Sarah Benj Ryan Barney Biology 1090 December 10, 2013 GMO Genetically modified organisms and the

correlation to the food that is mass produced with them is a very heated topic. There are many arguments for both sides of the argument for the use for and against genetically modified organisms. GMO's can help feed the world by use of GMO's that are strongly resistant to pesticides, herbicides, and destructive environmental elements. There are also numerous arguments against the use of GMO's for the mass production of food. There are very serious health consequences that come from using GMO's in our food. There is an also very serious environmental consequence that stems from GMO's and their pesticide and herbicide resistance.

What are GMO's GMOs are genetically modified organisms. These are organisms that have had another organisms DNA inserted into their DNA. There are three requirements to make a genetically modified organism: the gene that is being transferred, the organism that is being genetically altered, and a way to carry the gene into the foreign organism. The gene to be transferred is called a trans-gene. This trans-gene must be cut out and isolated from its original organism. This is usually done with restrictive enzymes, which act like intelligent molecular scissors that recognize the specific sequence for the gene that is being inserted, and cuts this sequence strand to allow the foreign gene to be inserted into the new organisms DNA strand. This foreign DNA when inserted into the organism being modified, enables the newly modified organisms to

produce proteins that they normally wouldnt produce. This gives the organism new physical characteristics that would not be possible without the insertion of the foreign DNA. Reasons for the use of GMO's GMOs have been widely used in agriculture. Crops that have been genetically modified have been done so to increase such things as crop yields, taste, and nutritional value. Crop yields have increased from the genetic modification of these crops to be more resistant to the external environment. These GMO crops are more resistant to pesticides, herbicides, cold temperatures, and seasons where rainfall was minimal. The nutritional value of agriculture has been raised by the use of GMOs. An example of this is genetically modified rice. This rice has been called Golden rice, and has been genetically modified to produce 20 times the amount of beta-carotene compared to some previous varieties. This genetically modified rice was created by using a gene from a daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus, which makes an enzyme that is called phyotene synthase and a gene from the bacterium Erwinia uredovora that makes an enzyme called phyotene desaturase. These new genes when introduced into the rices genome, enabled betacarotene to collect in the rices endosperm which is the edible part of rice. Another example of the benefits of creating GM food is the Hawaiian papaya. The papaya was a huge cache crop in Hawaii, but in the 1990's, an outbreak of the ringspot virus nearly wiped out the Hawaiian papaya. Through Genetically modified engineering of the papaya, a newly modified version of it was created that was resistant to the ringspot virus. By genetically modifying the Hawaiian papaya it was able to be saved as a major cash crop of Hawaii which greatly improved the Hawaiian economy.

Reasons to avoid GMO's Some of the main reasons against the use of GMOs are based on health and environmental reasons. GMO is in our everyday food, food such as soy, corn and milk are contained with GMO. 94 percent of the US soybean crop was genetically modified in 2011, according to the USDA. 88 percent of the US corn crop was genetically modified in 2011, according to the USDA. Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) is a GM synthetic hormone injected into dairy cows to boost milk production. 17 percent of US cows were injected with rBGH in 2007 (Green America). Basically, from these previous statistics it is shown that almost all the food that is mass produced contains GMO's. There have been numerous studies on animals that have shown that the ingestion of GMOs lead to organ damage, immune disorders, accelerated aging, and infertility. Studies with humans and GMOs have shown that when GMOs are ingested there are certain materials left inside humans that contribute to long term problems. An example of this is with genetically modified soy which can invade the DNA of bacteria living inside our bodies. They have found the toxic insecticide produced from genetically modified soy and corn in the blood of pregnant and their unborn fetuses. One negative environmental issue regarding using GMOs is that using GMOs increase herbicide use. Most genetically modified crops are designed to be herbicide resistant. The huge food corporation Monsanto actually sells crops that are designed to stand up against their own roundup herbicide that they also sell. Between 1996 and 2008 farmers in the US sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs. This is creating more and more herbicide resistant crops, which is causing farmers to continually use stronger and more toxic forms of herbicide. Besides the environmental harm that this causes, it also effects peoples health. These

genetically modified foods that have been sprayed with these toxic herbicides contain the residue from these herbicides that have been shown to be linked to sterility, birth defects, and cancer. Conclusion There are numerous arguments for the use for and against genetically modified organisms. GMO's can help feed the world by use of GMO's that are strongly resistant to pesticides, herbicides, and destructive environmental elements. There are also numerous arguments against the use of GMO's for the mass production of food. These arguments are based on the health consequences of using GMO's and the environmental impact that they have concerning herbicide and pesticide immunity. From the facts that I have read researching this paper I believe that the cons outweigh the pros concerning GMO's. The amount of damage to the health of people that have no choice but to ingest the mass produced GM food greatly outweighs any of the benefits to the food industry from things like higher yields and larger crops.

Sources "Institute for Responsible Technology." - 10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. "GMOs in Medicine and Research." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. "Get Started." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013 Gregerson, :Steven. "BIOL 1090." - Human Biology (BS). N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013

The Cambridge Law Journal Publication Info Coverage: 1921-2007 (Vols. 1-66) Links to External Content: 2008-2013 (Vol. 67, No. 1 Vol. 72, No. 1) Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of Editorial Committee of the Cambridge Law Journal