Critiquing Genetically Modified Foods: Safety, Risks & Public Concerns

This essay provides a critical analysis of genetically modified (GM) foods, drawing from a review by Bawa and Anilakumar (2013) on their safety, risks, and public concerns. It begins by summarizing the development and application of GM crops, highlighting their benefits such as increased crop yields, improved nutritional value, and tolerance to extreme climatic conditions. The critique then delves into the potential drawbacks of GM foods, including the development of antibiotic-resistant diseases, cross-contamination of organic crops, and the destruction of biodiversity. While acknowledging these concerns, the essay also points out the potential for mitigating some of the negative impacts through techniques like RNA silencing and careful management practices. The essay concludes by advocating for the continued development and use of GM crops, emphasizing their potential to address global food security and health challenges, provided that appropriate safeguards are in place.

Critiquing Transgenic Organisms utilization 1
CRITIQUING TRANSGENIC ORGANISM UTILISATION
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Introduction
The 21st century is marked by technological advances and one outstanding breakthrough
in improving life is the recombinant DNA technology. Genetic alteration of organisms has led to
genetically modified organisms whereby a desirable gene is transferred from one body and
incorporated into the other to improve the qualities of the organism. The technology has been
applied in various fields such as medicine and agriculture. In agriculture, it has produced
genetically modified (GM) or transgenic crops and animals resulting in the genetically modified
organism and agricultural products. The cultivation of such plants and raring of these animals
raises questions on their effect to the environment and consumption as well as public concerns
on whether they are overly beneficial or a threat to the safety of the. In this article the GM crops
and their products will be critiqued as presented in the review “Genetically modified foods:
safety, Risks and public concerns,” by Bawa and Anilakumar (2013, pp.1035-1046).
Summary of the article
Upon the discovery of the possibility to transfer genes between organisms by utilizing the
mechanisms that exist in nature, various GM crops have been produced. One of the earliest to be
created is the tobacco plant with virus resistance in the 1990s which was legally commercialized
in China. The introduction of these crops boosted tobacco farming for it ensured high crop yields
reducing cost of production and other losses. The African sweet potato production was once
significantly hampered by the hard to control and treat virus, but with the recombinant DNA
technology, it became possible. Herbicide and insect resistant crops such as canola, soybeans,
and cotton have also been produced using this technology. The nutritional values of less
nutritious crops such as rice have been improved by increasing iron and vitamins which are vital
in the fight against chronic malnutrition in Asia. Extreme climatic conditions such as drought
thwart agricultural production, however, with this technology a variety of drought-tolerant
transgenic plants have made agriculture in such areas feasible. Some fish that mature faster than
the standard rate to compete for the market favorably have also been produced. The transgenic
organisms even with advantages have not been legalized in most countries, and the market
reception of their products is less than expected. The feeds and food require GMO (Genetically
modified organisms) labeling one's screening detects the presence of GMOs. The labeling of

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these products has been met with negative attitudes in the market affecting its sales and general
acceptance of the new technology (Kim, 2012, pp.189-199).
The critique
As highlighted above, the benefits of this technology are enormous. Interestingly, an
insight into the future potential application of the technology provides great promises into
solving most of the issues faced in contemporary society. Bawa and Anilakumar (2013, pp.1035-
1046) argue that the world’s hunger and, malnutrition will no longer be an issue. Elsewhere,
Giovannuci et al. (2012, pp.45-56) consider this technology as a vital strategy for food and
agriculture sustainability mechanism. Crops tolerant to adverse climatic conditions such as
drought-resistant transgenes will facilitate will support farming by increasing arable land. The
disease and pest resistant crops are vital to increasing food production, and transgenic plants are
ideal for this purpose (Ahmad et al., 2012, pp.524-540). One exciting application of recombinant
technology is the production of bananas that contain vaccines against diseases such as Hepatitis
B. Just as the article emphasizes in the importance of these transgenic organisms especially on
the future application clearly shows why it is again to for humanity as a way of improving their
life in various aspects.
Nevertheless, the GMO also have got negative impacts. The authors of the review outline
the effects of these crops on the body as their major demerit. Consumption of the GMO products
generates antibiotic-resistant disease in human. Also, fields with these crops affect other
organisms in the same environment through cross-pollination. If GM and GMO crops are grown
in one field, and the other area is an organic field, there are high chances of contamination of the
pure organic crops. The review authors outline the contamination aspect as an uncontrollable
menace brought about the GMO crops. Biotech industries, Monsanto Company, in particular, has
been sued by the organic farmer for releasing transgenic organisms to farmer which led to
contamination of neighboring fields. There have been 396 incidences of cross-contamination in
63 different states (Nicolia, Manzo, Veronesi, and Rosellini, 2014, pp.77-88). Elsewhere
Gregorowius, Lindemann-Matthies, and Huppenbauer (2012, pp.265-293) report that the GM
crops destroy biodiversity and raise environmental conservational ethical issues. In this regard, I
conquer with the review authors that as much as the GMO crops have benefits they have long-

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lasting disadvantages by leading to antibiotic-resistant diseases and alteration of environmental
biodiversity.
Further, the secondary effects of the transgenes have been implicated in encoding for
enzymes that interfere with biochemical pathways of other organisms. The new proteins affect
some biochemical leading to substrate depletion. Highlighting this as a disadvantage of the
transgenic plants isn’t satisfactory. The discovery of RNA silencing sorts out this challenge
(Gressel, 2012, pp.509-523). The authors describe the transgenes as very harmful for their
alteration of the biochemical pathways leading to toxin build upon the bodies of these organisms.
They, however, fail to mention the potential way around it highlighting the focus on their point
avoiding a crucial point in that regard. The RNA silencing techniques are enough to silence this
critique. The benefits of the transgenic crops are overwhelming therefore it is necessary to
support its use while providing solutions to their disadvantages.
In conclusion, the discovery of the recombinant DNA technology and its application in
agriculture has the potential to solve most of the challenges facing the world concerning food
and health. GM crops have been extensively used to facilitate farming in extreme climatic
conditions and to enhance the fight of human disease and problems such as hunger. Some of its
disadvantages include the destruction of biodiversity and alteration of biochemical pathways of
the organisms. These challenges can be solved by observing mechanisms to control cross-
contamination and the use of RNA silencing respectively.

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References
Ahmad, P., Ashraf, M., Younis, M., Hu, X., Kumar, A., Akram, N.A. and Al-Qurainy, F.,
2012. Role of transgenic plants in agriculture and biopharming. Biotechnology
advances, 30(3), pp.524-540.
Bawa, A.S. and Anilakumar, K.R., 2013. Genetically modified foods: safety, risks and
public concerns—a review. Journal of food science and technology, 50(6),
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Giovannucci, D., Scherr, S.J., Nierenberg, D., Hebebrand, C., Shapiro, J., Milder, J. and
Wheeler, K., 2012. Food and Agriculture: the future of sustainability.
Gregorowius, D., Lindemann-Matthies, P. and Huppenbauer, M., 2012. Ethical discourse
on the use of genetically modified crops: a review of academic publications in the
fields of ecology and environmental ethics. Journal of agricultural and
environmental ethics, 25(3), pp.265-293.
Gressel, J., 2012. Containing and mitigating transgene flow from crops to weeds, to wild
species, and to crops. In Plant Biotechnology and Agriculture (pp. 509-523).
Kim, R.B., 2012. Consumer attitude of risk and benefits toward genetically modified
(GM) foods in South Korea: implications for food policy. Engineering
Economics, 23(2), pp.189-199.
Nicolia, A., Manzo, A., Veronesi, F. and Rosellini, D., 2014. An overview of the last 10
years of genetically engineered crop safety research. Critical reviews in
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