Genetically modified food crops have been at the center of one of
the most important controversies of the 21st century. As the
population continues to increase, with 80 million people being added to the
population each year, the need for food increases as well. The technique to
produce GMOs has been discovered when searching for a way to grow more
resilient crops and faster, in order to feed this increasing population. Still,
this genetic engineering of food crops created a strong debate due to the lack
of knowledge on the possible consequences that could come from using such a
technique [1]. The major issue with GMOs that worry the public is human health,
because of the possibility of creating stronger antibiotic resistance,
allergies, nutritional changes as well as formation of toxins. In fact, there
have already been reports of allergy increases, such as soya allergies in the
US and UK in the past decade [2]. As the populations grows weary of food
security and food regulators, it has pushed for the labelling of GMO products
[3]. Over 60 countries have already implemented mandatory laws for the
labelling of these products and many campaigns push towards this implementation
in some of the remaining countries [4]. GMOs could have very negative environmental
impacts as well, mostly on the surrounding ecosystems of the receiving
environment. Some non-target species could go extinct in the region due to lack
of prey or increase in competition. Soil microbial populations would be
impacted since they regulate essential elements in the soil. And contamination
to neighboring plants or fields due to pollination or through microbial
transfer would also be an issue [5].
Although a large portion of the public still has doubts about GMOs,
many people believe GMOs to be the best solution to future food shortages.
These people have realized that humans have been farming and using plant breeding
for a long time and that these were already techniques used to select genes and
modify crops. These old methods are what created the staple foods that are
known today, such as corn, rice and wheat. The use of plant breeding helped feed
a human population that grew from a few hundred millions to a few billions [6].
However, as most of the space that is able to grow food is already in use, it
seems plant breeding has reached its full capacity and a new solution to the
problem is needed. In response to the debate on the unnatural aspect of GMOs,
Bill Nye said in an interview for NowThis Future [7]:
‘Farming is not natural. If
you stop putting energy into a farm, it will turn back into a prairie, or a
forest, or a meadow, or whatever it used to be. […] Now humankind moves more
rock and soil than nature does. More than erosion. […] So we are in charge of
this planet.’
The concerns surrounding GMOs are substantiated, but the population
is not going to stop growing so there needs to be a solution and fast since
people are going to want to eat. The controversies on GMOs mostly revolves
around the fact that it is a technique that would permanently alter the genetic
makeup of plants. Therefore, companies like Monsanto have started developing
sprays, or ‘genetic sprays’, that could penetrate plant cells and temporarily
modify their genomes [8]. This would appear to be the best possible alternative
to GMOs since they have been so intensely criticized and therefore haven’t been
used like it was anticipated.
References
[1] Bawa, A. S.;
Anilakumar K. R., Genetically Modified Foods: safety, risks, and public
concerns – a review (2012) National
Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3791249/
[2] Maghan, B.;
Ardekani A. Genetically Modified Foods
and Social Concerns (2011) National
Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3558185/
[3] Loureiro, M.,
GMO Food Labelling in the EU: Tracing ‘the Seeds of Dispute’ (2003) Wiley Online Library. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1746-692X.2003.tb00038.x/full
[4] Labelling
(2017) Canadian Biotechnology Action
Network. Retrieved from https://cban.ca/gmos/issues/labeling/
[5] FAO
Information Division, Genetically Modified Organisms, Consumers, Food Safety
and the Environment (2001) Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x9602e/x9602e07.htm
[6] Brown, N.;
Fedoroff, N., Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist’s View of Genetically Modified
Foods (2004) National Academy Press
(Trade)
[7] NowThis
Future, Bill Nye Takes On: GMOs (2017) Facebook.
Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/NowThisFuture/videos/1798579510183221/
[8] Regalado, A., The Next Great GMO Debate
(2015) MIT Technology Review
