Prologue Genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) have a mixed image in terms of a cultural context here in the United States. Our domestic views vary significantly from international views on GMO usage in the agriculture industry. This difference of opinion comes from a gap in public knowledge in relation to how genetically modified organisms are used in our agricultural goods such as crops and livestock. This gap in public knowledge is slowly decreasing as the media has taken on GMO’s as one of the centerpieces in attempting to reform the health and nutrition industry by pushing legal reform in context to agricultural GMO usage. This media influence occurs through various outlets including the news, documentaries, ad campaigns and more. …show more content…
With this perception, the public looks at GMO enhanced food as food that is of overall lower quality and not as nutritious as food that is organically grown in an enhancement free environment. This public opinion is derived from an overall lack of knowledge of how companies genetically modify crops and livestock and for what purposes they use this technology. With word of mouth being the most common form of GMO usage discussion, information about GMO’s spreads in a way similar to the game of telephone. A message is started to be spread but by the time the message reaches the end consumer, it is worded differently and can be understood for a completely different idea. The difference in public opinion domestically vs. internationally is accentuated by the various government regulations in both environments. Governmental regulation in the United States is far less extensive and more relaxed than how international markets, especially European countries regulate GMO …show more content…
There was no general consensus that farmers came to in terms of how they felt about being favorable or non-favorable to using GMO’s in crops. US News talked to farmers who were currently operating their farms with genetically modified crops. The rationale behind their decisions varied. Two out of the fiver farmers started to grow genetically modified crops for the sake of money. Both farms were struggling financially and found that using genetically modified crops were not only cheaper to grow in terms of startup growth but also cheaper to maintain due to a reduced need for insecticides and weed control among crops. This reduced cost helped save both of these family farms. One cotton farmer in the study grew genetically modified cotton because cotton is a crop that isn’t consumed. GMO usage has maximized his profits without possibly putting the public at risk of consuming something with long term health risks. Lastly, the last two farmers surveyed by U.S. News proudly implemented genetically modified crops because they believe that GMO usage is a good thing for the community. Jennie Schmidt, a registered dietician as well as a Maryland farmer who encouraged genetically modifying crops, believes that using GMO’s is a sign of a progressive society. She believes that GMO technology will help move life in a forward progression due the combination of science and nature (Johnson, US