Genetically Modified Foods
Essay title: Genetically Modified Foods
Genetically modifying foods is an imprecise experiment with widespread repercussions that is harmful to practically everyone involved and should be stopped. This relatively modern technology gives scientists the ability to change and swap the DNA make-up of any species. While this may seem like a breakthrough, it causes many problems for people who eat the modified food, for the plants that are changed, for the farmers who typically grow the original plants, and also for the environment. Another reason we should stop altering food is that no long-term tests have been done to see what side affects could occur, and in tests that have shown negative results these results are disregarded by the U.S. government. Big corporations are too busy making money to care if this will change our world as we know it forever. Unknown effects of these foods, the apparent negative influences they are having on our environment and us, and how big corporations are hiding the facts are all incentive to stop eating and producing genetically engineered foods.
The crisis with modifying food is that no one knows the consequences, and the important people who could find out choose to ignore it. Companies such as StarLink are too busy trying to make money off these plants to think that changing their DNA could cause cancer, or drive wildlife away. It is imperative that something is done because if scientists continue to create genetically “super” plants, then pollution will skyrocket, certain plants and animals could become extinct, and these “super” plants will contaminate all non-genetically modified plants. The only way to stop this from happening is to inform people and then to get the large corporations to admit this is unnecessary and extremely detrimental. The root of this problem lies with the big companies who want money and dont care about the method, and scientists who have not recognized that genetically engineered foods cause much much more trouble than they are worth.
The long term effects of genetic altering are unknown, however the effects that have been found all show that it causes health problems for humans and animals and it causes irreversible harm to the environment. For example, if a plant is genetically engineered to be resistant to insects, then the insects will be forced to move elsewhere to find food. Then the animals that eat the insects will move also, and a cycle of species loss will occur. (Friend,