資料紹介
遺伝子組み換え食品がもたらす様々な害について。
APA style 2500 word report in English about the risk of the use of genetically modified foods.
All rights reserved.
資料の原本内容
Edward R. Wada
December 19, 2017
The Use of Genetically Modified Organisms
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2017), up to 108 million people face the crisis level of food insecurity in 2016, a 35% increase from that of the previous year. Genetic engineering has been being developed for the purpose of rescuing people from such food crises by means of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are defined as “organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination” by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2014, para.2). GM food is believed to be more productive, less costly, and thus more affordable thanks to the development of genetic engineering; therefore, hopefully, it can meet ever-growing world population and feed them. Additionally, GMOs are believed to be superior to non-GMOs as the technology of genetic engineering allows them to have a wide range of desirable traits such as longer-lasting, better-tasting, better-looking, environment-friendliness, and insect- and chemical-resistiveness.
I would definitely agree with the use of GMOs if they were safe. However, the case is not that ideal; agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporations have been developing GMOs primarily for their own sake, exploiting farmers and consumers, and deteriorating environment by means of GMOs. Consequently, their strategies have deprived farmers of alternatives to depending on the corporations, which gain an increasing amount of profit from them. As they keep imposing farmers on paying increasingly, it widens the gap between poor farmers and themselves. Neither such corporations nor the safety of GMOs are reliable, and what is more disastrous and problematic for us is that we have no way to identify such possibly unsafe foods produced by those untrustworthy corporations so as to reject to consume GMOs. 37 nations have either banned or prohibited GMOs (Jonson, 2012), and 64 nations have required some forms of mandatory labeling for GMOs (Center for Food Safety, 2013). GMOs may be harmful for both human and environment, and does not help but even contribute to the world food crises. Therefore, GMO should be restricted until the safety is ensured, or, at least, labeled so that consumers can identify it and decide to take it or not. This paper will be providing the reasons with regard to the safety and the economic aspects of GMOs.
Safety of GMO
Safety is the most controversial filed of GMO. Anxiety over risks of the high use of GMO has been drastically increasing due to the lack of evidence that shows either the absolute harm or absolute safety of GMO from reliable tests and researches. This brings about the uncertainty of its long-term effects. Some major institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) note that although people have been taking GM foods for nearly 20 years, no “seriously harmful” impacts were found thus far (Sifferlin, 2012). Moreover, genetic engineering enables us to improve the nutritional contents by altering a certain gene, which can be expected to help satisfy the nutritional needs especially among people in developing countries. For example, Vitamin A deficiency was a significant health problem in developing world, which killed approximately 2 million children a year and left many of the rest blind. This is where GMO can help them. According to Paine et al. (2005), 1-3-year-old children can get 50% of RDA, recommended dietary allowance, of vitamin A with just 72g of dry ‘Golden Rice,’ a GM crop.
Nevertheless, just because the statement of WHO, AMA, and AAAS seems to encourage intakes of GMO, it does not mean that GMO is safe. It is true that no “seriously harmful” impacts have been reported thus far; this is merely because those ...
