Are GMO Crops Good or Bad for the Environment?

Saaketh Koka
Genetically Modified Organisms, commonly known as GMOs, have long been a topic of debate in the scientific community. Humans have been modifying crops for centuries. Native Americans selectively bread maize crops in order to get desirable characteristics out of them. Nowadays, scientists target specific sequences in an organism's DNA and change it to their needs. Many scientists debate whether GMOs help or harm the environment. GM crops harm the environment by decreasing the genetic variation which, in turn, decreases the biodiversity. Although GM crops harm biodiversity, non-GM crops require excessive use of pesticides which harm the environment a lot more. GMOs can be seen as a traditional crop replacement because they harm the environment a lot less than traditionally grown crops.
Traditional crops require lots of pesticides to properly grow. These pesticides can runoff into streams and rivers and eventually make their way to lakes and oceans and harm the organisms living in the affected area. GMOs, on the other hand, require a lot fewer pesticides and other harmful chemicals.
In addition to helping the environment, the use of GMOs in developing countries helps provide nutrition to malnourished people. The rise of GMO's in developing countries has allowed farmers to grow much larger yields in smaller fields. The crops have also been modified to provide nutrients are lacking in the population's diet.
In essence, GMOs do harm the environment, but they harm it a lot less than traditionally grown crops. This makes them more sustainable than their traditionally grown counterparts. GMO's will continue to become more and more popular due to their efficiency.


What do you think about GMOs effect on your life?
Do you try to eat non-GMO foods at home?
Why do you think people believe that GMOs are harmful for their health?




Sources: https://gmoanswers.com/gmos-environment
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/07/09/199095108/Whats-In-The-Water-Searching-Midwest-Streams-For-Crop-Runoff
http://nuffieldbioethics.org/report/gm-crops-developing-countries-2/benefits-gm-crops-developing-countries

Comments

Anonymous said…
GMO is a more practical choice because it can be altered to be more suited for the consumer and it is more economical. Many of the most influential regulatory agencies and organizations that study the safety of the food supply, including the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, Health Canada, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Academy of Sciences, have found genetically modified food ingredients are safe and there are no negative health effects associated with their use. GMOs have many upsides and with today’s biotechnology, can help improve the way humans eat for centuries to come.
February 12, 2019 at 7:55 PM
Anonymous said…
Although I do agree that GMO’s do offer significant advantages such as being able to significantly increase crop yield and being modified to include a higher mineral count and to have resistance to pesticides, they also do pose notable risks that must also be taken into account. For example, due to the fact that most genetically modified crops are herbicide and pesticide resistant, farmers tend to use an increased amount of herbicides like Roundup, which causes the development of super-weeds that are able to become increasingly resistant to herbicide use, implying that herbicides of increasing strength need to be used each time a new super-weed emerges. Also, herbicide use is also linked to various health concerns such as an increased risk for cancer, birth defects to, hormone disruption, and more. Furthermore, government regulation is not strict enough to ensure the safety of all GMOs as the FDA does not require safety studies of GMOs and does not require labels to be placed on GMOs that are marketed. To continue, GMOs pose a risk to farmers who are attempting to grow organic crops as GMOs “contaminate” the gene pool through cross pollination. Thus, we must all determine whether the numerous benefits that GMOs provide outweigh the equally large number of risks.
(Source: https://responsibletechnology.org/10-reasons-to-avoid-gmos/).
February 13, 2019 at 5:47 AM
Anonymous said…
Essentially, GMOs have given farmers the ability to do more with less. Lately, farms have seen a decrease in the use of fuel along with a decrease in pesticide use as well. Farmers are able to incorporate several conservation methods more freely due to the fact that they are now better able to control weed, pest, and disease pressure with a genetically modified seed. Moving forward, modified crops are providing direct benefits to consumers and help preserve food longer as well. This technology combined with the focus on reducing food insecurity will certainly benefit us all in the long run.
February 13, 2019 at 7:35 AM
Anonymous said…
I think that GMO foods allow people to become efficient with their environment. People can produce greater amounts of food in small areas of land and provide the nutrients needed for countries that are malnourished. In my household, I am not aware if my foods are genetically modified because all I do is eat what my mom provides. People believe that GMOS is harmful for their health because they see the amount of chemicals and gene changing that the crops must endure. They realize that these changes will shape the actual food and the actual nutrients they provide.
February 13, 2019 at 12:18 PM
Anonymous said…
I think that most people are strongly against GMOs because they don’t really understand what it is. I remember watching a Jimmy Kimmel video where the went out onto the street to ask people what GMOs stand for. While that might not be the most reliable source as they probably pick out the people who didn’t know what it stands for, it is still shocking that so many people are against something they don’t even know a lot about. I understand the desire for perfect food untouched by man until it reached the palm of your hand. In the perfect world we would all go out in a cute pair of overalls and grow our own garden with minimal effort. Pesticides and GMOs would not exist. Unfortunately, that’s not practical, with our busy lives we can’t grow food for our family, and definitely not in your cute overalls because they would be ruined. GMOs provide a better alternative to pesticides, so its something we need to learn to accept. It’s the better of the two options.
February 13, 2019 at 12:41 PM
Anonymous said…
In terms of my own life, practically all the food that I eat is derived from GMOs and I could say the same for everyone else. Almost all of the food we eat comes from GMOs. However, I do not actively seek out non-GMO products. Many believe that GMOs are harmful because when they hear "genetically modified" they often suspect that their produce is detrimental to their health. Furthermore, people are often weary about produce coming froms scientific experiments. However, we should not reject the practical and essential benefits that GMOs provide to mankind.
February 13, 2019 at 2:25 PM
Anonymous said…
Contrary to popular belief, GMO crops are actually very beneficial to us and our environment. They help use resources efficiently, fight pests and disease, and conserve natural habitats. First, some GMO corn crops can protect harvests in water-limited conditions better than conventionally produced crops. Other GMOs can also promote the use of no-till farming, which keeps more moisture in the soil. No-till also enables farmers to make fewer passes through the field using machinery, which means less fuel used and greenhouse gases emitted. Second, scientists are developing crops that look and taste the same as their non-GMO counterparts, but are resistant to insects and plant-specific diseases that can impact a farmer’s harvest. Plants with traits that protect roots from insect damage have an additional benefit of using water more efficiently. Lastly, GMO seeds can help farmers around the world meet the increasing demand for food by helping them make the most of their existing arable land, thus enabling them to preserve nearby habitats.
February 15, 2019 at 4:24 PM
Anonymous said…
I think it’s extremely important to start circulating these facts because many people are against GMO’s due to the notion that they are artificial and therefore debilitating to the environment. People who believe this are simply trying to help the environment, but they are misinformed in their pursuit of sustainability. Less biodiversity in crops, at least in my opinion, is much less harmful than runoff from pesticides. Runoff can affect other ecosystems, as well, not just the crops, and can harm plant and animal species unrelated to the agricultural sphere. GMO’s, like you stated, will also benefit people in third world countries who don’t have crops with enough nutritional value because they can give these people a more effective food source. For example, there is a new strain of rice grown in Southeast Asia that reaps almost twice the nutritional benefits as normal rice, which would help numerous people out of poverty and bad health.
February 17, 2019 at 10:00 AM
Anonymous said…
GMOs provide a valuable service for humanity: nutritious, tasty, and easily grown food. Like you said, it also provides a substitute for traditionally grown crops, which harm the environment through excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers. While GMOs are more hardy and provide more yield, their monopolization by companies such as Monsanto restricts their benefits. Farmers in third-world countries must pay for genetically-modified crops to remain competitive in their respective markets, which are unsustainably expensive. These farmers are also subjected to lawsuits from the same companies, because these corporations are desperate to profit off of GMOs. Another detriment of GMO crops, which you addressed, is that they decrease biodiversity. However, these issues can be resolved if the patents on GMO crops were shortened or eliminated, and if modern agriculture encouraged polyculture instead of monoculture, which would increase biodiversity and return nutrients to soil. The benefits GMOs offer to humanity shouldn’t be ignored; these crops allow the lives of billions of people, and further investment into research would replace harmful traditional crops.
February 18, 2019 at 10:04 PM
Anonymous said…
In the society today, most foods are made from genetically modified crops. They provide us with many nutritious and tasty foods. Many people see GMOs as harmful because they only see the one perspective of the foods being chemically altered. However, GMOs allow for billions of people to be fed and it supplies the excessive amounts of food demands we call for. Although GMOs decrease the biodiversity of the crops and resources, it supplies mankind with essential benefits. GMOs are beneficial because they are a substitute for harmful pesticides and fertilizers. They provide more yield and help support the large numbers of populations. Genetically modifying organisms helps farmers by protecting crops during certain conditions and by conserving habitats. These modifications help strengthen the immunity of these crops to certain problems that would usually destroy them. I think that we should raise awareness on what GMOs actually is and how it impacts the environment, so that people could start understanding that genetically modifiying foods actually helps the ecosystem.
February 19, 2019 at 9:23 AM
Anonymous said…
I read an article upon reading your blogpost about the backfiring of GMOs. Some GMO company created seeds to help India during their times of famine and dry seasons. These were supposed to combat the dry nature of India’s land, but instead, all of the crops were a fluke and India lost a major source of their food in one go. This led to the suicide of 15 Indian farmers who were overcome by their guilt for failing to provide for their families. I think we should be wary of these circumstances and cherry pick our GMOs.
February 19, 2019 at 10:07 AM
Mallory Odom said…
I personally didn't know the many positive aspects of GMOs. I've always heard them talked about negatively due to their artificiality and their association with increased use of pesticides. I don't think there will ever be a definite answer on whether GMOs are bad or good for our environment, because clearly, there are both benefits and consequences of producing GMOs.
February 19, 2019 at 4:22 PM
Anonymous said…
The most direct way in which GMO’s have effected my life is that the majority of fruits and vegetables I consume contain GMO’s. Personally, I don’t take an issue with eating foods containing GMO’s. For one, if there was any safety concerns with GMO’s the FDA and CDC would be aware of it and would warn us. Additionally, knowing that GMO’s are better for the environment, I am even more for GMO’s. I feel like there’s a large stigma against GMO’s simply because when people hear “genetically modified”, they picture something drastic like Jurassic Park.
February 19, 2019 at 5:44 PM
Anonymous said…
GMOs are incredibly important in my life as a lot of my food stems from GMO origins and makes my diet must cheaper. I don’t really take a personal issue with GMOs; although I think they can be used excessively and need to be regulated, I believe that is more of the job of governmental agencies rather than individuals as not everyone can afford to eat foods that don’t have GMO’s. Also, your blog is enlightening on the positive impacts GMOs have. People largely tend to stigmatize GMOs due to the uncertaininity behind them and the fact that they deal with genetics. Overall, I think they’re necessary in today’s world but could be regulated more.
February 19, 2019 at 6:00 PM
Anonymous said…
Nowadays, almost everything is derived from GMOs. I mean, why wouldn’t they be used so much? They make production grow faster, bigger, and tastier. I always thought that GMOs were bad for us and the environment, but after reading this, i was proved just the opposite. I thought it was really interesting to learn the many benefits of GMOs. Maybe they’re not so bad after all.
February 19, 2019 at 6:18 PM
Anonymous said…
I'm curious to know how non-GMO crops survived before pesticides. Nonetheless, I don't necessarily think GMO foods are entirely terrible. They're pretty sustainable and make production of crops a lot faster. I'm not too sure about the possible health effects, but right now I think they're a pretty okay solution to the growing need for more food.
February 19, 2019 at 6:37 PM
Anonymous said…
I have always taken the resource of food for a granted my entire life. I never even question to see if something is a GMO or not. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was until my freshman year of high school. Despite the negative effects of such modification, I think GMO’s also provide an efficient way to mass produce food for people that can not necessarily afford organic or even non GMO foods, if there are any left. With the invention of GMO’s life has gotten more convenient for people, but I still defineilty think we should work towards lowering the negative effects of GMOs .
February 19, 2019 at 9:36 PM
Anonymous said…
I for the most part do not avoid eating GMO’s as I believe them to be very beneficial in society in order to help stop hunger worldwide. Rice has been genetically modified before in order to create rice high in nutrients that was also able to be grown at a considerable rate. This is just one of the benefits GMO’s have on the environment and population. I believe people are scared of GMO’s because they are afraid of the unknown. Since they do not understand GMO’s and only see it to be some scientific change in a plant, they are afraid of its effects and refuse to believe in its benefits despite much scientific research backing it.
-Adam Ghanem
February 19, 2019 at 9:56 PM
Yashu said…
For as long as I've heard, GMOs solely harm the environment. It's fascinating to hear a different side to that, that GMOs actually harm the environment less than regularly grown crops. GMOs are useful in that they help grow food to feed the population very fast and result in very affordable produce. However, it is also true that the genetic diversity of crops is severely decreasing because of it. Soon, strands of food could possibly go extinct because of the lack of that diversity. GMOs are theoretically very beneficial and your article gives some very good reasons as to why.
February 19, 2019 at 10:08 PM
Anonymous said…
Interventions of the GMOs have caused a large variety results for humans everywhere. GMOs have been know to allow insulin to be created in a much simplistic method that allowed people to find a solution to the lack of a sustainable source of insulin. On the other hand, the intervention of GMOs into modern farming will no doubt cause issues as we have to reduce genetic diversity significantly. This can lead to a very fragile ecosystem that can be wiped out. Overall, we must proceede with caution when working with GMOs.
February 20, 2019 at 12:18 PM
Caroline Tuggle said…
GMO's are something that have been talked about constantly for a long time now, but even though they have been highly discussed, I don't believe we are doing everything we can to prevent genetically modifying products too much to the point of mutation . Major companies feel a constant need to continue to improve their products in order to keep their demographic interested and willing to buy their products, but with this often comes many scenarios where the product is altered too far and that causes the mutation to occur . I believe in order to keep the public happy with their selection of goods and products to choose from, GMO's are okay, but they are only okay if the companies handling the modifying know how far is too far in terms of modifying their merchandise .
February 20, 2019 at 4:17 PM
Anonymous said…
I feel that GMOs are highly stigmatized due to a lack of knowledge in the public as to what GMOs really are. Although tampering with an organism’s DNA seems disasterious for biodiversity, the expanded proliferation of GMOs globally could actually result in a positive environmental impact. Additionally, GMO’s could help solve problems with world hunger and health by producing necessary amounts of necessary crops. I don’t actively seek out GMO’s while shopping, but I do realize that they don’t necessarily provide a threat to my health. Many people have unnecessarily adopted a negative attitude toward GMOs due to a lack of education on what they are, and I believe that proper education can reduce the negative connotation of GMO’s.
February 20, 2019 at 4:54 PM
Anonymous said…
GMOs are a hot topic, but are routinely attacked for their harm to the environment. GMOs do impact the biodiversity of an area, but it can also come with environmental benefits. GMOs are currently known to enhance certain plants that can help reduce world hunger and lower production costs for higher yields. The negative attitude towards GMOs aren't entirely true. Although we must proceed with caution pursuing GMOs, GMOs are a solution to many problems that must be addressed.
February 20, 2019 at 9:04 PM
Anonymous said…
I think GMO’s are beneficial to the environment. Many people believe that they are bad or unhealthy because of all the chemicals in them, but they do not talk about the benefits of them. With the fast growing world population GMO’s help create more food and stop world hunger. They lower production costs for farmers by producing higher yields. GMO’s can solve a lot of the worlds inssues by feeding more people and stopping world hunger.
February 21, 2019 at 2:47 PM
Anonymous said…
GMOs are considered to be bad for the environment as they greatly reduce biodiversity as positive traits in the crops are desired. However, their benefits go largely ignored. Reducing the amount of pesticide necessary greatly benefits the environment especially by reducing it's accumulation in run off, keeping the water that seeps into the soil and accumulates as ground water cleaner and reduces it's consumption by other animals which keeps a good balance in the food web. They are also both economically beneficial, and essential with the current rate of population growth more so in densely populated areas.
February 22, 2019 at 8:19 PM
Anonymous said…
GMO's are can have both positive and negative effects. In some cases, GMO's are expensive, overgrown and bad for the environment due to their inability to reproduce. They also have a negative connotation when it comes to chemicals and other components of these GMO's, because many of these chemicals are unsafe for human consumption. GMO's can also help people in areas where they might not get all the nutrients/minerals/vitamins they need from the basic agriculture in the area. Genetically modified crops sub in place of these missing crops and help provide a proper diet to the people.
February 24, 2019 at 8:25 PM
Luke Farinelli said…
The GMO debate is one of the dumbest in the world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with GMO's. Selective breeding is the reason humans were able to cultivate crops and domesticate animals. GMO's help us grow in different environments and are able to change the way food tastes. There are some examples of bad GMO use like in tomatoes. I hate modern tomatoes, but heritage tomatoes are great.
March 2, 2019 at 4:03 PM
Luke Farinelli said…
Above is Luke Farinelli
March 2, 2019 at 4:45 PM
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