Benefits and Risks of Including GM Foods in Our Diets

Running Head: BENEFITS AND RISKS OF INCLUDING GM FOODS IN OUR DIET
Benefits and Risks of Including GM Foods in Our Diets
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BENEFITS AND RISKS OF INCLUDING GM FOODS IN OUR DIET 2
Benefits and Risks of Including GM Foods in Our Diets
Introduction
Have you of late eaten any locally produced fruit or food? If yes, there are a huge chance
that you have eaten genetically modified fruit or food without knowing. Genetically modified
foods are also referred to as genetically engineered foods or bioengineered foods (Harrar, 2014).
These types of food products have become a great concern which have generated controversy
concerning both their environmental as well as their health impacts. Applying the current and
modern genetic engineering techniques, it is likely to introduce a particular material which is
obtained from any plant microorganism or animal species into a different plant species (Dahl,
2012). This process, thus, enables a desired trait to be reproduced as well as developed. The
eventual plant species are commonly referred to as genetically modified plants or genetically
modified foods when used to produce and develop food sources (Shoot, 2018). GMO can also
entail organisms which have been modified genetically through selective breeding. There have
been debates about the benefits and risks of using genetically modified foods. This paper will
critically discuss the benefits and risks of using genetically modified foods. Lastly, the paper will
discuss the reasons why the genetically modified foods should not be introduced into our diets.
Background Information About Genetically Modified Foods
Numerous methods if development and enhancement of genetically modified organisms
have been identified. The gene considered as the foreign one is inserted into a microorganism
cell, either an animal or plant known as the transgene (Fairfield-Sonn, 2016). The foreign gene is
integrated into the transgenic genome. In some cases, the marker genes are used are applied due
to the identification as well as recognition of the transgenic organisms. The process of

BENEFITS AND RISKS OF INCLUDING GM FOODS IN OUR DIET 3
integration is dome with various methods such as injection of transgenes, transduction, the
transfer method and the electroporation method. In the transfer method, artificial fragments and
chromosomes are normally used.
Why Genetically Modified Foods Are Promoted?
Genetically modified organisms or GM foods are described as crop plants which have
created for consumption by animal or humans using the modern techniques in molecular biology
(Harvie, 2014). The GM organisms have prepared in the laboratory so as to develop the desired
traits liked improved nutritional content. The process of modification can create the exact desired
trait with almost 100% accuracy.
Arguments for Genetically Modified foods in our diet
Most of the genetically modified crops are known to have traits which are crop
resistance. Most farmers utilize a lot of chemical pesticides yearly (Kiplinger’s Personal Finance,
2017). On the other hand, most people do not prefer to consume foods that have been treated
with too much chemicals due to the resultant health hazards and the pollution that is linked with
the artificial pesticides which pollute the water and create harm to the natural environment
(Lemaux, 2008). It has been established that having GM crops can reduce the usage of chemical
pesticides.
GM crops are normally tolerant to herbicides; Plants that are genetically engineered so as
to be resistant to a particular herbicide can help in preventing damages to the environment
through the reduction of the amount of the needed herbicides. For instance, a new breed of
soybeans has been created that cannot be affected by roundup product. Empirical studies have
revealed that a lot of concentration of roundup has an effect of causing disruption in metabolic