GMO's

So, I'm doing this essay on GMO's in Biology. If you don't know, GMO stands for genetically engineered organisms, and it means exactly that. Scientists go into animals like cows and plants like corn and screw with their genes. They do this to make more adequate food and to make more of it. I had to read up on this for bio and I became extremely interested. What do you guys think about GMO's? Do you think it's a good idea and we should continue to do it? Or do you think it's bad and thinks it needs to stop immediately? Or are you in the middle and don't know?

My Opinion

PLEASE NOTICE THAT THIS IS MY OPINION AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO AGREE. I honestly don't like GMO's, and i don't understand why we need to have them in this world. Maybe its my love for the environment or my admiration of indigenous people. I don't know. The minute I heard about what it is, I had an uneasy feeling about it. It just doesn't seem right to go around and messing with genes. Animals or plants, it doesn't matter. Those are their genes and they are a beautiful creation of codes and sequences and it's not okay to mess that up to better your life. Once I started reading up on them I furthered my opinion with facts to support it. It was actually confusing to me at first because pro-GMO and non-GMO articles often contradict each other. They say no the other one is lying and no they are lying, and so on. But after reading more and more, I stand my ground with non-GMO.

Humans

Beware! GMO's may harm you! GMO's often have medical conditions. Nasty ones like organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system disorders, accelerated aging, and infertility. Okay, now keep that in mind, you are eating these animals! YUCKKKKK. These medical limitations in the animals may leave some materials in your body. This can be very harmful! There have been reports of bacteria being transferred into DNA after eating GM soy. Imagine gross mud and dirt being in a place which basically makes up who you are. That's not okay! Also, there have been problems after eating GM corn. "Toxic insecticide produced by GM corn was found in the blood of pregnant women and their unborn fetuses." So now your infected, but not only that, so is your incoming baby! Definitely not okay!! BUT WAIT! THERE IS SO MUCH MORE!! Treated cows have something added in their milk called hormone IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) which is linked to cancer! Also the herbicides sprayed on the plants have toxins in them at are linked to sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer. Which brings me to my next segment...

Environment

You should love your environment and try to keep it healthy and safe like you would do to yourself! GMO's definitely harm our environment. Farmers use herbicides on GM plants because GM plants are herbicide resistant. Herbicide is a deadly weed killer, so they use it to kill weeds and it doesn't kill the plant. But herbicides have toxins in them that hurt the environment. Herbicide use is on the rise,“Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs.” Why are they using more and more herbicides on the GM plants? Well, the weeds are evolving, like all organisms do. They become herbicide resistant, so what do the farmers do? PUT EVEN MORE DANGEROUS TOXINS IN THE HERBICIDE. YAY, MORE DEADLY TOXINS IN OUR ENVIRONMENT!! I mean it actually disgusts me how people can live with putting these chemicals into our air, soil and water. Things we all use/ingest in ourselves, we decide to contaminate with chemicals, toxins, and smoke. “They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable.” We are just putting our environment deeper and deeper into 'debt' and we will not be able to  pull it out. Wanna know why? GMOs are permanent. Through cross pollination, GM plant genes are in other seeds and can travel fast through the wind. This means now that we have GMOs, we will never fully get rid of GMOs, sadly. 

Animals

Not only do GMOs harm people and the environment, they also hurt animals around them! The herbicides GMOs require can hurt, "birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms.” Studies show that GMOs are taking up more room and are pushing out the other natural organisms. For example, the Monarch Butterfly. A majestic, beautiful, vivid creature, that was once my elementary mascot, are being pushed out of their ecosystem. Their "populations are down 50% in the US.” That is honestly just so sad. People are all against endangering species and want to help endangered animals. But what are really doing? Driving animals to their own endangerment. Sad, just so sad. 

People are Fed Up

Why? Well, you may think it's because they are harming humans, animals, and our environment. But there are soooo many other reasons why, too. Let's start with jobs. Unemployment is already a problem in America, I mean it practically owns the news. Now, GMOs are causing more unemployment! I mean c'mon, GMOs. You already hurt our animals, people and environment... now our economy?! Could you back off a little!? You know that nice Ma and Pops farm a little ways outside your town? Their business is in risk of going bankrupt! Since they don't use GMOs, industry leading that use GMOs and produce more goods for people may knock them right off the market! Also, their farm might be contaminated by GMO seeds (refer back to environment segment). Also, people haves rights to know what their eating... right? Well, their are many campaigns going on that want GMO companies to label their food with a GMO seal of some sort. Seems easy, right? Well, companies apparently don't want to do that. All they say is that GMOs are safe and there is no need to worry. Well if GMOs are safe, then why can you put something on your packaging that says its a GMO? If they are just oh-so-safe, why are you so paranoid? Just put it on and be done with it! People should be able to know if they are eating GMOs or not! We are aloud to have a say in what we eat!!! It's ridiculous. 

Hope everyone found this interesting! If you want to join the cause for labeling GMOs, go here: http://www.labelgmos.org/

But other than that! Everyone go outside if it's nice and have a fantastic day!! 

xoxo,

court