Dangers of Genetically Altered Foods - Essay Example

Dangers of Genetically Altered Foods This paper is based on the article en d “Genetically Modified Foods” and ascertains whether people should alter food’s genetics in order to make them disease-resistant and improve production to feed the hungry. According to the studies carried out by Arpad Pusztai, a Scottish researcher at the Rowett Research Institute located in Aberdeen, the processes of altering the genetics of food causes damage to a mammal’s digestive and immune systems. In his studies, the researcher discovered that when rats were fed with transgenic potatoes they suffered from organ damage, poor development of their brains and their small intestines thickened.

However, the studies revealed that it was not the added lectin that was responsible for these side effects, but the engineering process itself. This is because a control group that was fed with potatoes containing the substance was not affected as they had not undergone the genetic modification processes (Pusztai, p.1). According to the researcher’s studies, food genetics should therefore not be altered for the purpose of making them disease-resistant or improving production to feed the hungry people since the process may bring adverse effects on humans.

Regulation and testing of the process of modifying foods genetically has inefficiently been carried out in the past with interventions coming from various interested parties. For instance, in order to quell the public furor that was caused by the researcher’s studies, Philip James, a director at Rowett Institute, fired Pusztai because he had been influenced to take the action by a biotech firm located in the U.S. through a $224,000 grant they had received (Pusztai, p.2). In the U.S., their administration on food along with drugs has slowly drifted away from their regulation that food companies within the country should ensure the safety of their products before releasing them to the consumers.

The foods are currently being introduced in a stealthy and quiet manner according to reports despite the public’s lack of comprehension concerning the risks that are posed by these foods. It is only due to the criticism that these foods have received across the nation and on the international arena that the American regulators are now thinking of creating new regulations to govern their manufacture (Pusztai, p.3). The production of genetically modified foods should not be advocated since they have many disadvantages that they come with.

This is mainly because the engineering may bring imprecise technologies, different side effects, and crop failure along with threatening the population’s food supply. According to previous studies, imprecise technologies may interrupt the functioning of the other important genes that are found within a living organism thereby affecting their performances. The production of genetic foods should also be prohibited due to the different health hazards that may affect the population consuming them.

Toxins may come from these foods thereby causing allergic reactions because they do not go through any testing (Pusztai, p.2). The production of genetically modified foods may additionally bring about decreased nutritional values or resistant bacteria’s in the foods we consume. These harmful substances may lead to the death of many people due to the fact that they were untested before they were consumed. Finally, the production of genetic foods may bring about many environmental hazards that may interfere with our daily activities.

This damage may emanate from the increased utilization of herbicides and pesticides on the foods (Pusztai, p.3).Work CitedPusztai, Arpad. Dangers of Genetically Altered Foods, 2011. New York: AuthorHouse.