves consumption GMO’s affect our health one way or the other. This is due to lack of adequate studies, non-labeling, and more. This revelation peaked my interest in learning more about genetically modified food products from an objective lens and coming to a more holistic conclusion.

The first thing that comes to mind for many when thinking about the benefits of GMOs are its abilities to provide higher yields, thus providing more food for the growing populations and more profit for the farmers. This is true to an extent since many genetically modified crops are pest resistant, and/or climate resistant to things such as drought or flooding. Some GM crops are also pesticide resistant meaning pesticides used in during farming will only kill unwanted weeds and not the crop itself (Hsaio, 2015). During a past green revolution higher yields from GM crops provided food to millions of people who could have otherwise died from a famine (Folger, n.d.). Additionally, GM crops fortified with beta-carotene have also saved many from blindness due to a lack of vitamin A in unaltered available foods (Folger, n.d.). Other medical benefits of GMOs include innovation of pharmaceuticals that may help fight disease such as insulin for diabetes (BBC, n.d.). Moreover, climate mitigation benefits of GMOs include ability to grow year-round reducing externalities of transportation from a globalized market (financial costs and CO2 emissions); production of fast-growing crops as raw material specifically for renewable energy (biofuel); and bioengineered meat (and meat replacements) to reduce the consumption of farmed meat and thus methane emissions (Spencer, n.d.).

Though these are all great and true benefits of GMOs, there are caveats that must be considered for a holistic evaluation of GMOs as a tool to end hunger and disease. To begin, GM crops adapting to pests can also affect essential non-pest insects (pollinators) and biodiversity that create healthy soil (Phillips, 2008). Additionally, pesticide resistance encourages the continued use of chemicals which also harm the soil and our water systems (Folger, n.d.). Another concern to biodiversity includes transgenic crop and animal genes spreading to native wild species (Spencer, n.d.). This can happen during cross pollination when insects or wind apply pollen from a transgenic crop flower to the pistols of a native crop flower. An example of this happening with animals is when a transgenic (modified) fish escapes from an ocean fish farm into the open ocean and become reproduce with native species. Even more concerning is the ability for these new transgenic crop and animal species to become invasive to a natural ecosystem and kill off native species (Spencer, n.d.). Furthermore, bioengineering diseased animals that will suffer throughout their lives for lab studies can understandably be seen as unethical.

The other caveat to GMOs is the dubious nature of the institutions that create and promote them. Companies like Monsanto create herbicide resistant crop seeds which encourage the continued and sometimes inflated use of herbicides, like Roundup which they also produce and sell (Folger, n.d.). Perhaps there aren’t any proven health risks of GM foods but synthetic herbicides are proven carcinogenic (cancer-causing) chemicals (Hsaio, 2015). Additionally, GMO seeds are designed to die after only one generation forcing farmers to continuously purchase seeds season after season (MyChangeTV, 2010). Realistically, only larger farms with adequate financial resources can afford the more constant purchase of inputs (seeds and synthetics) which ultimately out-perform smaller farms in yields and profits meaning local economies and poor farmers are not actually benefitting from this technology (Folger, n.d.). Most of the world’s most food insecure are small-scale farmers even though they grow much of the world’s food (Arsenault, 2015). Another issue coming from GMO creating institutions is their decision-making individuals briefly leaving the industry to work for regulating authorities (like the FDA) and then returning to the industry to reap the benefits from their lack of rule and regulation enforcement while in office (Spencer, n.d.). One of these faulty regulations is the fact that GMO foods/seeds/crops do not have to be labeled (MyChangeTV, 2010). Millions of people are ingesting these GMOs without being given the choice to make their own conscious decision to eat them or not. Albeit there are no known health risks of GMOs at this time, how can we really know or prove that populations are getting or not getting sick from them?

For now, my conclusion is that genetically modified organisms have their place in the fight against hunger and disease. Climate change is inevitable so our only way forward is to adapt; GMO’s can help us stay fed as these environmental challenges intensify. However, they should not be the only or main solution. First off, population growth is only a challenge to hunger because systems in place create poverty instead of empowerment. Population growth is not the problem, distribution and lack of access to food is the problem. Rather than funding GMO-related initiatives or institutions, there should be more funding for and focus on sustainable farming methods that also deliver high crop yields, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and empower communities economically and socially. Holistic practices like diversifying crop fields (permaculture), cover cropping, terracing, composting, regenerative grazing, vertical farming, hydroponic farming, and more are better long-term solutions to food security on a local and global scale.

References:

Arsenault, C. (2015, May 28). Why are most of the world's hungry people farmers? World Economic Forum. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/05/why-are-most-of-the-worlds-hungry-people-farmers/

BBC. (n.d.). Genetic modification - uses in medicine - genetic modification and cloning - GCSE biology (single science) revision - BBC bitesize. BBC News. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zx6g87h/revision/2#:~:text=GM%20insulin&text=Nowadays%2C%20most%20insulin%20is%20made,bacteria%20grown%20in%20a%20fermenter

Folger, T. (n.d.). The next green revolution. National Geographic. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/green-revolution/

Hsaio, J. (2015, August 10). GMOs and pesticides: Helpful or harmful? Science in the News. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/gmos-and-pesticides/

MYChangeTV. (2010). Genetically modified foods, Is it the answer? Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQlL22Hz-yc.

Phillips, T. (2008) Genetically modified organisms (GMOs): Transgenic crops and recombinant

DNA technology. Nature Education 1(1):213

Spencer, M. (n.d.). Part 2 GMO Crops & Animals. Lecture. Retrieved June 12, 2022.