GMO Persuasive Essay

644 Words3 Pages

As society changes and grows the supply and demand of certain crops vastly increases. This increase has led to the creation of GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Now you may ask what is a GMO. GMOs are organisms in which the genetic material or DNA has been changed to an artificial state, that doesn't occur naturally. While many people do not find GMOs as a threat to human health there are some factors of GMOs that do pose a threat to our health. Recent discoveries have shown two main factors that pose threats to human health. The first discovery is that there has been a large increase in the quantity of chemical herbicides used on GM crops and the amount of herbicides used continues to grow. The second discovery is that the International …show more content…

Since we have been using herbicides for such a long time the crops have become resistant to the herbicides, which in turn has caused the over usage of herbicides. This resistance and over usage has led to crops having to be sprayed with multiple herbicides including on herbicide with an ingredient of the Agent Orange defoliant used in the Vietnam War. The United States has also allowed some herbicide testing to be done by herbicide manufacturers but the outcomes were never released to the public. This testing that was done didn’t consider the effect on children or infants and also ignored any possible effects on the environment, such as the effect on the monarch butterfly or other insects. In 2015 the IARC concluded that glyphosate and 2,4-D did cause malignant tumors on multiple areas of animals. They also found that glyphosate increases the likelihood of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in …show more content…

After discovering that the herbicides used on GM crops are "probable human carcinogens" or "possible human carcinogens" I am shocked that the FDA doesn't require the labeling of GM foods. Another major issue with GM foods is that fact that the actual nutritional value is being affected. I understand the want to improve production and increase the amount of crops produced, but this is unjustifiable, we are essentially aiding in the decrease of health in America. We are also risking the lives of our fellow Americans by using cancer-causing herbicides on the GM crops. In the end, I understand science and technology are part of our daily lives, but if the production of GM foods continues I believe we have the right to know what we are eating, incase it’s a danger to our