The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. With GM food, we can meet these needs by a number of ways.An advantage of GM is that it is pest resistant.Therefore,growing GM foods such as B.t. corn can help eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market.Another advantage of GM food is that it is disease resistant.Since there are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases. GM foods are also Drought and cold tolerant so that farmers can earn money all year round.The last advantage is that GM food can increase the nutritional value of normal food.Hence,I am for GM food as I think it is important for our future generations.
From Felicia: I do not think that Genetically modified food should be banned.Genetically modified foods are created because they will help the poor and the underdeveloped. The claim that GM foods are morally wrong is not fair. By giving these people the the ways to be able to feed themselves, we are helping to lift them out of poverty. Genetically modified foods can also offer more nutritional value and better flavour. Also, GM foods are more capable of thriving in regions with poor soil or adverse climate. With GM foods,Farmers can grow a larger crop as it is easier to fight pests. The farmer no longer has to use insecticide to kill insects,so the surrounding environment is not exposed to harmful chemicals. GM food may be the possible solution to solve world hunger.Hence, I strongly support the use of GM food.
I think that Genetically Modified food should be banned. This is because, although the world may be facing a shortage in the food, the Genetically Modified food may cause threat to the mankind. They may carry unpredicatble toxin within it. Although some people say that the same food compared with the Genetically Modified food, the one that is modified has higher nutrition. I think that the Genetically Modified should be banned because they may increase the risk of allergenic reactions. This may cause people's life. Though the Genetically Modified food have some benefits like saving the food shortage problems, being pest resistent, ability to tolerate cold. It is one of a food that is important because it has solved several problems like pest and shortage of food. There are too little scientific studies about their health risks
From Victoria: I think GM foods should be banned. This is because firstly,gened from the genetically modified food could be transferred to the pests that can make them become resistant. Also, it is also claimed that the teaste of GMOs are not as good and natural. With the rise of GM food,allergies may become more intense for some people and new allergy types might arise from this. Unforeseen risks and dangers might occur due to the complexity to nature.That is why I do not support the growth of GM food.
I do not agree that genetically modified foods should be banned. The US pro-GM group, AgBioWorld, stated that genetically modified foods have been proven safe. Also, consumer rights groups like Organic Consumers Association and Greenpeace claim that the long-term health risks that GM foods could pose have not yet been proven. To prove that these sources are not biased, a 2008 review published by the Royal Society of Medicine claimed that genetically modified foods have been eaten by millions of people worldwide for over 15 years, with no reports of ill effects. Genetically modified foods can help to reduce malnutrition and starvation in the world, allowing the poor to gain access to food. Also, it helps to increase yield, food production and quality as well as improve crop protection. Genetically modified foods help to increase food supplies worldwide, improve the nutritional values of food as well as reduce environmental pollution. With GM foods being produced, people in less developed countries have more access to foods that meet their nutritional needs, which helps to reduce food crisis around the world. I do not see a need in putting a ban on genetically modified foods. - Chia Wanxing 4E1
GM food crops SHOULD be banned. It is true that most GM food are pest and disease resistant, and that they are also herbicide, cold and drought tolerant. However, GM food also have threats such as being the cause of the loss of bio-diversity in crops, the disturbance of ecological balance and the creation of herbicide-resistant weeds. Weeds and/or pests which feed on these GM food may get resistant to toxins. Not only that, these GM food crops may cause allergies to some people. With these predictably deathly and long-term threats, I feel that GM food crops are more of threats than benefits, though there is a need to genetically modify food crops to ensure an adequate food supply. Therefore, I feel that GM food crops should be banned.
The biggest disadvantage of genetically modified food is that they have harmful effects on the human body. The consumption of these genetically engineered foods can lead to development of diseases that are immune to antibiotics. Chances of developing cancer are high in people who regularly consume engineered food. Not only that, genetically engineered food would increase the dependency of developing countries, on industrialized nations. This would result in a dominance of the world food production by a few countries. Next, the economic concern, bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process. Patent enforcement may also be difficult and patenting these new plant varieties will increase the price of the seeds for GM crops resulting in widening the gap between the rich and the poor. The wildlife would also be affected such as UK farmlands there has been a severe decline because of the chemical farming.GM herbicides tolerant crops can kill other plants and continue to decline farmlands. One of the main difficulties that farmers encountered when growing GM crops is that there is no way to contain pollen movement. There had been contaminated foods across the USA and suspected allergies reactions were reported and had to withdrawn it from the shops. Therefore, GM food crops should be banned.
Personally, I do NOT think that GM food crops should be ban. GM food crops are produced to improve crop protection. Gm food is created to help the poor and help to solve the problem of food starvation. It is also to allow the people to have more access to food. If GM food is banned, it will worsen the food supply in the world. And Food starvation will be worsened. GM food offers better flavor. GM food help farmers to save costs as farmers do not have to use pesticides to get rid of those pest and people might not want to eat the crops with insecticides. Thus Gm food should not be banned and it is possible in helping to solve food shortage. Thus, I STRONGLY support the consumption of GM food.
No I don't think that GM food should be banned. Because it contains high nutrition value, which is very suitable for people suffering from malnutrition and starvation in the rural areas. It is also pest-resistant and fast growing due to the modified genes in them. But at the same time, research has shown that new allergens may be created due to the modified genes and frequent consumption of GM food may result in cancer. What I suggest is that, researchers should do a further research with GM food crops of whether it is safe to consume because the medical problems are not confirmed to be critical or not. GM food can reduce the amount of people suffering from malnutrition and starvation. The government can put a limit to the amount of GM food consumed by the poor for instance, thrice a week and on alternate days. What if emergencies such as food shortage and disruption occurs? Hence, I do not agree that it should be banned.
I think GM food should be banned. Although GM food brings in benefits like cold tolerance for the crops to prevent destroying them and affecting the income or food generated for the farmers and benefits consumers in industrialized and developing countries. But it brings in harmful effects on the human body, causing the development of diseases which are immune to antibiotics and develops cancer. In addition, it will also end the food diversity if everyone starts growing the same standardized food crops and will also cause damage to other organisms. Moreover, the danger to many humans who are allergic to certain food is guaranteed, because no one will know what they are eating. For example, say someone is deathly allergic to peanuts. A GMO may have a gene from a peanut in them. The allergic person could get a reaction from eating anything that contained the peanut gene. They wouldn't even know what caused it, because there are no labeling laws about GMOs. No one has a crystal ball to see future consequences of the overall GMO technology. Nevertheless, there are silent alarm signals like the early death.
In my opinion , I feel that GM food should not be banned . As the world population is increasing rapidly , the production of GM food is definitely required . Being pest resistance , disease resistance and herbicide tolerance , it increases the food production annually . Advantages of GM food are also its tolerance for drought and cold , thus being able to produced all year round . Farmers also earn more profits from GM food as it requires lesser time and effort . Hence , there will be a increase in GDP . GM food crops not only provide sufficient food supply but also better food quality and of higher nutrition level . Therefore , it is able to reduce starvation and malnutrition in rural areas of LDCs . Hence , I am for GM food .
In my opinion, I feel that GM food should be banned.I agreed that GM food certainly able to increase food supply and help end world hunger. However, GM food produced is expensive as the production is costly to the government as the agri-biotech companies wish to have a profitable return to their investment. This will eventually become a burden to the government especially less-developed countries. If less-developed countries started to import such GM food at the start, it will strain the government and thus, unable to develop its other areas such as providing education, building of infrastructure, Instead, it will widen the gap between developed countries and less-developed countries. Furthermore, many children in US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. Thus, introducing a gene to plant probably cause a new allergen to individuals. Therefore, I am against GM food.
In my opinion, i think that GM food should be banned. GM food have been criticized agribusiness for pursuing profit without concern for potential hazards, and the government for failing to exercise adequate regulatory oversight. The threats for GM food are mainly environmental, health and economics hazard. Firstly, it could harm organisms. Bacillus thuringiensis toxins can kill many species of insect larvae indiscriminately; it is not possible to design a Bacillus thuringiensis toxin that would only kill crop-damaging pests and remain harmless to all other insects. If these continue forever, it could lead to extinction of species. Next, with GM food, it can caused allergy to human beings. Many children in the UK and Europe have form life-threatening allergy and there is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new type of allergy. Bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process, and of course agri-biotech companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment. Hence company would patent GM plants. Consumers are worried that patented food will increase the price. As a result, the poor are not able to afford this food, thus widening the income gap between the rich and the poor which can result in uneven development in the world
I do not feel that genetically modified food crops should be banned. Genes from different food crops are being taken out and combined hence to produce these genetically modified food crops. These food crops have a higher nutritional value. Scientific solution is being used to increase yield, higher productivity and better quality food crops. Thus, these genetically modified food crops is then being able to be produced at a faster and easier way. Lowering the prices of this food crops allow people from the less developed countries to be able to purchase these food crops. Helping them to fight against starvation and malnutrition. I believe that the consumption and production of genetically modified food crops is able to ensure a higher level of food security for both the developed and less developed countries.
I do not think that genetically modified food should be banned, because it closes in the gap between developed countries and less developed countris. As less developed will become the industrial countries and they can increase or decrease the price of the crops according to the demand in the world. Also, they help to control the occurrence of certain diseases. There are some foods that cause allergy to people when consumed. By modifying the DNA system of these foods, the properties causing these allergies will be eliminated. Not only that, they have natural resistance towards pests and insects so not much pesticides and insecticides need to be sprayed on them. Thus, reduces the necessity of harmful pesticides and insecticides, making these foods free from chemicals which can be environment friendly as well. Genetically modified foods are also high in nutrients and contain more minerals and vitamins than those found in traditionally grown foods whilst these foods have better taste. People opted for genetically engineered foods is because they have an increased shelf life so that people do not need to fear that the food will rot easily. However, harmful effet that will harm our body is a concern. In addition, many people are uncomfortable that animal genes are transferred into plants and vice versa. Althuogh there may be disadvantages, overall I still that gentically modified food should not be banned as it still benefits as and most importantly, it solves the peoblem of not having enough food for the future generation due to over population.
i don't think that genetically modified food should be banned as in the first place, it is use to increase food production to solve food shortage in the world. also, it had already been approved that it is safe to consume. Calgene took the initiative to obtain FDA approval for its release in 1994 without any special labeling, although legally no such approval was required and it was popular among consumers. besides, having GM crops will allow us to have more variety of food and it could prolong the foods' life. it could also provide more nutrients to us. i believe that GM crops should be consume.
I think genetically modified food should be banned as they serves as a health risk that they may harm a person health. Research had shown that a rat consuming GM food, hence there is a difference in the intestine after consuming it. Many children in US and Europe have developed life threatening allergies to peanuts . It may be because that there is a new allergen introduce in the plant causing allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. To strengthen my opinion, GM food do pollute the stream as they release insecticide chemicals that pollutes the rivers and streams. Hence, this will danger the aquatic animals, forcing them to leave and seek for shelther at the other places. In conclusion, i think that GM Food should be banned as it not only harm a person health, they also endangers the aquatic animals.
Covent: I feel that GM foods should not be banned as it was originally developed to aid mankind in increasing food yield and make food resistant to diseases. What i feel should be done is to regulate companies that produces GM foods, such as implementing rules and regulations. With GM food, everyone can enjoy food that they like, regardless of weather seasons and allergies to food. I believe that with more research and development, GM food will one day able to be consumed safely by humans and benefit mankind.
Yes, I think that GM food crops should be banned. Although GM food bring advantages such as disease resistance as many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Therefore, plants are crated with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases. But GM food crops has cause a greater impact on human body and environment. For example, GM food will end food diversity if everyone starts growing the same standardized crops. In addition, many religious and cultural communities are against GM food because they can see it as an unnatural way of producing food which cuase damage to other organisms. Moreover, Genetically modified foods only benefit the large corporations that sell them. The vegetables are modified to look better and be larger and weather transportation related damage better so that these companies can make more money. They do not add to the taste or freshness of nutrition of the food.
I do not think that genetically modified food should be banned. As you know, there are always pros and cons in certain things. Although there are disadvantages of consuming the GM food, i do not think that there is a need to ban them. GM food can solve food crisis. It increases the amount of food in the world. People can obtain sufficient amount of food and it increase yield, food production and quality. When the quality of food supply increase, it means that the nutritional value increase. Therefore, people get more nutritional. Nevertheless, GM food also increase number of jobs for farmers. So, they got more income and their country development will increase overall. I personally think that it shouldn't be banned as there are quite a number of benefit for people. -GeokFang
I do not think that Genetically Modified (GM) food crops should be banned. As the world population continues to grow at a rapid rate , the amount of food will not be adequate to feed everyone and might cause a huge number of people to suffer from health problems like starvation and mulnutrition. Although GM food crops are known to contains chemicals which might be harmful to the enviroment or even to the human body , they can help to solve the problem of food shortage. So far , not many people are known to died from GM food crops and the food shortage problem are being lighten due to the use of GM food crops. Therefore , I do not think that GM food crops should be banned and we should continue to use GM food crops to make sure everyone have enough food to consume. - Amos Tan (8) 4e2
GM food should not be banned. It is one of the many source of food and with the uprising food shortage faced by the world, it is not wise to ban GM food.
There is a need to produce inexpensive, safe and nutritious foods to help feed the world’s growing population. GM food may provide benefits like resistance to disease and insects so there is lesser need for using air pollutants like pesticide.
Some countries also do stock piling and GM food are able to withstand weather extremes and is also inexpensive and nutritious. Stock piled food have a greater shelf life.
Thus, banning of GM food should not be encouraged. Ng Chun Siong 4E1
I do not agree that GM is harmful and should be banned. It is one of the solution to my LDCs where their food poduction are depend by the harvest of the year which may be affected by weather factor. In this case GM food is more pest-resistant and more fast growing. Even though it may be harmful, but this is a factor we are still not sure of thus more research should be done to confirm it before so, i do not think it should be banned as GM food will help to decrease the number of people dying of starvation and malnutrition in the LDCs.The disadvantages of the GM food is also limited thus i dont think why it should be banned
No, I strongly disagree that Genetically Modified (GM) food crops should be banned. Firstly, GM food crops provide much more benefits such as increasing food supply which results in a reduce of starvation and malnutrition, producing crops that are more resistant towards pest which increases income for farmers, improving nutritional value of food and also, reducing environmental pollution. Secondly, GM food which are currently available on the international market have passed risk assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. Other than passing risk assessments, the U.S. National Acadamy of Sciences reported that genetically engineered crops had resulted in reduced pesticide application and reduced soil erosion from tilling. Though there are many problems which was stirred due to GM food crops, but in my opinion, I think that we should not give up on experimenting and developing more on this area.
In my opinion, though GM food crops serves a great purpose as an answer to the world’s growing population and the need to reduce poverty, along with the fact that the food crops being genetically modified to be more capable in thriving in adverse climates as well as being resistant to pests, diseases, for examples, I believe it should be banned before further harm could take place. GM food crops cannot be fully trusted. Take the GM food crops being herbicide-tolerant and pest-resistant as an example. Being genetically modified that way, it could give rise to super-weeds and super-pests that would need newer, stronger, chemicals. The aim for the reduction of costs will cease as costs would rise as a result of the need for newer and stronger chemicals to rid these super-weeds and super-pests.
Scientists have no way of controlling gene expression. They are able to choose which genes to manipulate, but they don’t yet know where in the DNA to precisely insert these genes. Genes do not work in isolation, thus changing a few could change the whole picture, with unpredictable and different effects under different circumstances, thus it could cause unintended effects to organisms that consume it, especially us. It is not right to tout the GM food crops without evaluating the risks sufficiently, or proving conclusively that there are no risks. GM food crops could cross-pollinate with nearby non-GM plants and create ecological problems. If that were to happen with GM foods containing vaccines, antibiotics, contraceptives, and so on, it might very well turn into a human nightmare.
Many GM companies don’t label their foods as being GM foods, because of a concern about a GM bias affecting business. Hence, it is wrong and unfair to consumers who have the right to know what they’re buying and consuming, and the decision of whether they want to buy GM food or not. Even if health safety factors are not an issue, some people might have moral or religious objections. They have the right to decide if they want to eat GM food or not, and they don’t have to eat them if they don’t want to. And the claim of ending world hunger with GM food crops, how true is it? The cause of world hunger is not about the shortage of food production, but by sheer mismanagement, as well as the lack of access to food brought about by various social, financial, and political causes. Introducing GM food crops to Third World countries is not empowering to impoverished Third World farmers, who will have to buy the much more expensive seeds from companies every time they need to harvest new crops. The new technology too interferes with their traditional agricultural ways which may be more suited to their conditions.
Jolene had mentioned that we should not give up on experimenting and developing more on this area. I agree that nothing should be given up on, especially in these matters. However, if these experiments carry on, what shall be the impact? Genetically modifying the food crops itself used to be experiments. The really serious damage do not usually surface right after experimenting. It takes time. And by that time, we might already be dependable on the GM food crops if it is allowed to continue. The harms, I believe, outweighed the benefits, and for every benefit GM food crops bring, the damage is much more riskier.
For tampering with nature by mixing genes among species, it is the violation of natural organisms' intrinsic values. I thus conclude that further harm could be inflicted if GM food crops are continued to be in use in time, and with time, the damage these GM food crops could bring might even be irreversible.
I do not agree that genetically modified food should be banned. Although there are health hazards when ingesting these food, they are not scientifically proven. Also, these health hazard problems can be solved through further research. Due to the rising population, we are facing food crisis. However, with the help of genetically modified food, we can solve the problem of food shortage. Through the usage of genetically modified food, food production increased as it helps to increase yield. Yield is increased as the cops are genetically modified. The modification makes the food become bigger, more nutritious, pest-resistant, able to stay fresh for a longer period of time, not getting frozen when the weather is below the freezing point, and many more. Also, as the crops are pest resistant, there would be no need to use pesticides, thus reducing pollution. Therefore, i do not see a reason for genetically modified food to be banned. Ong Jia Yong 4E1
I feel that people should be more open to genetically modified foods as we are now moving on to a new era, whereby our world is governed by science and logic. Advancement in technology has granted us the ability to modify our foods, making them more sustainable, creating a more efficient and healthier lifestyle. Based on the fact that genetically modified foods can last longer, this would surely aid in lowering food prices as their shelf lives would be extended. Also, genetically modified foods are more pest resistant, drought resistant and they basically can withstand a lot of harsh treatment that their former un-modified foods cannot handle. The modification would definitely save us a load of money as we do not need to waste money on harmful pesticides and weedkillers, nor do we need to worry should there be a drought for such genetically modified foods are able to withstand it. Moving on, there has been speculation about genetically modified foods being harmful. This is merely an assumption the fact that people have been eating genetically modified foods since the 1980s and there has been no cases of severe illness or fatality due to the consumption of genetically modified food. Genetically modified food will revolutionize the world, the fact that global warming is changing our climate and if the plants cant adapt to such changes, we would not be able to survive. That is where genetically modified foods come in and save us. :B
Oh and genetically modified foods are 100% safe, and no animals are harmed during the process .Just sayin' for all those PETA supporters. Also, humans have already partially destroyed nature by building roads and and cities over forests. Genetically modified crops that grow twice as fast as their predecessors are the solution to that. We aren't tampering with nature for if we were, the genes would not even be co operate and form such amazing food.:P
ALL FOR GM FOOD! :D It's already in your meals and on your plates, eat them, don't waste food. >:D
I feel that genetically modified food should be banned. This is because the GM food do not provide much benefits to farmers or consumers, instead there are many problems being indentified. For example, yield drag, increased herbicide use, erratic performance, and poor economic returns to farmers. GM crops also intensify corporate monopoly on food, which is driving family farmers to destitution, and preventing the essential shift to sustainable agriculture that can guarantee food security and health around the world. One example of health problem is that many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals.
i agree to a certain extend that GM food should be banned. first of all GM food may cause a lots of problem to animals, plants and even HUMAN. if we harm others by having food for ourselves,i think i will be very guilty. i must say that GM food has done a good job by solving the food shortage but GM food may affect the whole food chain.GM food was more resistent to weeds, fungi, bateria, virus and insect.however without these fungi and insect it will affect the food chain such that animals that feed on these organisms would decrease in poulation as there is insufficient food for them. this will later cause the loss of biomass and biodiversity.i had also heard that by eating GM food, there are pheomeon such as change of gene of human and even make us more prone to cancer. althought farmer can have a better life but will they live peacefully by earning ''black money''? if there is cross pollination between the weeds with the GM crops, stronger herbicide might be needed.AT the end of the day they will just be more and more problem caused by it. -fabian
GM Food Crops should not be banned. Although there are benefits and threats of the GM Food Crops, i believe that the benefits of GM Food Crops outweigh the threats that GM Food Crops bring about.
The introduction of GM Food Crops have benefitted the community of the poor and less developed. With a larger yield and productivity of the food crops, it can be sold at a lower price. Therefore, the lower and middle income people are able to afford for food and thus, achieve food security.
Another benefit of GM Food Crops is that it enables farmers to grow foods in different climate conditions. As a result, growing of a particular food crop is not limited to a particular region in the world.
As we all know, the over usage of fertilisers and herbicides can prove to be harmful to our enviroment. However, some GM Food Crops requires lesser usage of fertilisers and herbicides. Thus, reducing the potential of harming the enviroment.
In conclusion, I feel that GM Food Crops should not be banned.
I feel that Genetically Modified Food should not be banned as they require a shorter period of time to grow. This increases food production as well as income of the farmers. They also include more nutritions as they contain adequete amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. With more nutritious food supplied for the growing food demand of the global population, it solves many of the world's hunger and malnutrition problems. Being pest resistant, it eliminates the application of chemical pesticides and increase the profit earned. Its herbicide tolerant benefit the farmers as it reduces production cost and limits the danger of agricultural waste run-off. Thus Genetically Modified Foods help to protect and preserve the environment by increasing yield and reducing reliance upon chemical pesticides and herbicides. However, it might be argued that Genetically Modified Foods carry unpredictable toxins and causes unintended harm to crop-damaging pests. They also increase the risks of allergenic reactions. Little do they know that safety measures are taken to reduce unintended harm to human health and the environemnt. For instance, safety testing, regulation, international policies and food labelling. After evaluating the effects, I am for Genetically Modified food crops and I believe that we should be enthusiastic and continue investing in this powerful technology.
The below is my view about whether GM food crops should be banned. Personally, I think that GM food should not be banned. It helped to lessen the burden of the organisations who are doing so much to ensure that the increasing world population have adequate amount of food to consume. By using GM food, the percentage and number of people in the world who are suffering from starvation and malnutrition would be greatly reduced. From my research, GM food is pest resistance, herbicide tolerance, disease resistance, drought tolerance and also salinity tolerance. It would help in the producing of GM food at a shorter growing period of time. Therefore, using GM food, it would help in the productivity of food for the population. I have also researched the GM food have its threat concern on the human health. It is unpredictable and research has not confirm the effects yet. So in overall, consuming GM food is still healthy and wise. Also, one also said that GM food does not benefit the people as it only benefit large cooperation who sells them. The vegetables are modified to look better and be larger; however, it does not add to the taste or freshness of nutrition of the food. Therefore, I still think that consuming GM food is a wise way to ensure that the growing world population have sufficient amount of food to eat.
In my opinion, I think that GM food should be banned because messing with genes is morally wrong and it will result in the destruction of the natural world. By creating a GM food crop, the pest-resistant crops will result in the loss of biodiversity as they might kill other insects which were not meant to be killed such as the Monarch butterfly. This would affect the aimals further up in the food chain as they might lose their source of food, resulting in the other animals also becoming extinct. Cross pollination with other unwanted plants such as weeds might result in the weeds becoming resistant to the herbicides used.
I am against GM Food crops. While GM food crops allow more crops to grow due to certain genes in it which allow it to be resistant to insects. This crops have genes which and pest resistance. This allow the farmers to grow more crops to help supply the world with adequete food and it helps maximise the farmers profit. GM food also do not require the use of chemical insectides which may lead to adverse effect on the environment which might be wash into nearby waterbodies when it rain. Also GM food are able to tolerate harsher climates. Antifreeze gene from cold water fish has been introduced to plant such as tabacco and potato. This makes the crops able to tolerate cold temperature that would normally kill the them and tolerate dry conditions and are able to grow in places with dry conditions. However i feel that the threat of GM food far outweight the benefits of it. GM crops might cross pollinate and result in weeds being herbicide resistant. This "super weeds" will be impossible to destroy as the genes will be transfer from generation to generation. GM foods might affect the environment. Research has shown that monarch butterflys larvae which consume milkweed plants that are contaminated by the pollon of B.t corn a GM crop.Also GM food might cause new type of allergies that might cause unexpected allergic reactions to childrens. Therefore i feel that GM food brings more threat compared to its benefit as it might lead to irrevisible damage to our enviornment and our food supply as this crops cannot be recalled and will be transfered from generation to generation
I think GM food should not be banned. It is actually a wonderful invention. Although it brings negative impacts like the unintended harm to other organisms, affect human health like allergies and reduced effectiveness of pesticides and herbicides, it actually bring more good to us, humans.
Firstly, these GM food crops are pest-resistant and this means that there is no need for the use of pesticide and this saves the production cost. It is also herbicide resistant so how much herbicide used to kill of the weeds, the crops will not be affected. It is also resistant to diseases and cold conditions. This increases the productivity of this crop as it will not die so easily. Despite the lack of water during droughts, the crops are able to grow. Overall, it helps to minimise loss and maximise profit. Some examples of such crops are soy beans and corn which takes up 82% of the total GM crop harvested in 2000. Furthermore, GM foods are cheaper than non-GM food as it is usually mass produced and it requires much lesser effort to produce it as compared to the non-GM food. This is necessary as in the rural parts of LDCs, the people are living in poverty and they can't afford normal food. With GM food, which is cheaper, they can buy it and fill their stomachs. Hence, it benefits these people. It continues to feed the population and also compete in global market. One might argue that manufacturing GM food is costly and lengthy but the benefits that come along with it is worth it. With so many benefits, I don't see why GM food should be banned. It is very much necessary!
GM food crops should be banned. I do not quite agree to this statement. In fact, I support the idea of having GM food. Though it is true that GM food may bring harm to human, such GM foods have only been tested on lab rats....yes, it is true that they may have unknown effects on the human body, but we cannot give up GM food and totally depend on rearing livestocks and growing normal crops when GM foods are proved to have positive effects like shorter growing period, bigger in size, high nutritional contents.. We shouldn't give up on GM food, no, not in the current state of the world when people are starving, and increased rearing of cattles would only result in more methane released into the air and expansion of crop fields when the world population is increasing this drastically.
With the introduction of GM food, less stress would be on the natural rearing of cattles, livestocks, and crops demand. As a result, with more supply, prices would also drop, and thus impacting the world population positively.
Another concern for bringing in GM food into the market is that it is a lengthy and costly prcoess, with many number of experiments and researchs needed and funds needed, and finally have it approved by the country's Food Development Authority, for example, before it can be sold.
To sum up, GM food crops and animals brings about more positive impacts to human population, and with care, the natural enviroment would not be damaged in the process of producing GM food. However, there is still a point to note : That GM food has and unknown effect on the human body, and that the effects could be only be surfaced, probably in years to come, if there are any to begin with.
I agree that GM food crops should be banned. Although the introduction of GM food crops was to increase food production due to higher demand of food from the high population growth around the world, it have subconsciously affected our lifestyle.
GM food crops have been released throughout our environment and deployed with superficial or no risk assessments. The industrial production of GM food crops is economically and environmentally unsustainable. The heavy use of petroleum-based chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides on the GM food crop may not be safe for consumption. This is because there are no regulated health safety testing of the food. According to FDA, they makes no review of tests of new GM products unless voluntarily requested by the company producing the product.
Moreover,consumers are not aware of what processes,chemicals and injections have been used on the food in the production of GM food crops.
GM food crops may not have any side effects on the human body for the time being butn the side effects of GM food may gradually developed in the long run.
I do not agree that GM food crops should be banned as the current world population of 6 billion is expected to rise to 10billion in 2100 and there might be severe food shortage around the world. Despite its disadvantages of unknown health problems to humans, its harm to other organism, its reduced efficiency of pesticides, it is necessary for GM food crops to be not banned.
Firstly, GM food are pest resistance and lesser pesticides and herbicides is needed to protect the food crops as many people do not want to consume food that has been overly treated with chemically pesticides annually because of the potential health hazards, and run-off agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can result in nitrate poisoning of rivers and eutrophication of water as a result of the agricultural run-off.
Secondly, it is Disease resistance to many viruses, fungi and bacteria that may cause the plant to die. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases.
Also, Gm food crops are cold tolerance as of the artic and antartic areas where its hard to grow food crops, these GM food crops can survive better compared to the none Gm food crops. Unexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish are introduced into plants like tobacco and potato and are able to tolerate col temperature that normally would kill unmodified seedlings. With the Gm food crops, farmers could earn a living even in extreme cold climate.
GM food crops are also drought tolerant and salinity tolerance as they can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places.
Lastly, the nutrition that a GM food crops has reduced the amount of fertilizers needed to sustain the nutrition level of the soil most optimum for the growth of crops and the farmers could reduce the money needed for more fertilizers to grow more food crops and sustain the ever growing population in the world. The rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional nutrients and vitamins to prevent malnutritiona dn provide more nutrient to consumers when the food crops are being consumed.
I agree with Guang Wei that the growing of GM food products are important for our future generations as it will be out future generation facing the food massive incline in world population where supply can hardly meet demands and more food and faster and frequent harvesting of crops are essentials for the continuation of life.
There have been lots of debate over genetically modified food (GM food) should be allowed or not. In my opinion, I think that GM food should be allowed as its advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
Firstly, GM food will feed a lot of people suffering from starvation, especially when the world’s population is rising rapidly. It can potentially save lots of lives and more varieties of food can be invented. Secondly, farmers are able to earn more money than before as crops will not be destroyed by pests and diseases easily. Besides that, farmers will spend less on pesticides and herbicides as the crops are already resistant. The farmer no longer has to use insecticide to kill insects, so the surrounding environment is no longer exposed to large amounts of harmful insecticide. Thus, they can spend lesser money on such items. More food will be produced and farmers can export those crops and have a higher standard of living. Thirdly, some GM food, such as the golden rice, has proven to be more nutritious and it can provide more nutrients to people who need it such as the people in Africa.
Although people will say that GM food will pose a health threat to humans, researches have shown that no one has died from the consumption of GM food and that GM food is very safe. Moreover, I am sure that scientists will do enough experiments to ensure that the crops are absolutely safe before selling it. However, I think that supermarkets should state whether the food is genetically modified or not. Thus, for people who do not accept GM food, they can choose not to buy them.
I disagree that GM food should be banned. It is created to assist our food production. If it's banned, it will be affecting our food available in the world. GM food can bring about more income for the farmers. GM food bring many benefits to the farmers as it lowers pesticide usage and thus bring about high yield for the farmers. They do not have to buy pesticides to protect their crops as these GM food already by itself can eliminate the presence of pesticides. The farmers do not have to spend money on buying pesticides but instead they can earn more as these GM food bring more production. GM food gave the developing world more hope. Those who are suffering in poverty will have more and better food for consumption as these GM food have higher nutritional level. People will be brought out of poverty because situations such as malnutrition, starvation, death (life expectancy) will be reduced. If it is said that GM food can bring about potential health risk, what for create GM food? I am sure that the scientists will do more research and experiment to improve the GM food since it benefits the the nation largely. To date, not a single instance of harm to human health has been documented with GM crops. This shows that GM food is fairly safe for consumption. Since it benefits, it should continue to be consumed in the society.
I disagree that GM food crops should be banned. Even though there are threats producing GM food crops, I believe that GM food crops benefit more compared to its threats. The term GM foods refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. Thus, reducing the maturation time of the food crop. Besides that, GM food crops also save the use of toxic as they are created to be pests’ resistance. This is better for the environment as too much pesticides used are harmful cause pollutions. Furthermore, GM food can solve the problem of hunger. This is because, GM foods increase the yields of crops and more food is produced by farmers. When food production is high, there will be enough food for people throughout the world. Hence, they do not need to worry about not having enough food. GM food crops also enhanced the taste and quality of the food, and thus, with the benefits listed above, I disagree that GM food should be banned.
I feel that GM food crops should not be banned. It may be true that there might be a loss in biodiversity in crops. However, we can all agree on the fact that Genetically Modified food crops do help farmers to earn more money and also bring about many other benefits. With the growing world population and Globalisation going on, we all know that we would eventually face food shortages problems. With GM food crops, we can cut down the growing time of crops and increased the efficiency of farms and the food produced would be higher thus, enabling us to solve the current food crisis. In some 3rd world country such as south Africa, The climatic conditions limits them to grow crops, With GM food, This problems would be solved as GM food crops are able to grow under harsher conditions. The fact that malnutrition is occurring in Africa makes GM Food Crops even more important as they are able to provide more Nutrients and vitamins to the body. A good example would be “Golden Rice” which was given too many countries in Africa as these crops are able to grow well under the harsher conditions in Africa while providing them with more vitamins and nutrients from the food they eat usually. With globalisation and urbanisation occurring in many parts of the world, forest and habitats are destroyed, thus it is not true that GM food crops are the main reason behind the loss in biodiversity when it was industrialization that really resulted in this phenomenon to occur. Also, GM Food Crops are either herbicides resistant or Pesticides or disease resistant, this would see the cost of food production to drop since farmers do not have to rely too much on buying Pesticides or herbicides and also reduce the people from fear of eating these poisonous substances. GM food may be going against Nature, But it does seems to be a good solution on solving the current global food crisis. Tough it may be abusing the countless species and organisms, But is does not mean that we are bringing in ethnic values. Also, GM food crops may led to a loss in biodiversity due to the affected food chain, but with the growing globalization and industrialization in many parts of the world. Deforestation and destroying of habitats are occurring all around the world, Thus, how can GM food crops be blamed for the loss in biodiversity in nature when We humans are already destroying our environment which also affect the biodiversity. In summary, GM food brings about many benefits such as solving the current global food crisis which we are currently facing and also cut down on the cost of farming which would see more money spend on growing of food and also brings about higher production of food. Tough some people argue that GM Food crops brings about harm, their arguments are mostly problems which are not entirely brought by GM Food crops. Thus, GM food crops should not be banned.
Genetically Modified food crops should not be banned as I believe that it provides more benefits as it increases food supply around the world which results in the decrease in food prices, making food more affordable in most LDCs, such as Sub-Sahara, Africa and Cambodia. This reduces the problems of malnutrition and starvation that many LCDs are facing. Also, genetically modified food eliminated the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market. Thus, increasing the incomes for farmers as their crops are more resistant to pests and are able to stay fresh for a longer period of time. At the same time, when the use of chemical pesticides are reduced, pollutions to the environment will also be reduced. On the whole, although there are also threats of genetically modified food crops, the advantages of GM food outwit them.
I am supportive of GM food and I will be stating a few benefits of GM foods. The world's population have been constantly increasing. Although there is already a world population of 6.8 billion, the number is estimated to rise to 9.4 billion in 2050. With the world's growing population, ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways: Pest resistant crops help to eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the costs of growing crops. Before the development of GM food, crops losses from insects result in financial loss and starvation in developing countries, famers uses tons of pesticides to protect their crops from insects. Consumers usually would not want to eat food that has been treated with pesticides due to the potential health hazards resulting in a loss of profits for the farmers. Also, run-off of agricultural wastes from the excessive use of pesticides can poison water supply and harm the environment. Farmers often spray large quantity of herbicides to destroy weeds. Is a time-consuming and expensive process as is requires care to prevent the herbicide from harming the crops plants or the environment. Crop plants that are genetically modified can be very resistant to herbicides. It also reduces the amount of herbicides needed as only one application of of weed-killer is needed which helps to prevent environmental damage as run-off is being minimised. As more land in the world is being used for developmental purposes, crops may need to be grown on land that was previously unsuitable. GM food crops are able to withstand long periods of droughts or in soil with high salt content. As a result, it can increase the total amount of food production as food can now be grown in lands that were previously inhospitable. Although some may say that GM foods have unknown effects on the human health, I feel that if there really were unknown effects on the human health, People would already been affected by the effects the first time GM foods were introduced. However, up till now, there were no known cases of GM food having negative effects on the human body so I feel that this worry is unnecessary. In conclusion, I am for GM food crops as I feel that it is the most effective way to supply the growing population with an adequate amount of food supply which is one of the major challenges in the world.
In my opinion, GM food crops should not be banned.
Nearly a billion people go hungry everyday, therefore, GM food is introduced to help these people. Because of GM food, lesser people are starving. What is going to happen to these people if GM food is banned? There will be insufficiet food supply to feed the growing population of the world.
GM food also has alot of advantages. For example, it is pest resistant. As pests destroy crops, pest resistant crops enable farmers to earn more as they can sell better quality crops in large quantity. Besides that, pest resistant crops also elliminates the use of pesticides. This not only reduce cost, it also protects the environent.
GM food are also tolerrent to different weather conditions, for example, drought. Food can still be produced in such dry conditions, when it is impossible previously.
Some GM food crops are also made to be more nutritious than normal food crops. This benefits people since they are consuming more nutritious food.
Though there are several threats of GM food crops, I still think GM food should not be banned. This is because GM food will not be on sale all around the world if it is really unsafe. The government of various contries would not want their people to suffer. If GM food can be widely sold today, I am sure it has minimal disadvantage and is safe for consumption.
In my own opinion, I do feel that genetic modified food should not be banned, but continue to delve into more laboratory researches and development into this area.
These geneticist no doubt have no foolproof way to control what things may turn out to be, therefore these unpredictable results led to numerous trials and experimentataions, to make the best out what we humans, can get from modifying food genes for the greater good for mankind.
It may be not right to inferfere with the everchanging nature and abuse the countless species of organisms. However, this does not mean that ethical values comes to place. Human genetic engineering have been around for even centuries. Moreover the renaissance period whereby early europeans have began simple anatomies and research on vaccines and medicine that help illnesses and sickness. Since human genetic engineering have been around in medical fields, why not food genetic engineering?
It is a grace that human minds are complex and are able to produce such manuplations in genes, leading to greater depth in understanding of our world. As such genetic modified good crops should be continued to work on better revision and not leaving it to be recumbent.
Though many scientists go against the Genetic Modified Food in recent years and countries like Sri Lanka have banned the use of GM food due to unknown long terms effect on humans and the ecosystems. In my opinion, I think that GM food should not be banned.
GM food can save the cost spend by the farmers as using GM food like insecticide sweet corn it can reduce the amount of money spend on using insecticide and could prevent the surrounding from exposing to large amount of harmful insecticide. Farmers can therefore earn more money as money spends on pesticides and herbicides are diverted to the growing of larger crop. Farmer can grow larger crop and meet the rising demand of food prior to the rising population in the world. GM food can last longer and result in less food wasted. GM foods such as golden rice have proven to be nutritious and could help those people who lack of it in the lesser developed countries.
Overtime, GM food has proven to be safe although reports shown that it bring harm to humans and environments. Moreover, I am sure that scientists will do enough experiments to ensure that the crops are absolutely safe before selling it.
With referrence to Douglas's comment, I agree that GM food can cause disturbance in the natural food chain. With the food chain disrupted, the natural enviroment would be affected, both further up the chains, and lower down the chains.
53 Comments:
The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. With GM food, we can meet these needs by a number of ways.An advantage of GM is that it is pest resistant.Therefore,growing GM foods such as B.t. corn can help eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market.Another advantage of GM food is that it is disease resistant.Since there are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases. GM foods are also Drought and cold tolerant so that farmers can earn money all year round.The last advantage is that GM food can increase the nutritional value of normal food.Hence,I am for GM food as I think it is important for our future generations.
From Felicia:
I do not think that Genetically modified food should be banned.Genetically modified foods are created because they will help the poor and the underdeveloped. The claim that GM foods are morally wrong is not fair. By giving these people the the ways to be able to feed themselves, we are helping to lift them out of poverty. Genetically modified foods can also offer more nutritional value and better flavour. Also, GM foods are more capable of thriving in regions with poor soil or adverse climate. With GM foods,Farmers can grow a larger crop as it is easier to fight pests. The farmer no longer has to use insecticide to kill insects,so the surrounding environment is not exposed to harmful chemicals. GM food may be the possible solution to solve world hunger.Hence, I strongly support the use of GM food.
I think that Genetically Modified food should be banned. This is because, although the world may be facing a shortage in the food, the Genetically Modified food may cause threat to the mankind. They may carry unpredicatble toxin within it. Although some people say that the same food compared with the Genetically Modified food, the one that is modified has higher nutrition.
I think that the Genetically Modified should be banned because they may increase the risk of allergenic reactions. This may cause people's life. Though the Genetically Modified food have some benefits like saving the food shortage problems, being pest resistent, ability to tolerate cold. It is one of a food that is important because it has solved several problems like pest and shortage of food. There are too little scientific studies about their health risks
From Victoria:
I think GM foods should be banned. This is because firstly,gened from the genetically modified food could be transferred to the pests that can make them become resistant. Also, it is also claimed that the teaste of GMOs are not as good and natural. With the rise of GM food,allergies may become more intense for some people and new allergy types might arise from this. Unforeseen risks and dangers might occur due to the complexity to nature.That is why I do not support the growth of GM food.
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I do not agree that genetically modified foods should be banned. The US pro-GM group, AgBioWorld, stated that genetically modified foods have been proven safe. Also, consumer rights groups like Organic Consumers Association and Greenpeace claim that the long-term health risks that GM foods could pose have not yet been proven. To prove that these sources are not biased, a 2008 review published by the Royal Society of Medicine claimed that genetically modified foods have been eaten by millions of people worldwide for over 15 years, with no reports of ill effects. Genetically modified foods can help to reduce malnutrition and starvation in the world, allowing the poor to gain access to food. Also, it helps to increase yield, food production and quality as well as improve crop protection. Genetically modified foods help to increase food supplies worldwide, improve the nutritional values of food as well as reduce environmental pollution. With GM foods being produced, people in less developed countries have more access to foods that meet their nutritional needs, which helps to reduce food crisis around the world. I do not see a need in putting a ban on genetically modified foods.
- Chia Wanxing 4E1
GM food crops SHOULD be banned. It is true that most GM food are pest and disease resistant, and that they are also herbicide, cold and drought tolerant. However, GM food also have threats such as being the cause of the loss of bio-diversity in crops, the disturbance of ecological balance and the creation of herbicide-resistant weeds. Weeds and/or pests which feed on these GM food may get resistant to toxins. Not only that, these GM food crops may cause allergies to some people. With these predictably deathly and long-term threats, I feel that GM food crops are more of threats than benefits, though there is a need to genetically modify food crops to ensure an adequate food supply. Therefore, I feel that GM food crops should be banned.
-Nur Sabrina (16) 4E1 ♥
Written by: Weiping, 4E1
The biggest disadvantage of genetically modified food is that they have harmful effects on the human body. The consumption of these genetically engineered foods can lead to development of diseases that are immune to antibiotics.
Chances of developing cancer are high in people who regularly consume engineered food. Not only that, genetically engineered food would increase the dependency of developing countries, on industrialized nations. This would result in a dominance of the world food production by a few countries.
Next, the economic concern, bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process. Patent enforcement may also be difficult and patenting these new plant varieties will increase the price of the seeds for GM crops resulting in widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
The wildlife would also be affected such as UK farmlands there has been a severe decline because of the chemical farming.GM herbicides tolerant crops can kill other plants and continue to decline farmlands. One of the main difficulties that farmers encountered when growing GM crops is that there is no way to contain pollen movement. There had been contaminated foods across the USA and suspected allergies reactions were reported and had to withdrawn it from the shops. Therefore, GM food crops should be banned.
Personally, I do NOT think that GM food crops should be ban. GM food crops are produced to improve crop protection. Gm food is created to help the poor and help to solve the problem of food starvation. It is also to allow the people to have more access to food. If GM food is banned, it will worsen the food supply in the world. And Food starvation will be worsened. GM food offers better flavor. GM food help farmers to save costs as farmers do not have to use pesticides to get rid of those pest and people might not want to eat the crops with insecticides. Thus Gm food should not be banned and it is possible in helping to solve food shortage. Thus, I STRONGLY support the consumption of GM food.
-JERALDINE.
By sixian 4E1:
No I don't think that GM food should be banned. Because it contains high nutrition value, which is very suitable for people suffering from malnutrition and starvation in the rural areas. It is also pest-resistant and fast growing due to the modified genes in them. But at the same time, research has shown that new allergens may be created due to the modified genes and frequent consumption of GM food may result in cancer. What I suggest is that, researchers should do a further research with GM food crops of whether it is safe to consume because the medical problems are not confirmed to be critical or not. GM food can reduce the amount of people suffering from malnutrition and starvation. The government can put a limit to the amount of GM food consumed by the poor for instance, thrice a week and on alternate days. What if emergencies such as food shortage and disruption occurs? Hence, I do not agree that it should be banned.
I think GM food should be banned. Although GM food brings in benefits like cold tolerance for the crops to prevent destroying them and affecting the income or food generated for the farmers and benefits consumers in industrialized and developing countries. But it brings in harmful effects on the human body, causing the development of diseases which are immune to antibiotics and develops cancer. In addition, it will also end the food diversity if everyone starts growing the same standardized food crops and will also cause damage to other organisms. Moreover, the danger to many humans who are allergic to certain food is guaranteed, because no one will know what they are eating. For example, say someone is deathly allergic to peanuts. A GMO may have a gene from a peanut in them. The allergic person could get a reaction from eating anything that contained the peanut gene. They wouldn't even know what caused it, because there are no labeling laws about GMOs. No one has a crystal ball to see future consequences of the overall GMO technology. Nevertheless, there are silent alarm signals like the early death.
- Zena
In my opinion , I feel that GM food should not be banned . As the world population is increasing rapidly , the production of GM food is definitely required .
Being pest resistance , disease resistance and herbicide tolerance , it increases the food production annually . Advantages of GM food are also its tolerance for drought and cold , thus being able to produced all year round . Farmers also earn more profits from GM food as it requires lesser time and effort . Hence , there will be a increase in GDP .
GM food crops not only provide sufficient food supply but also better food quality and of higher nutrition level . Therefore , it is able to reduce starvation and malnutrition in rural areas of LDCs .
Hence , I am for GM food .
Qing Xi ( 4E2 )
In my opinion, I feel that GM food should be banned.I agreed that GM food certainly able to increase food supply and help end world hunger. However, GM food produced is expensive as the production is costly to the government as the agri-biotech companies wish to have a profitable return to their investment. This will eventually become a burden to the government especially less-developed countries. If less-developed countries started to import such GM food at the start, it will strain the government and thus, unable to develop its other areas such as providing education, building of infrastructure, Instead, it will widen the gap between developed countries and less-developed countries. Furthermore, many children in US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. Thus, introducing a gene to plant probably cause a new allergen to individuals. Therefore, I am against GM food.
In my opinion, i think that GM food should be banned. GM food have been criticized agribusiness for pursuing profit without concern for potential hazards, and the government for failing to exercise adequate regulatory oversight. The threats for GM food are mainly environmental, health and economics hazard. Firstly, it could harm organisms. Bacillus thuringiensis toxins can kill many species of insect larvae indiscriminately; it is not possible to design a Bacillus thuringiensis toxin that would only kill crop-damaging pests and remain harmless to all other insects. If these continue forever, it could lead to extinction of species. Next, with GM food, it can caused allergy to human beings. Many children in the UK and Europe have form life-threatening allergy and there is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new type of allergy. Bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process, and of course agri-biotech companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment. Hence company would patent GM plants. Consumers are worried that patented food will increase the price. As a result, the poor are not able to afford this food, thus widening the income gap between the rich and the poor which can result in uneven development in the world
I do not feel that genetically modified food crops should be banned. Genes from different food crops are being taken out and combined hence to produce these genetically modified food crops. These food crops have a higher nutritional value. Scientific solution is being used to increase yield, higher productivity and better quality food crops. Thus, these genetically modified food crops is then being able to be produced at a faster and easier way. Lowering the prices of this food crops allow people from the less developed countries to be able to purchase these food crops. Helping them to fight against starvation and malnutrition. I believe that the consumption and production of genetically modified food crops is able to ensure a higher level of food security for both the developed and less developed countries.
-FIONA ! :D
I do not think that genetically modified food should be banned, because it closes in the gap between developed countries and less developed countris. As less developed will become the industrial countries and they can increase or decrease the price of the crops according to the demand in the world. Also, they help to control the occurrence of certain diseases. There are some foods that cause allergy to people when consumed. By modifying the DNA system of these foods, the properties causing these allergies will be eliminated. Not only that, they have natural resistance towards pests and insects so not much pesticides and insecticides need to be sprayed on them. Thus, reduces the necessity of harmful pesticides and insecticides, making these foods free from chemicals which can be environment friendly as well. Genetically modified foods are also high in nutrients and contain more minerals and vitamins than those found in traditionally grown foods whilst these foods have better taste. People opted for genetically engineered foods is because they have an increased shelf life so that people do not need to fear that the food will rot easily. However, harmful effet that will harm our body is a concern. In addition, many people are uncomfortable that animal genes are transferred into plants and vice versa. Althuogh there may be disadvantages, overall I still that gentically modified food should not be banned as it still benefits as and most importantly, it solves the peoblem of not having enough food for the future generation due to over population.
i don't think that genetically modified food should be banned as in the first place, it is use to increase food production to solve food shortage in the world. also, it had already been approved that it is safe to consume. Calgene took the initiative to obtain FDA approval for its release in 1994 without any special labeling, although legally no such approval was required and it was popular among consumers. besides, having GM crops will allow us to have more variety of food and it could prolong the foods' life. it could also provide more nutrients to us. i believe that GM crops should be consume.
I think genetically modified food should be banned as they serves as a health risk that they may harm a person health. Research had shown that a rat consuming GM food, hence there is a difference in the intestine after consuming it. Many children in US and Europe have developed life threatening allergies to peanuts . It may be because that there is a new allergen introduce in the plant causing allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. To strengthen my opinion, GM food do pollute the stream as they release insecticide chemicals that pollutes the rivers and streams. Hence, this will danger the aquatic animals, forcing them to leave and seek for shelther at the other places. In conclusion, i think that GM Food should be banned as it not only harm a person health, they also endangers the aquatic animals.
Covent:
I feel that GM foods should not be banned as it was originally developed to aid mankind in increasing food yield and make food resistant to diseases. What i feel should be done is to regulate companies that produces GM foods, such as implementing rules and regulations. With GM food, everyone can enjoy food that they like, regardless of weather seasons and allergies to food. I believe that with more research and development, GM food will one day able to be consumed safely by humans and benefit mankind.
Yes, I think that GM food crops should be banned. Although GM food bring advantages such as disease resistance as many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Therefore, plants are crated with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases. But GM food crops has cause a greater impact on human body and environment. For example, GM food will end food diversity if everyone starts growing the same standardized crops. In addition, many religious and cultural communities are against GM food because they can see it as an unnatural way of producing food which cuase damage to other organisms. Moreover, Genetically modified foods only benefit the large corporations that sell them. The vegetables are modified to look better and be larger and weather transportation related damage better so that these companies can make more money. They do not add to the taste or freshness of nutrition of the food.
I do not think that genetically modified food should be banned. As you know, there are always pros and cons in certain things. Although there are disadvantages of consuming the GM food, i do not think that there is a need to ban them. GM food can solve food crisis. It increases the amount of food in the world. People can obtain sufficient amount of food and it increase yield, food production and quality. When the quality of food supply increase, it means that the nutritional value increase. Therefore, people get more nutritional. Nevertheless, GM food also increase number of jobs for farmers. So, they got more income and their country development will increase overall. I personally think that it shouldn't be banned as there are quite a number of benefit for people.
-GeokFang
WOW!! All responses have been well-written. Impressive... you guys seem like experts in GM food now :)
I do not think that Genetically Modified (GM) food crops should be banned. As the world population continues to grow at a rapid rate , the amount of food will not be adequate to feed everyone and might cause a huge number of people to suffer from health problems like starvation and mulnutrition. Although GM food crops are known to contains chemicals which might be harmful to the enviroment or even to the human body , they can help to solve the problem of food shortage. So far , not many people are known to died from GM food crops and the food shortage problem are being lighten due to the use of GM food crops. Therefore , I do not think that GM food crops should be banned and we should continue to use GM food crops to make sure everyone have enough food to consume. - Amos Tan (8) 4e2
GM food should not be banned. It is one of the many source of food and with the uprising food shortage faced by the world, it is not wise to ban GM food.
There is a need to produce inexpensive, safe and nutritious foods to help feed the world’s growing population. GM food may provide benefits like resistance to disease and insects so there is lesser need for using air pollutants like pesticide.
Some countries also do stock piling and GM food are able to withstand weather extremes and is also inexpensive and nutritious. Stock piled food have a greater shelf life.
Thus, banning of GM food should not be encouraged.
Ng Chun Siong 4E1
I do not agree that GM is harmful and should be banned. It is one of the solution to my LDCs where their food poduction are depend by the harvest of the year which may be affected by weather factor. In this case GM food is more pest-resistant and more fast growing. Even though it may be harmful, but this is a factor we are still not sure of thus more research should be done to confirm it before so, i do not think it should be banned as GM food will help to decrease the number of people dying of starvation and malnutrition in the LDCs.The disadvantages of the GM food is also limited thus i dont think why it should be banned
-Jingwen- 4E1
No, I strongly disagree that Genetically Modified (GM) food crops should be banned. Firstly, GM food crops provide much more benefits such as increasing food supply which results in a reduce of starvation and malnutrition, producing crops that are more resistant towards pest which increases income for farmers, improving nutritional value of food and also, reducing environmental pollution. Secondly, GM food which are currently available on the international market have passed risk assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. Other than passing risk assessments, the U.S. National Acadamy of Sciences reported that genetically engineered crops had resulted in reduced pesticide application and reduced soil erosion from tilling. Though there are many problems which was stirred due to GM food crops, but in my opinion, I think that we should not give up on experimenting and developing more on this area.
In my opinion, though GM food crops serves a great purpose as an answer to the world’s growing population and the need to reduce poverty, along with the fact that the food crops being genetically modified to be more capable in thriving in adverse climates as well as being resistant to pests, diseases, for examples, I believe it should be banned before further harm could take place. GM food crops cannot be fully trusted. Take the GM food crops being herbicide-tolerant and pest-resistant as an example. Being genetically modified that way, it could give rise to super-weeds and super-pests that would need newer, stronger, chemicals. The aim for the reduction of costs will cease as costs would rise as a result of the need for newer and stronger chemicals to rid these super-weeds and super-pests.
Scientists have no way of controlling gene expression. They are able to choose which genes to manipulate, but they don’t yet know where in the DNA to precisely insert these genes. Genes do not work in isolation, thus changing a few could change the whole picture, with unpredictable and different effects under different circumstances, thus it could cause unintended effects to organisms that consume it, especially us. It is not right to tout the GM food crops without evaluating the risks sufficiently, or proving conclusively that there are no risks. GM food crops could cross-pollinate with nearby non-GM plants and create ecological problems. If that were to happen with GM foods containing vaccines, antibiotics, contraceptives, and so on, it might very well turn into a human nightmare.
Many GM companies don’t label their foods as being GM foods, because of a concern about a GM bias affecting business. Hence, it is wrong and unfair to consumers who have the right to know what they’re buying and consuming, and the decision of whether they want to buy GM food or not. Even if health safety factors are not an issue, some people might have moral or religious objections. They have the right to decide if they want to eat GM food or not, and they don’t have to eat them if they don’t want to. And the claim of ending world hunger with GM food crops, how true is it? The cause of world hunger is not about the shortage of food production, but by sheer mismanagement, as well as the lack of access to food brought about by various social, financial, and political causes. Introducing GM food crops to Third World countries is not empowering to impoverished Third World farmers, who will have to buy the much more expensive seeds from companies every time they need to harvest new crops. The new technology too interferes with their traditional agricultural ways which may be more suited to their conditions.
Jolene had mentioned that we should not give up on experimenting and developing more on this area. I agree that nothing should be given up on, especially in these matters. However, if these experiments carry on, what shall be the impact? Genetically modifying the food crops itself used to be experiments. The really serious damage do not usually surface right after experimenting. It takes time. And by that time, we might already be dependable on the GM food crops if it is allowed to continue. The harms, I believe, outweighed the benefits, and for every benefit GM food crops bring, the damage is much more riskier.
For tampering with nature by mixing genes among species, it is the violation of natural organisms' intrinsic values. I thus conclude that further harm could be inflicted if GM food crops are continued to be in use in time, and with time, the damage these GM food crops could bring might even be irreversible.
` Hana Diyanah Bte Zakariah [07] 4e1
^^
I do not agree that genetically modified food should be banned. Although there are health hazards when ingesting these food, they are not scientifically proven. Also, these health hazard problems can be solved through further research. Due to the rising population, we are facing food crisis. However, with the help of genetically modified food, we can solve the problem of food shortage. Through the usage of genetically modified food, food production increased as it helps to increase yield. Yield is increased as the cops are genetically modified. The modification makes the food become bigger, more nutritious, pest-resistant, able to stay fresh for a longer period of time, not getting frozen when the weather is below the freezing point, and many more. Also, as the crops are pest resistant, there would be no need to use pesticides, thus reducing pollution. Therefore, i do not see a reason for genetically modified food to be banned.
Ong Jia Yong 4E1
I feel that people should be more open to genetically modified foods as we are now moving on to a new era, whereby our world is governed by science and logic. Advancement in technology has granted us the ability to modify our foods, making them more sustainable, creating a more efficient and healthier lifestyle. Based on the fact that genetically modified foods can last longer, this would surely aid in lowering food prices as their shelf lives would be extended. Also, genetically modified foods are more pest resistant, drought resistant and they basically can withstand a lot of harsh treatment that their former un-modified foods cannot handle. The modification would definitely save us a load of money as we do not need to waste money on harmful pesticides and weedkillers, nor do we need to worry should there be a drought for such genetically modified foods are able to withstand it. Moving on, there has been speculation about genetically modified foods being harmful. This is merely an assumption the fact that people have been eating genetically modified foods since the 1980s and there has been no cases of severe illness or fatality due to the consumption of genetically modified food. Genetically modified food will revolutionize the world, the fact that global warming is changing our climate and if the plants cant adapt to such changes, we would not be able to survive. That is where genetically modified foods come in and save us. :B
I liekkz GM food :D - Amadeus Chia 4e1
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Oh and genetically modified foods are 100% safe, and no animals are harmed during the process .Just sayin' for all those PETA supporters. Also, humans have already partially destroyed nature by building roads and and cities over forests. Genetically modified crops that grow twice as fast as their predecessors are the solution to that. We aren't tampering with nature for if we were, the genes would not even be co operate and form such amazing food.:P
ALL FOR GM FOOD! :D It's already in your meals and on your plates, eat them, don't waste food. >:D
I feel that genetically modified food should be banned. This is because the GM food do not provide much benefits to farmers or consumers, instead there are many problems being indentified. For example, yield drag, increased herbicide use, erratic performance, and poor economic returns to farmers. GM crops also intensify corporate monopoly on food, which is driving family farmers to destitution, and preventing the essential shift to sustainable agriculture that can guarantee food security and health around the world. One example of health problem is that many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals.
-AmosChoy
i agree to a certain extend that GM food should be banned. first of all GM food may cause a lots of problem to animals, plants and even HUMAN. if we harm others by having food for ourselves,i think i will be very guilty. i must say that GM food has done a good job by solving the food shortage but GM food may affect the whole food chain.GM food was more resistent to weeds, fungi, bateria, virus and insect.however without these fungi and insect it will affect the food chain such that animals that feed on these organisms would decrease in poulation as there is insufficient food for them. this will later cause the loss of biomass and biodiversity.i had also heard that by eating GM food, there are pheomeon such as change of gene of human and even make us more prone to cancer. althought farmer can have a better life but will they live peacefully by earning ''black money''? if there is cross pollination between the weeds with the GM crops, stronger herbicide might be needed.AT the end of the day they will just be more and more problem caused by it.
-fabian
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GM Food Crops should not be banned. Although there are benefits and threats of the GM Food Crops, i believe that the benefits of GM Food Crops outweigh the threats that GM Food Crops bring about.
The introduction of GM Food Crops have benefitted the community of the poor and less developed. With a larger yield and productivity of the food crops, it can be sold at a lower price. Therefore, the lower and middle income people are able to afford for food and thus, achieve food security.
Another benefit of GM Food Crops is that it enables farmers to grow foods in different climate conditions. As a result, growing of a particular food crop is not limited to a particular region in the world.
As we all know, the over usage of fertilisers and herbicides can prove to be harmful to our enviroment. However, some GM Food Crops requires lesser usage of fertilisers and herbicides. Thus, reducing the potential of harming the enviroment.
In conclusion, I feel that GM Food Crops should not be banned.
I feel that Genetically Modified Food should not be banned as they require a shorter period of time to grow. This increases food production as well as income of the farmers. They also include more nutritions as they contain adequete amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. With more nutritious food supplied for the growing food demand of the global population, it solves many of the world's hunger and malnutrition problems. Being pest resistant, it eliminates the application of chemical pesticides and increase the profit earned. Its herbicide tolerant benefit the farmers as it reduces production cost and limits the danger of agricultural waste run-off. Thus Genetically Modified Foods help to protect and preserve the environment by increasing yield and reducing reliance upon chemical pesticides and herbicides. However, it might be argued that Genetically Modified Foods carry unpredictable toxins and causes unintended harm to crop-damaging pests. They also increase the risks of allergenic reactions. Little do they know that safety measures are taken to reduce unintended harm to human health and the environemnt. For instance, safety testing, regulation, international policies and food labelling. After evaluating the effects, I am for Genetically Modified food crops and I believe that we should be enthusiastic and continue investing in this powerful technology.
The below is my view about whether GM food crops should be banned. Personally, I think that GM food should not be banned. It helped to lessen the burden of the organisations who are doing so much to ensure that the increasing world population have adequate amount of food to consume. By using GM food, the percentage and number of people in the world who are suffering from starvation and malnutrition would be greatly reduced. From my research, GM food is pest resistance, herbicide tolerance, disease resistance, drought tolerance and also salinity tolerance. It would help in the producing of GM food at a shorter growing period of time. Therefore, using GM food, it would help in the productivity of food for the population. I have also researched the GM food have its threat concern on the human health. It is unpredictable and research has not confirm the effects yet. So in overall, consuming GM food is still healthy and wise. Also, one also said that GM food does not benefit the people as it only benefit large cooperation who sells them. The vegetables are modified to look better and be larger; however, it does not add to the taste or freshness of nutrition of the food. Therefore, I still think that consuming GM food is a wise way to ensure that the growing world population have sufficient amount of food to eat.
In my opinion, I think that GM food should be banned because messing with genes is morally wrong and it will result in the destruction of the natural world. By creating a GM food crop, the pest-resistant crops will result in the loss of biodiversity as they might kill other insects which were not meant to be killed such as the Monarch butterfly. This would affect the aimals further up in the food chain as they might lose their source of food, resulting in the other animals also becoming extinct.
Cross pollination with other unwanted plants such as weeds might result in the weeds becoming resistant to the herbicides used.
I am against GM Food crops. While GM food crops allow more crops to grow due to certain genes in it which allow it to be resistant to insects. This crops have genes which and pest resistance. This allow the farmers to grow more crops to help supply the world with adequete food and it helps maximise the farmers profit. GM food also do not require the use of chemical insectides which may lead to adverse effect on the environment which might be wash into nearby waterbodies when it rain. Also GM food are able to tolerate harsher climates. Antifreeze gene from cold water fish has been introduced to plant such as tabacco and potato. This makes the crops able to tolerate cold temperature that would normally kill the them and tolerate dry conditions and are able to grow in places with dry conditions.
However i feel that the threat of GM food far outweight the benefits of it. GM crops might cross pollinate and result in weeds being herbicide resistant. This "super weeds" will be impossible to destroy as the genes will be transfer from generation to generation. GM foods might affect the environment. Research has shown that monarch butterflys larvae which consume milkweed plants that are contaminated by the pollon of B.t corn a GM crop.Also GM food might cause new type of allergies that might cause unexpected allergic reactions to childrens. Therefore i feel that GM food brings more threat compared to its benefit as it might lead to irrevisible damage to our enviornment and our food supply as this crops cannot be recalled and will be transfered from generation to generation
I think GM food should not be banned. It is actually a wonderful invention. Although it brings negative impacts like the unintended harm to other organisms, affect human health like allergies and reduced effectiveness of pesticides and herbicides, it actually bring more good to us, humans.
Firstly, these GM food crops are pest-resistant and this means that there is no need for the use of pesticide and this saves the production cost. It is also herbicide resistant so how much herbicide used to kill of the weeds, the crops will not be affected. It is also resistant to diseases and cold conditions. This increases the productivity of this crop as it will not die so easily. Despite the lack of water during droughts, the crops are able to grow.
Overall, it helps to minimise loss and maximise profit.
Some examples of such crops are soy beans and corn which takes up 82% of the total GM crop harvested in 2000.
Furthermore, GM foods are cheaper than non-GM food as it is usually mass produced and it requires much lesser effort to produce it as compared to the non-GM food. This is necessary as in the rural parts of LDCs, the people are living in poverty and they can't afford normal food. With GM food, which is cheaper, they can buy it and fill their stomachs. Hence, it benefits these people. It continues to feed the population and also compete in global market.
One might argue that manufacturing GM food is costly and lengthy but the benefits that come along with it is worth it.
With so many benefits, I don't see why GM food should be banned. It is very much necessary!
GM food crops should be banned. I do not quite agree to this statement. In fact, I support the idea of having GM food.
Though it is true that GM food may bring harm to human, such GM foods have only been tested on lab rats....yes, it is true that they may have unknown effects on the human body, but we cannot give up GM food and totally depend on rearing livestocks and growing normal crops when GM foods are proved to have positive effects like shorter growing period, bigger in size, high nutritional contents.. We shouldn't give up on GM food, no, not in the current state of the world when people are starving, and increased rearing of cattles would only result in more methane released into the air and expansion of crop fields when the world population is increasing this drastically.
With the introduction of GM food, less stress would be on the natural rearing of cattles, livestocks, and crops demand. As a result, with more supply, prices would also drop, and thus impacting the world population positively.
Another concern for bringing in GM food into the market is that it is a lengthy and costly prcoess, with many number of experiments and researchs needed and funds needed, and finally have it approved by the country's Food Development Authority, for example, before it can be sold.
To sum up, GM food crops and animals brings about more positive impacts to human population, and with care, the natural enviroment would not be damaged in the process of producing GM food. However, there is still a point to note : That GM food has and unknown effect on the human body, and that the effects could be only be surfaced, probably in years to come, if there are any to begin with.
I agree that GM food crops should be banned. Although the introduction of GM food crops was to increase food production due to higher demand of food from the high population growth around the world, it have subconsciously affected our lifestyle.
GM food crops have been released throughout our environment and deployed with superficial or no risk assessments. The industrial production of GM food crops is economically and environmentally unsustainable. The heavy use of petroleum-based chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides on the GM food crop may not be safe for consumption. This is because there are no regulated health safety testing of the food. According to FDA, they makes no review of tests of new GM products unless voluntarily requested by the company producing the product.
Moreover,consumers are not aware of what processes,chemicals and injections have been used on the food in the production of GM food crops.
GM food crops may not have any side effects on the human body for the time being butn the side effects of GM food may gradually developed in the long run.
I do not agree that GM food crops should be banned as the current world population of 6 billion is expected to rise to 10billion in 2100 and there might be severe food shortage around the world. Despite its disadvantages of unknown health problems to humans, its harm to other organism, its reduced efficiency of pesticides, it is necessary for GM food crops to be not banned.
Firstly, GM food are pest resistance and lesser pesticides and herbicides is needed to protect the food crops as many people do not want to consume food that has been overly treated with chemically pesticides annually because of the potential health hazards, and run-off agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can result in nitrate poisoning of rivers and eutrophication of water as a result of the agricultural run-off.
Secondly, it is Disease resistance to many viruses, fungi and bacteria that may cause the plant to die. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases.
Also, Gm food crops are cold tolerance as of the artic and antartic areas where its hard to grow food crops, these GM food crops can survive better compared to the none Gm food crops. Unexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish are introduced into plants like tobacco and potato and are able to tolerate col temperature that normally would kill unmodified seedlings. With the Gm food crops, farmers could earn a living even in extreme cold climate.
GM food crops are also drought tolerant and salinity tolerance as they can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places.
Lastly, the nutrition that a GM food crops has reduced the amount of fertilizers needed to sustain the nutrition level of the soil most optimum for the growth of crops and the farmers could reduce the money needed for more fertilizers to grow more food crops and sustain the ever growing population in the world. The rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional nutrients and vitamins to prevent malnutritiona dn provide more nutrient to consumers when the food crops are being consumed.
I agree with Guang Wei that the growing of GM food products are important for our future generations as it will be out future generation facing the food massive incline in world population where supply can hardly meet demands and more food and faster and frequent harvesting of crops are essentials for the continuation of life.
JunKai (4E4)
There have been lots of debate over genetically modified food (GM food) should be allowed or not. In my opinion, I think that GM food should be allowed as its advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
Firstly, GM food will feed a lot of people suffering from starvation, especially when the world’s population is rising rapidly. It can potentially save lots of lives and more varieties of food can be invented. Secondly, farmers are able to earn more money than before as crops will not be destroyed by pests and diseases easily. Besides that, farmers will spend less on pesticides and herbicides as the crops are already resistant. The farmer no longer has to use insecticide to kill insects, so the surrounding environment is no longer exposed to large amounts of harmful insecticide. Thus, they can spend lesser money on such items. More food will be produced and farmers can export those crops and have a higher standard of living. Thirdly, some GM food, such as the golden rice, has proven to be more nutritious and it can provide more nutrients to people who need it such as the people in Africa.
Although people will say that GM food will pose a health threat to humans, researches have shown that no one has died from the consumption of GM food and that GM food is very safe. Moreover, I am sure that scientists will do enough experiments to ensure that the crops are absolutely safe before selling it. However, I think that supermarkets should state whether the food is genetically modified or not. Thus, for people who do not accept GM food, they can choose not to buy them.
I disagree that GM food should be banned. It is created to assist our food production. If it's banned, it will be affecting our food available in the world. GM food can bring about more income for the farmers. GM food bring many benefits to the farmers as it lowers pesticide usage and thus bring about high yield for the farmers. They do not have to buy pesticides to protect their crops as these GM food already by itself can eliminate the presence of pesticides. The farmers do not have to spend money on buying pesticides but instead they can earn more as these GM food bring more production. GM food gave the developing world more hope. Those who are suffering in poverty will have more and better food for consumption as these GM food have higher nutritional level. People will be brought out of poverty because situations such as malnutrition, starvation, death (life expectancy) will be reduced. If it is said that GM food can bring about potential health risk, what for create GM food? I am sure that the scientists will do more research and experiment to improve the GM food since it benefits the the nation largely. To date, not a single instance of harm to human health has been documented with GM crops. This shows that GM food is fairly safe for consumption. Since it benefits, it should continue to be consumed in the society.
I disagree that GM food crops should be banned. Even though there are threats producing GM food crops, I believe that GM food crops benefit more compared to its threats. The term GM foods refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. Thus, reducing the maturation time of the food crop.
Besides that, GM food crops also save the use of toxic as they are created to be pests’ resistance. This is better for the environment as too much pesticides used are harmful cause pollutions.
Furthermore, GM food can solve the problem of hunger. This is because, GM foods increase the yields of crops and more food is produced by farmers. When food production is high, there will be enough food for people throughout the world. Hence, they do not need to worry about not having enough food.
GM food crops also enhanced the taste and quality of the food, and thus, with the benefits listed above, I disagree that GM food should be banned.
I feel that GM food crops should not be banned. It may be true that there might be a loss in biodiversity in crops. However, we can all agree on the fact that Genetically Modified food crops do help farmers to earn more money and also bring about many other benefits. With the growing world population and Globalisation going on, we all know that we would eventually face food shortages problems. With GM food crops, we can cut down the growing time of crops and increased the efficiency of farms and the food produced would be higher thus, enabling us to solve the current food crisis. In some 3rd world country such as south Africa, The climatic conditions limits them to grow crops, With GM food, This problems would be solved as GM food crops are able to grow under harsher conditions. The fact that malnutrition is occurring in Africa makes GM Food Crops even more important as they are able to provide more Nutrients and vitamins to the body. A good example would be “Golden Rice” which was given too many countries in Africa as these crops are able to grow well under the harsher conditions in Africa while providing them with more vitamins and nutrients from the food they eat usually.
With globalisation and urbanisation occurring in many parts of the world, forest and habitats are destroyed, thus it is not true that GM food crops are the main reason behind the loss in biodiversity when it was industrialization that really resulted in this phenomenon to occur. Also, GM Food Crops are either herbicides resistant or Pesticides or disease resistant, this would see the cost of food production to drop since farmers do not have to rely too much on buying Pesticides or herbicides and also reduce the people from fear of eating these poisonous substances.
GM food may be going against Nature, But it does seems to be a good solution on solving the current global food crisis. Tough it may be abusing the countless species and organisms, But is does not mean that we are bringing in ethnic values. Also, GM food crops may led to a loss in biodiversity due to the affected food chain, but with the growing globalization and industrialization in many parts of the world. Deforestation and destroying of habitats are occurring all around the world, Thus, how can GM food crops be blamed for the loss in biodiversity in nature when We humans are already destroying our environment which also affect the biodiversity.
In summary, GM food brings about many benefits such as solving the current global food crisis which we are currently facing and also cut down on the cost of farming which would see more money spend on growing of food and also brings about higher production of food. Tough some people argue that GM Food crops brings about harm, their arguments are mostly problems which are not entirely brought by GM Food crops. Thus, GM food crops should not be banned.
Nick Peh Cun jue (32)
4E4
Genetically Modified food crops should not be banned as I believe that it provides more benefits as it increases food supply around the world which results in the decrease in food prices, making food more affordable in most LDCs, such as Sub-Sahara, Africa and Cambodia. This reduces the problems of malnutrition and starvation that many LCDs are facing. Also, genetically modified food eliminated the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market. Thus, increasing the incomes for farmers as their crops are more resistant to pests and are able to stay fresh for a longer period of time. At the same time, when the use of chemical pesticides are reduced, pollutions to the environment will also be reduced. On the whole, although there are also threats of genetically modified food crops, the advantages of GM food outwit them.
I am supportive of GM food and I will be stating a few benefits of GM foods.
The world's population have been constantly increasing. Although there is already a world population of 6.8 billion, the number is estimated to rise to 9.4 billion in 2050. With the world's growing population, ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways:
Pest resistant crops help to eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the costs of growing crops. Before the development of GM food, crops losses from insects result in financial loss and starvation in developing countries, famers uses tons of pesticides to protect their crops from insects. Consumers usually would not want to eat food that has been treated with pesticides due to the potential health hazards resulting in a loss of profits for the farmers. Also, run-off of agricultural wastes from the excessive use of pesticides can poison water supply and harm the environment.
Farmers often spray large quantity of herbicides to destroy weeds. Is a time-consuming and expensive process as is requires care to prevent the herbicide from harming the crops plants or the environment. Crop plants that are genetically modified can be very resistant to herbicides. It also reduces the amount of herbicides needed as only one application of of weed-killer is needed which helps to prevent environmental damage as run-off is being minimised.
As more land in the world is being used for developmental purposes, crops may need to be grown on land that was previously unsuitable. GM food crops are able to withstand long periods of droughts or in soil with high salt content. As a result, it can increase the total amount of food production as food can now be grown in lands that were previously inhospitable.
Although some may say that GM foods have unknown effects on the human health, I feel that if there really were unknown effects on the human health, People would already been affected by the effects the first time GM foods were introduced. However, up till now, there were no known cases of GM food having negative effects on the human body so I feel that this worry is unnecessary.
In conclusion, I am for GM food crops as I feel that it is the most effective way to supply the growing population with an adequate amount of food supply which is one of the major challenges in the world.
In my opinion, GM food crops should not be banned.
Nearly a billion people go hungry everyday, therefore, GM food is introduced to help these people. Because of GM food, lesser people are starving. What is going to happen to these people if GM food is banned? There will be insufficiet food supply to feed the growing population of the world.
GM food also has alot of advantages. For example, it is pest resistant. As pests destroy crops, pest resistant crops enable farmers to earn more as they can sell better quality crops in large quantity. Besides that, pest resistant crops also elliminates the use of pesticides. This not only reduce cost, it also protects the environent.
GM food are also tolerrent to different weather conditions, for example, drought. Food can still be produced in such dry conditions, when it is impossible previously.
Some GM food crops are also made to be more nutritious than normal food crops. This benefits people since they are consuming more nutritious food.
Though there are several threats of GM food crops, I still think GM food should not be banned. This is because GM food will not be on sale all around the world if it is really unsafe. The government of various contries would not want their people to suffer. If GM food can be widely sold today, I am sure it has minimal disadvantage and is safe for consumption.
Therefore GM food should not be banned.
Jeffery Fern
4E4
In my own opinion, I do feel that genetic modified food should not be banned, but continue to delve into more laboratory researches and development into this area.
These geneticist no doubt have no foolproof way to control what things may turn out to be, therefore these unpredictable results led to numerous trials and experimentataions, to make the best out what we humans, can get from modifying food genes for the greater good for mankind.
It may be not right to inferfere with the everchanging nature and abuse the countless species of organisms. However, this does not mean that ethical values comes to place. Human genetic engineering have been around for even centuries. Moreover the renaissance period whereby early europeans have began simple anatomies and research on vaccines and medicine that help illnesses and sickness. Since human genetic engineering have been around in medical fields, why not food genetic engineering?
It is a grace that human minds are complex and are able to produce such manuplations in genes, leading to greater depth in understanding of our world. As such genetic modified good crops should be continued to work on better revision and not leaving it to be recumbent.
Though many scientists go against the Genetic Modified Food in recent years and countries like Sri Lanka have banned the use of GM food due to unknown long terms effect on humans and the ecosystems. In my opinion, I think that GM food should not be banned.
GM food can save the cost spend by the farmers as using GM food like insecticide sweet corn it can reduce the amount of money spend on using insecticide and could prevent the surrounding from exposing to large amount of harmful insecticide. Farmers can therefore earn more money as money spends on pesticides and herbicides are diverted to the growing of larger crop. Farmer can grow larger crop and meet the rising demand of food prior to the rising population in the world. GM food can last longer and result in less food wasted. GM foods such as golden rice have proven to be nutritious and could help those people who lack of it in the lesser developed countries.
Overtime, GM food has proven to be safe although reports shown that it bring harm to humans and environments. Moreover, I am sure that scientists will do enough experiments to ensure that the crops are absolutely safe before selling it.
With referrence to Douglas's comment, I agree that GM food can cause disturbance in the natural food chain. With the food chain disrupted, the natural enviroment would be affected, both further up the chains, and lower down the chains.
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