In fact, it’s been honed and tested for more than 40 years, and over those years,
genetic modification has become easier and more precise. As technology advances, so then,
why has genetically modified food becomes so controversial?
If genetically modified foods could be proved to have a positive environmental impact,
then why has there been such strong opposition?
Perhaps there is something specific about GM foods that worries some people about
their impact on human health and biodiversity.
What concerns some is the damage being done to the environment by
the huge amounts of herbicide and insecticide used to grow GM crops.
Impact on the environment
GM foods are engineered to resist herbicides and insecticides.
That also makes it resistant to insects that may want to feed on them.
It may attract flies, termites and other insects that will destroy the crop.
Perhaps concerns about GM foods and the environmental impact led to
their temporary exclusion from organic farming, a form of farming that embraces GM foods.
The case of The United Kingdom
The UK has not been so cautious in the past, with a long history of using
GM foods including potatoes, corn, sugar beets and some cattle,
but GM crops have been banned there for 15 years. The EU has banned all GM crops but potatoes in the region,
but many countries in the world have banned GM foods and GM foods have been booming in popularity.
GM foods are in the news again now that there has been a big increase
in GM foods and GM foods has been approved in Japan and South Korea, but with the popularity of GM foods,
there has been a big increase in the research into GM foods and the environmental impacts of GM foods.
A study concluded that GM foods have the potential to become part of our food chain, causing health problems and destroying the environment.
But is there some kind of environmental upside to GM foods?
The GM foods that have been approved in Japan and South Korea are soy and corn, but
there is a risk that some of the products will go through several rounds of approval process before
they are available here, as happened with tobacco. Some believe that GM foods should not be approved in countries that
have strict regulations regarding food quality, as it delays the availability of the foods for millions of
people while they go through the approval process. Others believe that it is best
to wait until everyone can eat these foods before rushing to approve them.
The approval process in the US
However, some GM foods will also go through the approval process in the US before they are available here.
They must go through the process of FDA approval, including human safety studies and studies
by biotech academics that will measure the impact of the foods.
Then they must go through other regulatory processes, including a review by independent scientists.
Finally, they may be available to consumers here in the US only in limited markets.
Once available, we may have to accept the foods in a limited form.
The choice consumption of GM versus non-GM foods
A recent review of the US peer-reviewed studies comparing the consumption of GM and non-GM foods found
that there were few significant differences in overall nutrient content,
in some cases no difference, but in most cases higher levels in GM foods.
There were some instances of higher levels of some contaminants,
but none of the GM foods was found to contain higher levels of toxins or PCBs, for instance. In many instances,
GM foods also had higher levels of vitamins and minerals than non-GM foods.
For instance, GM foods had higher levels of flavonoids, vitamin E and magnesium, than non-GM foods.
However, the studies comparing the consumption of GM and non-GM foods are largely proprietary and
don’t appear to be available to others who might conduct their own studies.
They are held by companies that earn profits from what their foods do or don’t do.
A few companies are taking the extra steps to make sure they are providing you with the best foods for your money.
The bottom line is that GM foods are generally safe for you and for the environment.
The extra steps to make sure they will do what they are supposed to do and that
they won’t harm you or the environment are well worth it in the long run.
"You must nurture your own inner being to accept yourself as you are. If you don't accept yourself, you will never be at peace with yourself."
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