GMO's: The Future of Agriculture
Genetic engineering and modification has come a far way in the past 50 years. In the 1970s, American biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen mastered a technique of isolating specific DNA fragments of one organism and incorporating that DNA into another organism. The monumental DNA recombination experiment ushered in a new era of biotechnology that set the stage for the eventual commercialization of genetically modified organisms, commonly abbreviated as GMOs.
Genetic modification has been time and time again shown to be an invaluable tool for increasing and speeding up crop yields, increasing food shelf life for easier shipping, enhancing food flavor and texture, reducing food production costs and has even provided some medical benefits. The Food and Drug Administration has given GMOs their seal of approval too. So, how can there be a controversy about GMOs if they only affect us in advantageous ways? Well, you see, they’re actually not all completely beneficial for us.
Some of pesticides or antibiotics used to protect crops and maximize crop production are toxic to bees and butterflies in addition to humans. There have been many cases of allergic reactions to GMO products where the consumer would have not experienced such a reaction if not for the genetic altering. Intensifying the effect of this drawback, the pests targeted by such substances eventually adapt and become resistant to them, so we’re not even sure if those pesticides are even worth including in the crop genomes. GMOs should not be rushed into the market and evidently need much more prior testing. But, there’s an even more controversial problem that’s not even remotely related to the underlying biological impact: the ethics behind not labeling GMOs. A majority of food brands, like Kellogg’s and Kraft do not support FDA guidelines for labeling GMOs. Despite the opposition of GMO labeling, it’s almost a no-brainer that the public should be made aware whether what they’re eating was genetically modified in case of a potential unforeseen side effect. GMO labeling won’t take away the credibility of GMOs away; in fact, it will cultivate a common trust in the safety of GMOs. Unfortunately, the FDA has only loosely observed the effect of GMOs on humans and the causes of GMO-related mishaps, so biotechnologists will need more time and funding to scrutinize how safe GMOs are.
GMO labeling won’t take away the credibility of GMOs away; in fact, it will cultivate a common trust in the safety of GMOs.
Despite these setbacks, there’s so many positive outcomes GMOs have already brought to the table that we can’t outright dismiss. Golden rice, one of the most publicized genetically modified versions of rice, was engineered to synthesize beta-carotene, a substance only a step away from being converted to Vitamin A, in our bodies. Approximately half of the world’s population consumes rice, so golden rice is definitely a clever potential solution to easily preventable, prevalent Vitamin A deficiencies in third-world countries. Using a technique commonly referred to as infect-and-collect or pharming, we’ve also genetically modified tobacco plants to secrete essential vaccines and treatments. If we could invest our time in mastering this genetic modification technique in the future and extend their use for treatment of a wide array of diseases, we could mass-produce treatments to more effectively combat outbreaks such as the 2014 West Africa Ebola virus or the recent Zika virus outbreak. GMOs can be a long-term answer to many of our dire needs and we just need some more research to scientifically justify the significance they could bear in our society.
Legislation for appropriate labeling of genetically engineered products might still be up for debate, but the vast positive potential GMOs lay claim to, on the other hand, is undeniable. Researchers should have more funding for their study into the interactions between GMOs and the ecosystem to safeguard the revolutionary change GMOs could bring about in our world. The timing for such an advance couldn’t be more perfect: with the recent introduction of the highly-touted gene-altering CRISPR technique, biotechnologists will now have an efficient tool at their disposal for rectifying the environmental disruptiveness of GMOs. As genetic modification techniques are fine-tuned and the financial support for GMOs increase, it becomes more obvious that GMOs should and will become an indispensable aspect of a brighter future for the food and agriculture industries.