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The characteristics of all living organisms are determined by their genetic makeup and their interaction with the environment. The genetic makeup of an organism is its genome, which in all plants and animals is made of DNA. The genome contains genes, which are regions of DNA that usually carry the instructions for making proteins. It is these proteins that give the plant its characteristics. Genetic modification of plants involves adding a specific strand of DNA into the plant’s genome, giving it a new or different characteristic. This could include changing the way the plant grows or making it resistant to a particular disease. The new DNA becomes part of the genetically modified plant’s genome which the seeds produced by these plants will contain. There is not one type of genetically modified organism, genetic engineering is a tool that can be used for a variety of purposes. Food can be genetically modified to ripen more slowly, to be resistant to herbicides, to withstand pests, to help create crops that can survive drought, or to help produce more nutritious food.
The first stage in making a genetically modified plant requires the transfer of DNA into a plant cell. One of the methods used to transfer DNA is to coat the surface of small metal particles with the relevant DNA fragment and force the particles into the plant cells. Another method is to use a bacterium or virus. Many viruses and bacteria transfer their DNA into a host cell as a normal part of their life cycle. For genetically modified plants, the bacterium most frequently used is called Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The gene of interest is transferred into the bacterium and the bacterial cells then transfer the new DNA to the genome of the plant cells. The plant cells that have successfully taken up the DNA are then grown to create a new plant. This is possible because individual plant cells have an impressive capacity to generate entire plants. On rare occasions, the process of DNA transfer can happen without deliberate human intervention. For example, the sweet potato contains DNA sequences that were transferred thousands of years ago, from Agrobacterium bacteria, into the sweet potato genome. There are other ways to change the genomes of crops, some of which are long established, such as mutational breeding, and others of which are new, such as genome editing.
Africa is one of the major continents that is suffering from food shortages, with Sub-Saharan Africa being the region with the highest prevalence of hunger, where one person in four is undernourished. Many countries in Africa have struggled through lost harvests due to drought, man-made land degradation, and declining soil fertility among other things. With Africa’s increase in population growth, which is expected to double to 2.4 billion by 2050, it is a worry that if food production methods remain the same, Africa will not be able to feed most of its population. Importing food to help fill the gap is very costly, thus Africa will need to grow more of its own food. A possible solution to this problem could be the production of genetically modified crops.
With poor nutrition causing nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under 5 years old, which is about 3.1 million children each year, genetically modified foods can be modified so that they provide a complete nutritional profile. Multiple vitamins and minerals can be built into the crops as they are grown by adjusting the genetic profile of the plant, making it possible for people to get what they need with fewer foods and lower costs. That makes it possible to provide more people who are living in poverty with the food resources that they need to maintain a healthy life. Genetically modified crops can also be modified to last longer once they are harvested, which makes it possible to extend the distribution life of the food product. This makes it possible for food distribution to send healthy foods further around the world and means that places experiencing food shortages can still receive affordable foods that can better the general population’s health.
Genetically modified crops can be engineered to produce higher yields from the same croplands. Some crop yields can even double when the transition from traditional crops to genetically modified crops is completed by local farmers. This makes it possible to meet the food demands that Africa is facing and is going to face with its rapidly increasing population numbers. Genetically modified crops can conserve energy, soil, and water resources which allows our food distribution networks to make less of an impact on the environment, as food can be grown in areas that receive very little rainfall and do not have any irrigation. Crops will be able to be grown on fields with little soil.
Because genetically modified crops are more resistant to pests, weeds, and other threats, farmers will have less of a need to apply pesticides or herbicides to their crops, which will save the farmers money and will increase the health benefits of the food being grown. Farmers will also be able to make more money from their croplands as there will be greater yields if their crops are genetically modified, as less will be destroyed by pests, weeds, and other threats than if the crop was not genetically modified.
Crops can even be modified so that they can become drought-resistant, which would be very helpful to farmers living in Africa due to our high drought rates. Genetically modified crops are also said to use less water, which further suits our African climate. Studies show that from 1980 to 2011, the amount of irrigation water required for fields planted with traditional crops to genetically modified corn decreased by 53%, for genetically modified soybeans, rice, and potatoes there was a decrease of 38%, and genetically modified wheat had a decrease of 12%.
With genetically modified food benefits, it could prove to be a solution to the problem that the world is facing with the food crisis and world hunger. However, there have been some concerns about problems that genetic engineering may cause in the future.
Even though genes being transferred occur naturally in other species, there are unknown consequences to altering the natural state of an organism through foreign gene expression. Genetically modifying an organism can change its metabolism, growth rate, and response to external environmental factors. These factors influence not only the genetically modified organism but also its natural environment. Thus the risks that genetically modified organisms pose are still unknown and they may have unforeseeable environmental, social, and health impacts. Gelkha Buitrago, who is the head of Standards at Fairtrade International says, “There is widespread public concern about the long-term effects of GMO crops” and that there is, “contamination of conventional crops and wild plants, potential damage to wildlife, and uncertain effects on human health when consuming these foods.”
A concern associated with genetically modified organisms is that private companies will claim ownership of the organisms they create and not share them at a reasonable cost with the public. This means that the use of genetically modified crops will hurt the economy, as monoculture practices by large-scale farm production centers that can afford the costly seeds will dominate over the diversity contributed by small farmers who cannot afford the technology.
According to Juliet Perry, from Greenpeace’s Asia Pacific Communications Hub, the promotion of GMO crops represents a corporate takeover of food systems with six corporations( Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, Syngenta, Bayer, and BASF) now controlling 75 percent of the world pesticides market, 63 percent of the commercial seed market, and more than 75 percent of all private sector research into seeds and pesticides.
“GE [genetically engineered] crops are used as a lure to make farmers dependent on buying seeds and agrochemicals every year from big corporations that market them as wonder crops,” Perry said. “The reality is vastly different, but once hooked, farmers lose control of the seeds they once used and are unable to continue using ecological pest management. Instead, farmers have no choice but to buy the full package of pesticides that need to be used with the GE seeds to ensure they perform.” To support the growing food and nutrition challenges, both organizations agree that there is still much more that can be done with improved agricultural processes, ecological agriculture, and equitable access to food. GMO is not the food security answer the world needs, they insist.
Crops that are genetically modified still grow the same way as traditional plants, meaning that pollination is required for the crop to produce the fruit or flower that is being grown. Bees do much of the pollination work, which means they are exposed to the genetic changes of the plant. Seeds are produced in these genetically modified crops as well in many instances and these seeds can spread to other fields and contaminate them. If cross-pollination occurs, there is no predictable outcome for both fields.
Animal proteins may also be affected by genetically modified crops. If genetically modified crops are fed to livestock, aquaculture, and apiculture, then the groceries that are based on animal proteins are also going to be affected. Genetically modified ingredients can be found in milk, seafood, eggs, and animal muscle tissues. Even honey can have genetically modified ingredients when bees are pollinating genetically modified crops to produce it.
Genetically modified organisms may create superweeds and superbugs. Over time crops have grown more resistant to weeds; the weeds in turn have grown stronger and more resilient to the chemicals applied to them that try to kill them. Because of this, some farmers have resorted to using ingredients such as 2,4-D which is one of the primary ingredients found in Agent Orange. There is a list of presumptive diseases that are associated with Agent Orange exposure, and one of these is cancer. As pesticides are applied to insects that pose a threat to crops, a few of them tend to survive the application. Each subsequent generation becomes more resilient to the pesticide. That means either more needs to be applied or a stronger agent needs to be applied. When something stronger is placed on the crops, the cycle of resilience begins again. Although GMO crops reduced pesticide use by over 1 billion pounds from 1996-2010, the threat of resilient superbugs that could destroy entire croplands without being affected by a pesticide could reduce food supplies instead of increasing them.
Some concerns genetically modified foods may help create antibiotic resistance. One of the ways that crops are modified to be more resilient to disease is to artificially place antibiotic genes within the DNA of the crops. Because there is evidence to suggest that continuing exposure to an antibiotic can lead to disease resistance, the GMO efforts to create a safer food supply could be a contributing factor to the “super bacteria”, such as MRSA, that are increasing in regularity.
Although genetically modified food has the potential to be a solution to the food crisis, whenever man has in the past interfered with nature, it has frequently caused negative consequences, such as the breaking down of the Ozone layer and the extinction of many plants and animals. I believe that because no one is sure of what the risks of genetically modified organisms may be in the future, it could have the potential to be a disaster in the making, and should therefore be avoided.
My viewpoint on genetically modified organisms before researching the topic has changed, as I am now more aware of the positive effects that the introduction of genetically modified food will bring to the food crisis by increasing the rate of food production. However, the research has not changed my final viewpoint on whether I agree or disagree with genetic modification, as I am still against the fact that no one knows what consequences it will bring to us in the future. Besides the research that I read on genetically modified organisms, the only other factor that influenced my viewpoint was my beliefs, as I think that it is not man’s place to interfere with nature.
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