Environmental Risks Associated with GMOs

- Saskia A.

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/wp-content/

The good thing about designing a plant with insect resistance is that it eliminates a lot of unwanted bugs. The problem is, it creates super weeds and superbugs in the process while producing less nutritious food. Farmers are now forced to use even more chemicals which drives up operating costs, pollution levels and pesticides on food increase as well.

http://www.paulinecornish.com/gmo-vs-organic-foods/

Another downside is that GM crops encourage monoculture farming and reduces biodiversity. In the production of GM foods, not only are farmers only growing one crop, but the plants themselves are all genetically the same and from the same source. This makes our food all very susceptible to changes in climate, pests and disease, especially here in the tropics. This could easily result in another event such as the Irish potato famine of the 19^th Century where almost one million acres of the crop was destroyed by a fungus, killing more than a million people in the process. A similar famine in the Caribbean region today would kill millions of people!

It was also proven in a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (2009), that GMOs do no increase yields at all. Sustainable non-GMO agricultural methods used in developing countries have resulted in yield increases of 79% and higher. This means that GMOs do not save time or money and do not lead to decreased food prices!

Genetic modification is a scientific tool which holds enormous promise (as we have previously seen). But as with any technology there are also bad applications. It is left to us to decide whether the risks outweigh the benefits.

References:

Gurian-Sherman, D. (2009). Failure to yield: evaluating the performance of genetically engineered crops. Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists.

Images:

http://www.paulinecornish.com/gmo-vs-organic-foods/, accessed 15 October 2017

https://geneticliteracyproject.org/wp-content/, accessed 15 October 2017