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Biology essay!
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! ! ! After reviewing more than 600 scientic journals, biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava concluded that genetically modied organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans. GMOs have came into existence in the human lifestyle, especially in these past 10 years. Having knowledge about the pros and cons of GMOs is important as they are now a part of our everyday lifestyles and have a great e"ect on us. However, not too many people have too great a knowledge about GMOs since they have just really been put into use these past 10 years. Therefore, it hasn't really been covered in schools at all. Americans should have more knowledge about GM foods and the relation they have to the increasingly deteriorating health of Americans.! ! First o", GMOs are most commonly gestured to as plant crops that have been changed by the latest molecular biology techniques to address a need that the crop could not originally o"er. For example, a crop could be genetically enhanced in a laboratory to increase the strength that the crop has against herbicides so it doesn't die as easily. However, there is a relation between GM foods and adverse health e"ects. Before all the adverse health a"ects and before genetically modifying an organism to enhance one of its traits, this process was achieved through traditional breeding. So why have scientists not adhered to that traditional breeding? Well, conventional plant-breeding methods are very time consuming, and they were often not real accurate with their results. On the ip side, genetic engineering can produce plants with the enhanced trait that is needed with quickness and great accuracy.! ! The biggest problem with GM foods, as I have addressed already, is the scary health risks that sometimes come along with it. The studies that have been done on animals are very alarming. When GM soy was fed to female rats, most of their babies died within three weekscompared to a 10% death rate among the control group fed natural soy.The GM-fed

babies were also smaller and later had problems getting pregnant.[1] If this pattern continues through humans, we will have have a signicant problem if our ability to reproduce is taken away. Out of the population, children are the most likely to be a"ected by the negative health e"ects GM foods bring. According to biologist, David Schubert, of the Salk Institute, "Children are the most likely to be adversely a"ected by toxins and other dietary problems" related to GM foods. He says without adequate studies the children become "the experimental animals."! ! GM foods have rapidly become a part of the human lifestyle. The chart below shows the huge increase of the use of genetically-modied soybeans, cotton, and corn in the U.S from 1996 to 2010.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Genetically-modied foods have run into Americans' lifestyle so quickly and widespread across the nation. One of the biggest attractions to using GM foods is the pesticide protection. In many countries farmers' crops are being taken down and eaten by bugs and pesticides, creating a huge nancial loss. Pesticides can be used to kill these bugs, but no consumer wants to eat a crop sprayed with pesticides as it could obviously poison them. GM foods x this by creating a gene that makes it poisonous and

deadly to a specic bug that tries to destroy the crop. Another bonus that attracts farmers to GMOs is the ability to add a certain nutrient into the plant that impoverished people in that country usually wouldn't be able to get because they rely on one crop. For example, in China, rice is a very common crop eaten by people in poverty, but it lacks vitamin A, causing blindness and malnourishment to many people. Researchers have found a way to add beta-carotene (vitamin A) into the rice to combat this blindness. Mastering this could tremendously help impoverished people in Third World countries all over the world.! ! So are GM foods benecial to the human population? In the end, it is up to you if you are willing to risk some health problems that come along with these GMOs in exchange for the enormous nancial and revolutionary benets they do have to o"er. GM foods are starting to play a huge role in our lifestyles, and it is time for people to become educated about them so they can make the best decision possible for themselves about whether GMOs are benecial for them or not.