Harmful GMOs | Teen Ink

Harmful GMOs

November 15, 2016
By amy_cho1 PLATINUM, Demarest, New Jersey
amy_cho1 PLATINUM, Demarest, New Jersey
27 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Zero is where everything starts. Nothing would ever be born if we didn't depart from there!"


In Food Integrity Now Organization, it says that there is 93% of genetically modified foods (GMOs) in soy, 86% in corn, 93% in canola, and 95% in sugar beets in United States (Spaeth). It is not an assumption, but a fact that was researched by a group of people. As you can see from the research, GMOs take a lot of space in our everyday life and people buy the GMOs on the premise that it’s safe to eat. But really, GMOs  allow many unwanted problems to rise up. These problems can lead into harming many different living creatures and will cause cracks on people’s high reliability on GMOs. Why must humans and other living creatures be denied the opportunity to advance not only in science, but also in everyday life? GMOs are harmful to humans, plants, and bugs because it makes many farmers’ lives harder, while creating super bugs and super weeds, and keeping a promise that won’t be held long.


Many farmers comprehend the idea of GMOs as bad, for the cost is very expensive and their yield per year is entirely luck, due to the ever changing weather. Furthermore, the GMO companies insist all the farmers to buy the GMO seeds and not many can afford to buy it. In India, farmers are committing suicide, about 1,000 per month, because it’s the only resolution they could come up with, with the oppressive amount of money they have to pay to get the GMO seeds (Grant). Of course, some farmers like Ken Kamiya (Hawaii), or Kevin Rogers (Arizona), have said that they usually have a higher yield than the non-GMOs (Johnson). But, the price they have to pay in order to get the GMO seeds designed for GMOs cost far more than the non-GMOs. One might be paying a lot more than they think and considering that, having a higher yield might not be true. Besides, not only are the GMO seeds expensive, but the farmers need to kill superbugs and superweeds as well with their expensive chemicals used for the GMOs.


Many people should’ve heard of “the fittest survive”. This includes bugs as well, for many of them die because of the GMO’s strong chemicals, while only the strongest bugs survive. They are called the “super bugs” and as time goes by, these bugs become resistant to chemicals and still eats the plants the farmers are growing. When farmers find that out, they start to buy more powerful chemicals. Of course, the stronger chemicals are more expensive.  Their money decreases fast and many of them don’t realize that (Grant). As bugs start to die by those GMO chemicals, they are replaced by the more stronger bugs. Most people think that spending money on killing the bugs is worth it, but if you think in a rational way, many bugs that are beneficial to the plants, such as butterflies and bees, are also dying out (Paul and Cummins) This disadvantage won’t stand out that much, but the GMO’s unkept promise is really making the GMOs untrustworthy.


The GMO companies realized that many organizations are figuring out the disadvantages of the GMOs. So, they also say that it’s the solution for the hungry people in Africa and elsewhere (Pedretti). It’s one of the main strategies the GMO companies use to push their way to agriculture, but that assurance hasn’t been exactly planned out. Besides, 24 delegates from 18 African countries told the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, “We strongly object that the image of the poor and hungry from our countries is being used ... to push a technology that is neither safe, environmentally friendly nor economically beneficial... it will thus undermine our capacity to feed ourselves” (Grant). This shows that even the hungry people don’t want to rely on the harmful GMOs.
Eventually, the harmful side of the GMOs will surpass the helpful side. GMOs will harm not only animals and plants, but humans as well. It will lower its reliability and would not be trustworthy at all. There will be a lot of cons that will be too much to bear and advancing in science and in everyday life is just trivial. As researchers and scientists start to stop making GMOs, they will find more than enough evidences that people can live just as fine without any GMO products. Not many people think about the negatives, things people need to be more aware of, but rather focus on the positives, things that really isn’t that important. As the future continues to unfold, so will the harms of GMOs. The choice has to be made right now. Are you willing to give up GMOs and continue living as it is?

 


Works Cited

 

Grant, S. "10 Problems Genetically Modified Foods Are Already Causing."Listverse. Taboola,
22 June 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.


Johnson, Melinda. "GMOs – From a Farmer’s Perspective." US News. U.S.News & World
Report, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.


Paul and Cummins, Katherine and Ronnie. "GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds and .
. . ?" GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds and . . . ? Organic Consumers
Association, 14 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.


Pedretti, Joe. "The False Promise of GMOs." The False Promise of GMOs. Organic Valley, Web.
17 Mar. 2015.


Spaeth, Matt. "What You Need to Know About GMOs - Food Integrity Now."Food Integrity
Now. Food Integrity Now, 08 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.



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