Nicole del Cardayre | Staff Writer | Some believe GMOs present danger About to take a bite of her dinner, the girl stares at her plate admiring her leafy greens and rich juicy steak. Little does she know, the food on her plate has the potential to cause a life-threatening disease.
GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are living organisms whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated in a laboratory through genetic engineering. These living organisms are then processed into refined products like corn, soy and sugar.
According to Statista, world wide there are around 181.5 million acres of genetically modified crops. Around 40.2% of those crops are grown in the United States.
According to the World Health Organization, the GMO industry started due to the need to increase the yield of crop and products. It is believed that if the perfect seed was created, a seed that can withstand a drought and create an abundance of crop, then America’s economy and food industry would improve.
Even with economic improvement and an increase of crop, GMOs have the potential to harm people.
“It’s wrong to change crops as they are considered the seeds of life,” said sophomore Eric Swanson.
A key trait that GMOs contain is the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate). Roundup is a chemical sprayed on plants to prevent them from becoming overridden by bugs and insects. Roundup is incorporated into the genetically modified organisms so they will become “super plants.”
In 2013, a study was conducted around the harmfulness of GMOs and the herbicide Roundup. The study was led by biologist Dr. Gilles-Eric Seralini from Caen University in France. The experiment tested the effects of Roundup on female rats to see if there were any medical concerns revolving around the chemical. At the end of the study, the rats had developed mammary tumors. The tumors had begun to grow after the rats were fed genetically modified food with and without Roundup.
Because of the mammary tumors that appeared on the rats, the scientists believed that those tumors correlated to human tumors, specifically breast cancer. The rats developed their tumors at the age of two, which is equivalent to 35-40 human years. The study was published to the public by Elsevier, an academic publishing company. After the article was published, there was a lot of controversy revolving around the topic of GMOs.
“The fact that GMOs have been shown as possible carcinogens is very concerning. I did not know that cancer and Gmos were linked, and it definitely makes Gmos seem worse for us than I had thought before,” said sophomore Liam Gunning.
According to Just Label It, an organization that advocates for the labeling of GMOs, 64 countries with over 40% of the world’s population label their foods that are genetically engineered or modified. In the USA, nine out of 50 states took the initiative to label their genetically modified foods in stores. As well, over 90 percent of American’s prefer their food to be labeled.
“I think that GMOs should be labeled. There is no harm in labeling a product for what it is, but there is potential harm from withholding information about a product,” said sophomore Max Ladabaum.
In 2012, California launched Proposition 37 which would have approved GMOs to be labeled. Monsanto, a huge company that creates genetically engineered seeds spent over $46 million to kill proposition 37.
Because of the experiments that had been conducted regarding the rats, and the controversy regarding the topic of GMOs, the initiative of big companies like Monsanto to kill the labeling of GMOs created more debate over the topic.
“I think it is absolutely ok for GMO's to be created, as a massive percentage of the population of our world consists of starving people, so for we of the first world to complain about food being "unnatural" or "not organic" is wrong. Many of the GMO's created are for the easier production of food in 3rd world countries,” said Gunning.
According to Fox News, in most third world countries that are offered genetically engineered seeds by companies like Monsanto, reject the use of them because of their desire to stay “clean.” In 2002, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, two African nations both experiencing famine and poverty, rejected genetically modified seeds given to them.
In an interview conducted by Fox News, Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore said, “They basically are saying it is better a million people starve to death than eat perfectly nutritious genetically modified food from the U.S. where people have been eating it for 10 years without negative effect.”
However, Moore’s argument is contradicted by studies like the 2013 one which involved mammary tumors created by the feeding of genetically modified organisms.
“The fact that Gmos have been shown as possible carcinogens is very concerning. I did not know that cancer and Gmos were linked, and it definitely makes Gmos seem worse for us than I had thought before. It probably won't impact my current eating habits, since I mostly eat organic foods, but it definitely deters me from considering Gmos when I get food,” said Ladabaum.
Some schools in the USA have chosen to educate their students about the benefits and health risks of GMOs, however not all of them do. “I have been educated moderately about GMO's in biology for biotechnology. I was able to see the views of both sides: for and against,” said Gunning.
In freshman year, Carlmont’s courses for biotechnology and biology showed a movie called GMO OMG!
“After Watching GMO OMG, I began to wonder about the food that Carlmont was providing us. I want to be able to know if the food my school is providing me is safe or not,” said sophomore Harris Branch, a student currently enrolled in Biotech 1-2. Human bodies are very resilient, as indicated GMOs become more apparent in midlife. So how can younger people become motivated to adopt eating nutritional lifestyles that will help prevent negative impacts of GMOs later in life?