GM Foods are foods that have been genetically modified to make changes in their final product. Most common uses of genetic modification is to increase crop resistance to insects and disease compared to their unmodified cousins. This has lead to a decrease in Herbicide use and Pesticide use, but other advantages have been made such as the ability to delay ripening in tomatoes, increase in production of oils and starches used for industry (kept separate from the food supply). In public discussions words are battered around like Unnatural and Frankenstein Foods has lead to a lot of fear-mongering in the topic of GM foods. There seems to be portion of the public that believes GM foods are bad for us, and bad for the environment. So, are GM Foods bad for us and out planet? Short answer, nope. Once report was released tying GM foods to an increase in cancer, however this has been rejected by the scientific community as poor science*; No evidence has been put forward to suggest that there is any difference in GM Foods and regular foods as far as our health concerns. The World Health Organisation monitors GM foods based on toxicity, allergenicity, stability of the inserted gene, nutritional value and any unintended effects. The WHO released an evidence based study Modern food biotechnology, human health and development”** in which It notes that pre-market risk assessments have been performed on all GM products where these products are marketed and that to date no negative health effects have been found. What about the environment? The WHO monitors that too, in the same report it is confirmed that there is no risk to the environment from the introduction of GM Foods. On both counts the WHO agrees that continuing to monitor the situation is the best course of action, but there is no need to be concerned at this time. So, Long story short there is no health or environmental concerns about genetically modified foods. The fear-mongering and scare campaigns appear to be just that, campaigns. The issue here seems to be the standard knee jerk reaction we humans have to things that are new and unknown to us, I dont understand it - its probably dangerous. That instinct has kept us alive for thousands of years, but here it is uselessly getting in the way. GM Foods are perfectly safe. - Daniel
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 08:45:09 +0000
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