GMOs
Unit 3. Our last unit of the school year. For our last Action Project I created a video about GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms), and where I stand on the subject. Leading up to this project we went on an FE to the Lincoln Park Farmers market and talked to local farmers and consumers about GMOs and what they believe GMOs are good or bad for. We also learned about gene editing and gene modification. We learned new math concepts such as Punett Square and Binomials and trinomials. We learned about how the panama disease destroyed the Gros Michel banana and how maybe hybrid GMOs could've prevented that.
After doing extensive research online and in the field I decided side with being Con-GMOs and here’s why. 1 - We don’t know the affects and impacts that GMOs could possibly have on human health. I watched a Docu series recently on Netflix called “cooked” by Michael Pollen. He talked about how since we started eating more processed, unnatural, and GMO foods that there has been a significant rise in type 1 and 2 diabetes and obesity in America. Food trends like GM corn products have been rising now because of GMOs and so has the obesity rate in America.
2 - GMO crops are engineered crops. They threaten the diversity of crops. When there are a GMOs being used for a growing a crop it’s usually a monoculture crop. A monoculture crop means your only growing and producing a single crop or plant species. Monoculture crops lack biodiversity and are a threat to natural soil. Monoculture crops strip the soil of nutrients and are prone to plant pathogens and disease.
3 - If we are going to have GMOs there should be transparency in the food market. What hurts more than knowing about GMOs, is not knowing. There are non-gmo labels on food but I believe that people should know what they are buying so that they can make an educated choice. If a food item has GMOs in them it should be labeled. I asked another vendor who was at the Farmers market about what she chooses to buy as a consumer. She said “My dollar is my vote, and I want to vote for more organics, non-GMO, and sustainable items to be available in stores. The more I buy them, hopefully people will wow, and stock their stores with more stuff like this.”
4 - It’s dangerous when you have companies controlling your food systems and your food sources. Owning seeds should not be under anybody’s control. William F. Engdahl wrote a book on this exact topic called “Seeds Of Destruction. The hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation.” He stated in his book, “Control the food, and you control the people.” When farmers sign up to use Genetically modified seeds for their crops from Biotech companies there are usually strings attached. Legal strings in fact. To use GMOs they have to waive rights such as saving the seeds. An article came out in 2015 called GMOs Myths and Truths and they exposed “GM crops are not about feeding the world but about patented ownership of the food supply.”
5 - Why Do We Need GMOs To Feed The World? Some may argue that using GMOs are necessary to feed the world because we can create a higher yield from crops. But in an article I recently read it stated “A report in 2008, conducted by over 400 international scientists, sponsored by the World Bank and United Nations, did not endorse GM crops as a solution to world hunger. It said that yields of GM crops were ‘highly variable’ and in some cases in decline.”
6 - Ethically, there is a lot that can be argued about GMOs. But it’s food. It’s cultural and personal. There are risks of cross-contamination between GMO and non - gmo crops. And genetically modified foods potentially can trigger allergies and diseases in humans. The goal is for Genetically modified technology companies to address ethical issues like these correctly.
GMOs aren’t leaving anytime soon. We just need to figure out a way to make the GM technology so that it’s safe, sustainable, and benefits everyone.
Below is my video and my script!
June 29th 2019:
I went to the Lincoln Park Farmers Market in Chicago, with one goal: To talk to real people about their real opinions on GMOs. Each vendor at the Farmers Market was either doing all natural, non-GMO, organic, or sustainable gardening. I wanted to see the difference of what a farmer says about GMOs and what a consumer says. The first booth I went to I met a farmer named Edith. Her farm was local and she was selling fresh produce. We were finishing up our conversation and she said something interesting. “I don’t like GMOs, I think we’re messing with fire there. It’s okay for hybrids, I think people need to know the difference between what’s a hybrid and what’s a GMO. If your familiar with what a hybrid is, you take two old-fashioned varieties and you put them together and create a new variety of that plant. Whereas the GMOs we’re talking about is changing the whole dynamic of the seed.”After doing extensive research online and in the field I decided side with being Con-GMOs and here’s why. 1 - We don’t know the affects and impacts that GMOs could possibly have on human health. I watched a Docu series recently on Netflix called “cooked” by Michael Pollen. He talked about how since we started eating more processed, unnatural, and GMO foods that there has been a significant rise in type 1 and 2 diabetes and obesity in America. Food trends like GM corn products have been rising now because of GMOs and so has the obesity rate in America.
2 - GMO crops are engineered crops. They threaten the diversity of crops. When there are a GMOs being used for a growing a crop it’s usually a monoculture crop. A monoculture crop means your only growing and producing a single crop or plant species. Monoculture crops lack biodiversity and are a threat to natural soil. Monoculture crops strip the soil of nutrients and are prone to plant pathogens and disease.
3 - If we are going to have GMOs there should be transparency in the food market. What hurts more than knowing about GMOs, is not knowing. There are non-gmo labels on food but I believe that people should know what they are buying so that they can make an educated choice. If a food item has GMOs in them it should be labeled. I asked another vendor who was at the Farmers market about what she chooses to buy as a consumer. She said “My dollar is my vote, and I want to vote for more organics, non-GMO, and sustainable items to be available in stores. The more I buy them, hopefully people will wow, and stock their stores with more stuff like this.”
4 - It’s dangerous when you have companies controlling your food systems and your food sources. Owning seeds should not be under anybody’s control. William F. Engdahl wrote a book on this exact topic called “Seeds Of Destruction. The hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation.” He stated in his book, “Control the food, and you control the people.” When farmers sign up to use Genetically modified seeds for their crops from Biotech companies there are usually strings attached. Legal strings in fact. To use GMOs they have to waive rights such as saving the seeds. An article came out in 2015 called GMOs Myths and Truths and they exposed “GM crops are not about feeding the world but about patented ownership of the food supply.”
5 - Why Do We Need GMOs To Feed The World? Some may argue that using GMOs are necessary to feed the world because we can create a higher yield from crops. But in an article I recently read it stated “A report in 2008, conducted by over 400 international scientists, sponsored by the World Bank and United Nations, did not endorse GM crops as a solution to world hunger. It said that yields of GM crops were ‘highly variable’ and in some cases in decline.”
6 - Ethically, there is a lot that can be argued about GMOs. But it’s food. It’s cultural and personal. There are risks of cross-contamination between GMO and non - gmo crops. And genetically modified foods potentially can trigger allergies and diseases in humans. The goal is for Genetically modified technology companies to address ethical issues like these correctly.
GMOs aren’t leaving anytime soon. We just need to figure out a way to make the GM technology so that it’s safe, sustainable, and benefits everyone.
Comments
Post a Comment