Andre Evans
Activist Post

Genetically Modified foods are prominently featured in today’s food supply. In fact, GMOs are so prominent that if a product is not labeled as GMO free, then it can be assumed that there is at least some amount of genetic alteration within the food.

GMOs dominate conventional food supplies and popular products, perpetuating their adverse effects on the people who eat them.

Before the whistle was blown on the dangers of GM foods, like any other invariably unpopular thing pushed by corporations, claims were that GMOs could actually be beneficial to the food supply, and provide positive value. But how legitimate are any of these claims?

“GM Crops Require Less Herbicide/Pesticide Usage”

Pesticide toxicity is an obvious concern when dealing with crops. Gene tailoring the crops into producing a pesticide theoretically means that you should have to use less.

However, the effectiveness of this method diminishes when insects build an immunity to the pesticide being genetically engineered. This actually creates a need for more additional and more varied application of pesticides to crops, destroying the initial premise that using GM to produce pesticides would lessen their application overall.

“GM Foods Will Help Provide for Poor Starving Populations”

One could argue that the use of GMOs provides more opportunities to give food to the poor, despotic countries. However, genetic engineering of food is often an expensive and extensive process. The application of genetically altered seeds used by farmers also poses a threat to the integrity of a whole environmental food supply. As GMO crops spread, they can easily contaminate surrounding crops that are free of engineering, producing adverse effects. Some crops engineered with ‘terminator’ genes actually cause the seeds of the next generation to be rendered sterile. This would actually limit the ability for any kind of farmer to reliably produce food in cycles, unless they can afford to buy more seeds from a company providing them. 

“GM Foods are Normal Foods, Cause no Threat to Your Health, and Can Even be Nutritionally Enhanced”

Various studies suggest that consuming any amount of GMOs lead to a number of adverse side effects, ranging from organ failure, to infertility. The nature of attempting to manipulate genetic boundaries produces an uncontrollable amount of anomalies, all of which diminish the quality and purpose originally intended for the food. Essential nutrients can be rendered ineffective, and the mutagenic nature of genetic tampering can actually destroy any of the benefits that the foods originally held.

In actuality, it’s better to entirely abstain from the use and advocation of any form of genetic modification on foods. The so-called benefits are actually non existent, and the nature of the situation actually threatens the integrity of the world food supply. Genetic tampering opens a figurative Pandora’s box of unforeseen consequences, including the contamination of nutritionally sound foods.