The World Health Organization defines Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) as organisms “in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.”
But once researchers began altering the DNA, the conversation changed, too: Could food be altered to make it more plentiful without sacrificing safety?
Here are five things to know about genetically modified food, commonly referred to as GMOs.
Why modify?
Advocates see the genetic engineering of plants as a much more sophisticated means of achieving an end farmers have sought for years through cross-pollination: to introduce desired traits to crops. But, whereas cross-pollination introduced many traits – good and bad – to the new plant, only desirable traits are isolated and introduced in GMOs.
What are the benefits?
“GMOs are used for many beneficial purposes to worldwide health and agriculture,” said Eric Davenport, a registered dietitian with the St. Elizabeth Weight Management Center. “They can be used to create natural herbicide and pesticide properties within plants so that they no longer need to be sprayed with harmful chemicals. Plants can be grown larger and in higher yields to feed our growing population.”
And benefits can extend beyond durability and yield to nutrition. “Golden rice is a genetically modified rice that contains an increased amount of vitamins, minerals and protein that is being used to prevent malnourishment around the world,” Davenport said. “Plants can be grown larger and in higher yields to feed our growing population thanks to genetic modification of crops. Science has shown that GMOs can help battle growing populations, hunger, and malnutrition in a safe way.”
The unknown:
The FDA approved the first GMO in 1982, and the first GMO product hit store shelves in 1994, but GMOs didn’t really take off until closer to the turn of the century. That’s an eternity if you’re talking about changes in technology, but less so in terms of truly evaluating how a product impacts human health.
“From what we know at this point, GMOs are judged to be safe,” Davenport said. “The truth about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is that we are not completely sure of whether they can cause any long term harmful effects because they have only been used in food production for 30 years. In the generations to come, we may see effects of GMOs after life-long consumption.”
No labels here:
Another area of controversy is the fact that GMO foods are not required to be labeled as such in the United States, though they are in China and the European Union – including animal feed.
Corporations here have (largely successfully) argued that there is no difference between GMO and non-GMO foods, and to label GMOs would cast them in a negative light unnecessarily. Critics contend that much of the research confirming the safety of GMOs has been conducted by firms with a large economic stake in GMOs, such as Monsanto.
Science Guy goes from nay to aye:
GMO supporters added a high-profile convert in Bill Nye, the erstwhile Science Guy. Once skeptical of the practice, Nye changed his mind after visiting Monsanto and meeting with some of its scientists.
“GMOs are not inherently bad,” he told the Huffington Post. “We are able to feed 7.2 billion people, which a century and a half ago you could barely feed 1 and a half billion people and [it’s] largely because of the success of modern farming.”
