The Environmental Problem of Genetically Modified Organisms - Research Paper Example

Research paper on Environmental problem of"Generically Modified Organism"/then solution to fixing it. Thesis ment Societal awareness of harmfulimplications of GMOs needs to be more thorough basing upon research on impacts of opting for genetically modified organisms and food. Aimed at improving the crop cycles and yield, genetic engineering has given the food industry a new tool in the form of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). These GMOs are created using altered DNA structures and incorporated genomes that govern the hormonal and specific processes in the organism. The specific characters once expressed are magnified using mutation breeding which means crossing the natural strains and the mutated strains. The introduction of genetically modified organisms and food in the food industry has brought up new arguments against the use of genetic engineering solutions to modify organisms and food items. While the negativity erupts from various arguments that indicate towards harmful implications of using genetically modified food items, we cannot ignore the fact that information available today is incomplete. Societal knowledge of the implications of GMOs in ecological aspects is negligible while the societal implications of using genetically modified food are hardly investigated. In our study, we are going to check in which way we can make overall awareness around using GMOs more complete and what would be the best way to bring GMOs in daily life in modern day society. To add to the chagrin, most of us are unaware that the food thus created does not have healthy implications once digested inside the human body. Children are born with congenital diseases and are found to suffer from deadly diseases like cancer and diabetes for no apparent worldly reason. In our article we measure why this social awareness is lacking and how we can increase it. Also, the need to reduce GMO treated food consumption has been studied. II. Solutions from your sources When it comes to crops GMO�s have given plants the ability to withstand harsh conditions and pests. There is a modification that allows corn to create its on pesticide that targets specific insects that eat the corn. This allows producers of the crop to not purchase and spray pesticide all over their fields. The corn is usually saved but the residue the pesticide leaves runs off onto the river and other near by plants. By the year 2000, when transgenic corn plants that carried the Bacillus thuringiensis gene were created, everybody in the field of agricultural research were overjoyed. Corn plants which had high yields and better insect resistant capacities were created in large numbers and could be stored and transported with ease to distant locations. A lot of expectations rose as insect resistant crop plants were being created in labs and in monitored fields. Subsequent projects and studies have shown the positive and negative sides of going for such modified crops.. They say that along with resistance to bacteria, the crops have also reduced the populations of non-target species of insects and birds that infested the fields. Now this would not be considered as a great ecological achievement for mankind (Phillips, 2008, 213). The popularity of genetically modified yogurts in the market was noticed by mid 2000s and while many enjoyed the assurance of safety, there were people who complained of secondary effects after partaking the products. There were a host of people complaining about secondary impact of having yogurt production through genetically modified organisms. At the end of the day, awareness of these ecological impacts was zero in society, leading to lack of moral understanding of the new technology. According to Bill McKibben, moral understanding of hazards posed by overuse of science and technology in daily lives is an important indicator of how matured mankind is. In his own words, “So far it has been the ultimate, can’t get there from here problem, but the time has come to draw a road map-one that may help us deal with the handful of other issues on the list of real, world-shattering problems.”(McKibben, 666) While McKibben made this stupendous revelation in his study of global warming, the moral principles that he upholds in this statement are equally important for the field of using genetically modified organisms in the food industry. A key factor that allows the average man to understand the impacts of using genetically modified food is the attitude that one holds in understanding the modification and the impact of these crops and food products (PBS, 2001, 1). Studies have shown that the attitude of men and women in society who are being introduced to the new type of food is highly laid back. People trust science without bothering about the long term impacts of using its products. The trust is based on the scientific protocol of trying and testing hazardous impacts of a substance, and its compatibility in the human body before launching a process or food item. What is amiss is the understanding that even after the various scientific trial runs and tests, long term impacts of using the GMO in food industry. It has been seen that the attitude towards the ecological and societal impacts of using GMOs in food industry is half-ideal, since there is more reliance towards what the labs launching the food items say, and not the survey based customer or industry feedback. Thus, the main problem in enabling humans make the most of science is the lack of respect towards societal elements of knowledge and information, which is mainly comprised of customer feedback industry criticism and secondary modifying suggestions that may be required to fine tune a process that involves the lives of millions of people in the market who partake the food. A major hindrance in unearthing the impact of using such food in the society is the fact that genetically modified food items are scarcely available in the markets today. Other than selected providers in developed and developing countries, it is impossible to find high quality organic food items and GMOs in the market. At present, this cuts down the chances of average population getting to know more about the impacts of using the items, simply because they are still not familiar with it or the difference between the natural food items that they are eating and the genetically modified ones, because at the most they have only heard about them in the news and sales broadcasts, and not yet been able to try out the products. At such a rate, how do we go about spreading awareness about the use and impacts of using GMOs in the food industry? III Your solutions While little is known to the average human being regarding the long term impacts of using genetically modified organisms in food production, there is even littler available in the market to try out and watch results. Most of us in the society go by our individual experiences and although news releases and awareness advertorials may announce a product to be unsuitable for consumption, buyers still go for it since they want to tryout and check for the impacts. Therefore, according to me a four-fold approach is required in improving awareness of harmful impacts of using genetically modified organisms in the food industry. Let us start by realizing the source of what we buy. It means paying close attention to the seeds and garden plants we buy for our home gardens (Paul and Cummins) We need to understand what type of seeds was used in the product which we are trying to eat. We should definitely be more careful with what we purchase. Now we know that GMOs is something that should be recognized in the world we live in. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment (Kenner 1 ) An alternative solution that could be used is eating organic food. Currently in the United States, not all foods are labeled if they contain GMOs. Organic foods are the only other option and some come from sustainable farms that use environmentally friendly farms. Most processed foods tend to contain GMOs. These foods would be everyday affordable foods for example McDonalds, Burger King, Tyson products and many other brands. We should try to consume less of these products and eat more organic. We should also be more on a lookout for products that we buy at the grocery store. At the very least investigate how the food is made and from whom. The European Union requires that all food items derived from GMOs be labeled so that customers have adequate idea of the source of the food item that they are buying from (Olster, 2013, 1). While it is impossible to segregate the items in the market, labeling is a clever way to raise awareness of how to strike the right balance by eating naturally and genetically derived food materials. Increasing societal awareness this way will help avoid the harmful effects of partaking genetically modified food in large numbers. Also, one must note that genetically modified foods have separate advantages like long shelf life and high nutrition content, which must not be ignored. People must realize that the right kind of labeling will help them select nutritive and mixed sources of food products, which would have both GM food and natural food mixed in it. Complete long term trials that announce results of aftereffects conducted in labs and are published in scientific papers and customer specific journals and magazines that announce the long term effects is important. Printing of such results in the labels is also a clever way to increase awareness. If specific food produced by genetic modification is available in plenty in the market and people are used to partaking that, than their attitude towards the use of other genetically modified organisms in the food industry, will be based on the experience of these one or two products and not upon the overall risks and impacts of going for this nature altering procedure, which includes creation of new hormones and toxins in plants and insects that case unknown diseases in humans and death in useful insect, pest and animal populations. Therefore, there is a need for upholding the need to have a neutral attitude to these products and their usage in daily life. Also, companies which are selling such food items must go for complete disclosure of moral compromises in generation and impact of such food items and products created through use of genetic modifications. Over accumulation of new macromolecules and toxins in plant body also render them unfit for consumption by humans. Realizing the importance of morality over science is highly crucial in the formation of a standard and correct attitude toward the use of GMOs in food industry. GM food is good as they are more affordable and extremely nutritious. So, going about creating them with complete awareness of moral responsibility and ecological impacts would be a win-win situation for every customer. IV Conclusion Genetically modified food often created through treatment with genetically modified organisms, whose natural gene structure has been changed to help humans achieve better industrial and food production goals, pose a huge moral risk to man today. Engineering of naturally occurring organisms like plants and animals not only disturbs the ecological balance, but also disturbs the balance in human bodies, by playing with the metabolic processes and changing the hormonal systems in plants, animals and humans. While all these implications pose a much larger problem than the other nature based issues like global warming, lack of complete information in the market is resulting in the wrong attitude amongst buyers of such food items, which can only be solved by more information and press coverage of the moral risk involved in changing constitution of naturally occurring plants and animals, and their indirect and long term impacts. The main solutions to this problem is proper labeling of genetically modified food, reduction in supplies to super markets, and increased societal awareness. References Phillips, T. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs): Transgenic crops and recombinant DNA technology. Nature Education 1(1):213 (2008)  PBS. Should We grow GM Crops? Harvest of Fear. PBS. (2001) Accessed on 20th November, 2012 from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/exist/arguments.html Olster, M. GMO Foods: Key Points In The Genetically Modified Debate. Huffington Post Green. (2013). Accessed on 20th November from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/02/gmo-foods_n_3693246.html Read More