GMOs - The Food of the Future
Why GMOs Are The Right Choice
GMOs - or Genetically Modified Organisms - often get a bad rap for being so-called genetic anomalies, that can only bring illness and the decimation of other plants. However, that is the complete opposite.
GMOs are not a freak of nature; it is natural for organisms - plants and animals alike - to evolve. That is how most of the organisms alive today came to be. Humans simply tweak them to how they will be the most useful. They can have certain nutrients spliced into them, so that the people that eat them obtain more nutrients. An example of this is golden rice, aimed for many LDCs. Golden rice promotes the absorption of Vitamin A, helping prevent Vitamin-A Deficiency, which kills over two million children in LDCs each year.
As for destroying the environment, GMOs are actually easier to care for in some ways than other, normal crops. With the right genetics, they become resistant to many different diseases and fungi, which equals fewer chemicals they need to be sprayed with. With their resistance to some pesticides, farmers can spray a more generalized pesticide instead of several, once again reducing chemical runoff.
GMOs are not a freak of nature; it is natural for organisms - plants and animals alike - to evolve. That is how most of the organisms alive today came to be. Humans simply tweak them to how they will be the most useful. They can have certain nutrients spliced into them, so that the people that eat them obtain more nutrients. An example of this is golden rice, aimed for many LDCs. Golden rice promotes the absorption of Vitamin A, helping prevent Vitamin-A Deficiency, which kills over two million children in LDCs each year.
As for destroying the environment, GMOs are actually easier to care for in some ways than other, normal crops. With the right genetics, they become resistant to many different diseases and fungi, which equals fewer chemicals they need to be sprayed with. With their resistance to some pesticides, farmers can spray a more generalized pesticide instead of several, once again reducing chemical runoff.
GMOs also help small farmers. Each year, farmers suffer huge losses from insect attacks, frost, fungi, and other causes. GMOs can be altered to resist fungi and many plant diseases. Scientists are also working on splicing an antifreeze gene from fish into some plants, to help them survive surprise frosts, which kill young plants. As more plants survive, the harvests will be larger, allowing farmers to earn more money.