Transcript Health Risks of Genetically Modified Foods

Genetically Modified Plants
Renee Voith, Katherine Cryan, Joseph Jessen
King’s College, Wilkes-Barre PA
Introduction
Have you ever thought about the food you eat?
What about the chemicals they contain? In our society,
we ingest a great number of Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs) that in one way or another alter our
bodies natural states of being. Even the plants we eat
have been modified. Food processors make plants
larger, tastier, and less likely to perish. They claim that
GMOs benefit both the producers and the consumers,
making the plants more protected from plant diseases
caused by insects or viruses. This means farmers are
more likely to have a good crop year, but it made us
think; do these modifications pose any health risks for
the consumers?
Aim and Methods
Genetic modification, or genetic engineering,
involves the manipulation of the genes in organisms.
Desirable traits are transferred into these organisms
that significantly modify its DNA. The organisms that
receive this modification are known as GMO’s, or
Genetically Modified Organisms. Current techniques
allow for a specified gene with a desirable trait to be
added into an organism. Some techniques of this gene
transfer include: Bacterial Carriers, Gene Silencing and
Gene Splicing. The Bacterial Carrier method involves
preparing a bacterium in a special solution to make it a
suitable carrier for delivering DNA to a new organism.
The bacterium infects target plants or crops and
delivers the new gene. The Gene Silencing method is
designed to eliminate any unwanted characteristics
from an organism. Basically, the undesirable trait is
identified and “switched off”. One approach to this
method is to insert foreign DNA within a gene to
deactivate it. Another method of silencing a particular
gene is to attach a second copy of the gene the wrong
way around. A third method of genetic modification is
Gene Splicing. The idea of gene splicing involves cutting
a gene from one organism and inserting it into the DNA
of another. This allows for a desired characteristic to be
transferred from one organism to another.
It is a proven fact that there is little evidence to
suggest whether GMOs are harmful or not.
However, research has suggested possible health
risks associated with the production of GMOs. With
regards to health, it is possible that researchers
and developers, and direct consumers of GM foods
face various health risks. According to an article
entitled Health Risks of Genetically Modified Foods,
“animal toxicity studies with certain GM foods have
shown that they may toxically affect several organs
and systems.” Furthermore, researchers have also
found a possible connection between GMOs and
allergies. In support of this inference, GMOs were
not introduced to society until 1997 and 1999, thus
posing a connection as to why the older generation
was less susceptible to allergies, and why the
newer generation is more susceptible to allergies.
Results
The results of our research regarding Genetic
Modifications in plant foods displayed various risks and
benefits of this process. We found that genetic
modification can produce allergens in the organisms,
which can be potentially dangerous. The allergic reactions
can cause significant harm to an individual and possibly
even death. The harm being done to our bodies just by
consuming these foods is significant and can’t continue to
be ignored. Truly, the risks outweigh the benefits because
our health is not something that should be compromised
for the sake of others’ profits. Our research resulted in
our opinion of being against genetic modification. This is
because we do not believe the benefits outweigh the
risks.
Conclusions
We’ve come to the conclusion that organic foods,
ones that haven’t been touched by Genetic Modification,
are better and healthier for us to eat. The risks to one’s
health are too great to go unnoticed, so it’d be better to
just avoid GM foods if possible.
Future Work
For future studies, we’d like to continue to
follow the research findings on how GMOs affect or
create allergies. New developments in that would
be interesting to keep up with.
References
Along with the risks, there are also several benefits
of these genetic modification processes. Genetic
modification allows for the development of crops with
higher yield and more nutrients while simultaneously
using less fertilizer and pesticides. Despite using fewer
pesticides, genetic modification increases pest and
disease resistance. Another benefit of genetic
modification is that it allows for the control of the
transfer of genes compared to traditional breeding,
which has thousands of genes that transfer randomly
from parent to offspring.
Artemis, Dona, and Ioannis S. Arvanitoyannis. "Health Risks of
Genetically Modified Foods." Critical Reviews in Food
Science an Nutrition 49.2 (2009): 164-75. Web.
Verma, Charu, Surabhi Nanda, R.K. Singh, R.B. Singh, and
Sanjay Mishra. "A Review on Impacts of Genetically
Modified Food on Human Health." The Open
Nutraceuticals Journal 2 (2011): 3-11. Web.
"Are Biotech Foods Safe to Eat?" Genetically Modified Foods
(Biotech Foods) Pros and Cons. Web MD, n.d. Web. 26
Apr. 2013.