Genetically Modified Crops in the UK - Essay Example

?Should GM (Genetically modified) crops be allowed in the UK Introduction The continuous increase of global population has led scientists to search for methods that could help to the increase of agricultural production – aiming to respond to the increased needs for food in countries internationally. The development of genetically modified crops has been considered an effective method for facing the above problem. Initially, the benefits of genetically modified crops (GM) were thought to be extensive; however, through the years – and the development of research in the particular field – it was revealed that GM crops have a series of disadvantages. The research on the existing literature and the reports focusing on the particular subject led to the conclusion that the disadvantages of GM crops are more than their advantages – at such level that the use of these crops for covering the daily needs in food to be questioned. The potential effects of the expansion of such crops should be further examined; alternative practices for increasing the food stock worldwide would be necessary. 2. Genetically Modified crops – advantages and disadvantages The role of GM crops as part of food chain worldwide need to be carefully reviewed – taking into consideration the relationship between food and health; also, in terms of the environment, the potential implications of GM crops should be explored. The existence of strong oppositions regarding the expansion of GM crops leads to the assumption that the intervention of biology in food production has not been as successful as believed by the GM crops initiators. A fact that further increase the worries regarding the development of GM crops is the lack of effective rules for their regulation – as explained below. In order to understand the implications of GM crops for health, the environment and the law it would be necessary to refer primarily to the context of the specific technology: ‘GM is a special set of technologies that alter the genetic makeup of organisms such as animals, plants, or bacteria’ (Human Genome Project 2008). The development of this technology in the agricultural sector has been quite rapid; in accordance with a relevant report ‘in 2006, 252 million acres of transgenic crops were planted in 22 countries by 10.3 million farmers’ (Human Genome Project 2008). The advantages and disadvantages of GM crops are analytically presented in the sections that follow; reference is made to the effects of GM crops on three specific sectors: health, environment and law. 2.1 Genetically Modified crops and health The main reason for the development of GM crops has been the increased need for food in countries worldwide; the crops of this type are able to offer a high level of production – compared to the conventional crops – a fact that is considered as their main advantage. Another characteristics of the GM crops – in terms of health – is their ability to be altered – enriched with vitamins and other valuable nutritional elements – leading to the increased benefits for health (McKie 2011). An indicative example is the ‘golden rice’ (see Figure 1, Appendix) which has been considered as an important means for offering to the population of poor countries food enriched in Vitamin A – increasing their strength towards diseases which are caused by the lack of the specific Vitamin. In fact, the research on the effects of poor nutrition – in terms of nutritional elements – on human health has proved that food which is poor in certain vitamins can cause severe problems of health (Bionet, 2002); in poor countries, a direct relationship of lack of vitamins and blindness has been proved; this problem has been addressed using the golden rice which is enriched with Vitamin A (Bionet, 2002). However, GM food can also hide severe risks for human health; in fact, it is noted that the exact consequences of GM food on human health have not been precisely identified (Human Genome Project, 2008); however, effects like ‘allergens and transfer of antibiotic resistance markers’ (Human Genome Project 2008) cannot be excluded. 2.2 Genetically Modified crops and environment Despite the limitation of fertilizers worldwide – as a result of the expansion of GM crops, there are certain facts that cannot be denied: through the use of GM crops the dependency of consumers on specific companies has been increased. In fact, since the introduction of GM crops ‘the right of farmers to grow plant-seeds’ (Bionet, 2002) has been gradually limited; if current practices in agricultural production worldwide will be continued for a long, it is possible that the above right of farmers to be fully eliminated – leading to the differentiation of the relationship between the environment and humans; the latter have been traditionally based on land for the production of their food; the production of food in laboratories instead of the fields would result to a radical transformation of the position of human within his environment. Moreover, the GM crops can ‘harm creatures in the natural environment’ (Sakko 2002); a relevant example is mentioned in the report of Sakko (2002) where reference is made to ‘Skylark, a native farm bird (Britain), which was indirectly affected by the introduction of GM sugar beets designed to resist herbicides’ (Sakko 2002). From another point of view, the increase of GM crops can hide another risk: by making extensive use of specific pieces of land for the production of extremely high amounts of food – referring to the current form of GM crops – a permanent damage can be caused to the environment: the fields lose their nutritional elements not being able to replace them within quite short period. In the long term, fields will not be cultivable (Green Facts 2005). Of course, different opinions have been also developed; in accordance with a relevant report, GM crops do not cause seed depletion (Black 2004). On the other hand, it has been proved that by using genes for the alteration of existing types of plants, the initial forms of plants will be gradually lost; the traditional form and taste of food will be eliminated and it is not guaranteed that the food based on GM crops will have the qualities expected by researchers involved in the relevant projects (Green Facts 2005). Also, there have been complaints from farmers in USA that GM crops can ‘contaminate conventional seed crops’ (Kaizer 2010) – threatening the traditional methods of farming. On the other hand, even those USA farmers who have been involved in the development of GM crops admit that in the long term these crops may ‘lose their effectiveness’ (Science Daily 2010). 2.3 Genetically Modified crops and legislation Since the introduction of GM crops, the control over the agricultural production worldwide has been made easier; the performance of crops in countries worldwide has been recorded – or at least the use of such practices has been increased making the identification of potential violations of the relevant laws easier. However, the increase of GM crops internationally has set a number of challenges: a) the intervention in the intrinsic elements of plants often passes the limits; the violation of ethics is a common result in such projects, b) the phenomenon of so-called ‘biopiracy’ - i.e. of ‘the foreign exploitation of natural resources’ (Human Genome Project, 2008) – has been expanded and c) people living in the poor country lose their independency in terms of food production (Bionet, 2002) – having to follow the guidelines of the companies that are involved in GM crops; the freedom in the use of the national territory for the food needs of the local population is strongly violated (Bionet, 2002). 3. Conclusion The examination of the advantages and disadvantages of genetically modified crops has led to a series of important findings: a) the existing legislation for the particular type of crops is not adequate; in fact, the rules referring to the specific activity do not cover all aspects of GM – rather, they seem to ignore the effects of GM on health and the environment; moreover, no critical efforts have been identified regarding the update and the improvement of existing legislation focusing on GM; therefore, the gap regarding the regulation of GM crops is expected to exist for quite long, b) in terms of their environmental effects, GM crops have not met the targets set by their initiators; despite the fact that GM crops have led to more effective use of land – referring to the increase of agricultural production – and the limitation of fertilizers, still their negative effects on the environment – as analyzed above – cannot be ignored, c) also, for health, GM crops seem to hide severe risks; apart from the issues discussed above – referring to the implications of GM food for health - the precise effects of the long – term consumption of GM food are still under examination. In the above context, the potential benefits of GM crops such as ‘disease resistance, herbicide tolerance and cold/ drought tolerance’ (Whitman 2000) are actually of no particular value. For the above reasons, it is suggested that the terms under which GM crops are developed worldwide are reviewed; efforts should be made in order for alternative plans of action – responding to the increased needs for food globally – to be introduced. Meanwhile, the standards of GM food in all countries should be updated increasing the protection provided to consumers internationally. References Bionet, 2002, Future Food, available from http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/ff_cont3.htm [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Black, R., 2004, Study finds benefits in GM crops, available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4046427.stm [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Green Facts, 2005, Scientific Facts on Genetically Modified Crops, available from http://www.greenfacts.org/en/gmo/index.htm [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Human Genome Project, November 2008, Genetically Modified Foods and Organisms, available from http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/gmfood.shtml [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Kaiser, T., October 2010, U.S. Farmers Realize Disadvantages of Genetically Engineered Seed, available from http://www.dailytech.com/US+Farmers+Realize+Disadvantages+of+Genetically+Engineered+Seed/article19802.htm [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] McKie, R., 23 January 2011, Genetically modified crops are the key to human survival, says UK's chief scientist, available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/23/gm-foods-world-population-crisis [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Peterson, G., Cunningham, S., Deutch, L., 2000, The Risks and Benefits of Genetically Modified Crops: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, available from http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol4/iss1/art13/ [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Sakko, K., May 2002, The Debate Over Genetically Modified Foods, available from http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/sakko.html [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Science Daily, April 2010, Genetically Engineered Crops Benefit Many Farmers, but the Technology Needs Proper Management to Remain Effective, Report Suggests, available from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100413112058.htm [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Uppangala, N., June 2010, Genetically Modified Foods – Advantages and Disadvantages, available from http://www.biotecharticles.com/Agriculture-Article/Genetically-Modified-Food-Advantages-and-Disadvantages-176.html [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Whitman, D., April 2000, Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful? Available from http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php [Last accessed on 25/01/2011] Appendix Figure 1 – Elements of a common form of genetically modified crops, known as ‘golden rice’ – i.e. rice enriched with Vitamin – A (Source: http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/ff_cont3.htm) Read More