Genetically modified foods are crops that have had genes altered through biotechnology to enhance desired traits. While GM foods can help address issues like malnutrition and food shortages, concerns exist around their safety for human health and impacts on the environment. However, with proper testing and regulation, GM foods may provide benefits like increasing crop yields, improving nutrition, and reducing pollution from pesticides and herbicides. The debate involves weighing these pros against the potential cons and ethical issues regarding the technology.

1. IN SUPPORT:: Suzanne Vasquez, Mark
Fuller, Stephanie Camello, Nhan
Truong, Mel Lagunzad, and Nhauyen Tran.

2.  WHAT IS A GENETICALLY  WHY PRODUCE THE CROP?
MODIFIED FOOD?  As the world’s population
 GM (genetic modification) is a increases, a staggering amount
special set of technologies that of people are undernourished
alter the genetic makeup of because they lack the resources
organisms such as to obtain the food they need.
animals, plants, or bacteria.  This shortage of food
 Combining genes from contributes not only to
different organisms is known as starvation, but also to disease
recombinant DNA technology. and malnutrition.
The resulting organism is said  It is estimated that by 2015, 582
to be “genetically million people in the
modified”, “genetically developing countries will be
engineered”, or transgenic”. undernourished. This will lead
 Therefore a GM food is one to more diseases and ultimately
who’s genes have been altered more death.
by combining them with the  By producing foods that are of
genes from a different better quality and have the
organism. capability of lasting fresher
longer, millions of people
would have access to the
resources needed to sustain
life.

3.  WHAT TYPES OF FOOD ARE GM?
 Rice: Genetically modified to contain high
amounts of Vitamin A.
 Tomatoes: Made for longer shelf life and to
prevent a substance that causes them to rot.
 Corn: Resistant to certain pesticides.
 Bananas: Currently being tested to produce
human vaccines against infectious diseases such
as Hepatitis B.
 Cows: Currently being tested to be resistant to
Mad Cow Disease.
 Other GM foods include:
Potatoes, papaya, squash, tobacco, sweet
corn, and vegetable oil.

4.  Genetic engineering involves “altering an organism’s genome to
create a new and useful result.”
 Plasmid Method, Vector Method: cut DNA pieces match with other pieces
to form beneficially selected genes to put into foods.
 Opponents might say it’s bad because it could cause prob’s if you mix
these bacteria with other bacteria.
 However, it’s good because it does not actually mix with other bacteria
outside a lab setting and can be used to clean up oil spills; will not mix
with other foods, and will not make you sick.
 Biolistics: Selected DNA is attached to metal and fired out like a gun into
target cells with a burst of pressured gas.
 Opponents might say it’s bad because it is the main way of making GM
foods and therefore isn’t safe to eat.
 However, this is wrong because this method it is safe and done in a lab
setting. It makes creating GM foods an efficient process.
 Gene Silencing: “silence” a gene by selecting the undesirable trait and
attaching a 2nd copy the wrong way around – to make it inactive.
 Opposition might say it’s bad because it is seen as chopping and
switching genes, saying it’s unnatural and unhealthy to inject these genes
into foods.
 However, this is completely incorrect because this method is extremely
beneficial (for example) in preventing peanuts and wheat from
producing allergens that cause human allergies!

5.  Gm involves inserting or deleting certain genes.
 All testing is safely performed in a lab setting.
 Expensive and easy only for trained scientists, but is
extremely beneficial in several ways
 Too expensive?
 Actually, cost will pay off in future with excess food supply!
 Ineffective Methods?
 Actually, these methods are safe and can improve crop
output, produce medicines, and potentially improve
nutritional value of foods.
 Methods inadvertently introducing new food
allergens?
 No, actually there is potential to improve food safety by
eliminating them. Ex: peanuts.

6.  Do genetically engineered foods cause allergic
reactions?
 Individuals opposed to the genetic modification of
foods may say that it causes allergic reactions or
create new unknown allergens but in actuality if a
reaction were to occur it would only arise in
susceptible individuals that already have a myriad of
allergens they are sensitive to.
 In addition to this examination of improbable health
concerns those against GM might believe that there is
no testing that’s gone under way to prevent possible
allergens, but in reality many countries are now
establishing regulatory procedures to observe these
effects and approve on certain GM foods.
 These procedures are what lead to the abandonment
of incorporating many potential risks into our
foods, or removing them when they are discovered
like the case of StarLink corn that had a GM protein
that posed a potential allergen risk.
 Also the potential modification to eliminate many
major allergens that individuals suffer from:
 Example: Peanuts, soy beans, etc…

7.  What are gene mutations and do they affect
genetically modified foods?
 Gene mutations occur when the involuntary
inclusion of a new gene is inserted in an entirely
different gene; this may disrupt the genome of
organism giving rise to a potential mutation or any
possible anomalies that may be harmful or beneficial
to our health.
 Helpful gene mutations:
 Crop seeds able to withstand cold temperatures that would
ordinarily not survive.
 Enhance the nutritional value of foods in order to provide
the necessary nutrition to impoverished areas of the world.

8.  The opponent may say: GM foods contain resistance
genes telling where the material was transferred.
AND that GM foods could spread diseases.
 It is true, but it has been an out of date technology.
 Now, methods remove antibiotic resistance from the
plant afterwards, or make GM so the antibiotic
resistance not transferred to the plants.
 Marker genes less dangerous than antibiotic
resistance genes have also been developed.
 An overall ban can move the genetic engineering
industry to stop using antibiotic resistance genes.

9.  GE does not cause the loss of nutrition, but it can be used to
increase amount of nutrition components of crops, and is
beneficial to human health.
 Ex: GE develops crop varieties with increased amounts of essential vitamins
and minerals such as vitamin A and iron in rice.
 The use of GE for the production and isolation of fructans results in a
more efficient plant production system of fructans, and promote their
use in human food.
 Increasing the level of flavonoids (important components of a healthy
diet) in tomato or increasing the level of essential amino acids (building
block in protein) in potato. (Fructans: polymers of fructose and are
naturally produced by 15% of flowering plant species, strengthen the
immune system, support a healthy circulatory, shrank cancerous
tumors and healed blood diseases caused by the Chernobyl nuclear
accident)

10.  There is a lot of argument that GE in foods can harm
the environment.
 However, studies show it can help reduce pollution!
 Tobacco, bad for human health.
 However, GE tobacco can clean the TNT in soil!
 TNT is toxic for humans.
 However, studies show that bacteria can clean TNT in soil.
 Researchers inserted a bacterial gene into tobacco plants and
the GM plants reduced the toxicity of the TNT soil!

11.  Although there are many concerns that GE foods cause gene
pollution, the advantages outweigh the costs.
 EX: farmers use chemical pesticides on plants. Genetic engineering in
crops produces pest resistant plants w/out using pesticides.
 Moreover, there are many ways to prevent gene pollution.
 Creating GM male plants which do not produce pollen.
 Creating GM plants don’t have the introduced gene, therefore if useful
insects eat pollen they’ll still survive!

12.  Without GM foods most of us would probably be
starving.
 GM crops are made pest, herbicide, disease, cold, and drought
resistant.
 Eating GM foods could modify your genes as well. FALSE!
 GM trees are made for phytoremediation. The trees restore metal
polluted soils so it may be usable again for growing crops.
 There are also health benefits in having GM crops:
 Rice is a staple food source for some but it does not contain many
life sustaining nutrients. Some suffer blindness from a vitamin A
deficiency. In order to prevent this, a strain of rice as been
genetically modified to contain vitamin A.
 Research is being done to modify potatoes and tomatoes to
contain vaccines.
 Therefore, the question is not whether GM foods are
beneficial or not but rather if people arewilling to accept
it.

13.  Many people choose organic foods rather than GM
foods mainly because of two reasons, ethics and
safety. These are viable opinions which are hard to
argue even with substantial evidence supporting GM
foods. However, many of those who are against
GMOs are usually uninformed about the possible
benefits. If told that GM foods had the possibility to
reduce world hunger (not totally solve) and to
promote health in third world countries, would you
deny its existence?

14. PROS CONS
 Crops are made for consumers  Safety for human health
so taste and quality are may have potential health
enhanced.
impacts.
 Crops are made hardier and
can thrive in some harsh  Negative impacts of
climates. environments microculture.
 Crops are more nutritional  Domination of food market
and have more yield. by large corporations.
 Animals are more  Violates the natural order in
resistant, reproductive, and
yield more which organisms are subject
(eggs, milk, meat, etc). to (“pretending to be God”)
 Environment can be  Stressful for animals
revitalized (pytoremediation).
 Environment is less polluted
(crops only need pesticide and
herbicide once).
 Population can be well fed.