Lockwood is a junior math and biology major from Indianapolis.
Imagine a world free of toxic pesticides and full of nutritional, resilient crops to feed the entire human population.
Conversely, picture ecosystems demolished by uncontrollable, herbicide-resistant “super” weeds and the human population starving from detrimental decreases in food production.
Both images represent the opposing ends of the spectrum of Earth’s future as scientists delve deeper into the creation of GMOs.
GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are crops or livestock that have had their DNA genetically engineered. DNA fragments containing the codes to produce a pesticide or survive harsh, dry conditions are spliced from other organisms into the existing natural code. The results are magnificent. Scientists can now create new forms of preexisting organisms with greater adaptabilities that may have never happened otherwise.
Crops can be engineered to produce a natural herbicide, reducing the amount of chemicals farmers must purchase and distribute across their fields. There are genetically modified salmon that grow to three times the weight of its wild counterpart in the same timeframe, helping reduce overfishing that currently ravages the world’s oceans.
Golden rice is the quintessential example of a GMO. Rice on its own is incredibly lacking in nutritional value yet it serves as the staple crop for over 100 countries. The biggest short-coming of rice is its lack in vitamin A, essential for human health. Thus, vitamin A deficiency has affected hundreds of millions of children, causing irreversible cases of blindness and death, in many of the countries dependent on rice as the main staple crop.
Golden rice has been genetically engineered to produce beta-carotene, a precursor for Vitamin A, to assist in supplementing the much needed vitamin. While the most nutritious strain of golden rice is still in development, the utilization of this crop could combat a global health issue.
However, GMO’s are not a perfect solution. Scientists are able to modify crops to resist herbicide. Instead of having to spot-treat the weeds to protect their crops, farmers can spray their fields with herbicide. The upkeep cost for the field drops as farmers need less herbicide, and the fields can grow stronger due to lack of competition.
However, these genetically modified plants can cross-breed in the field with weeds, creating super weeds. These super weeds are now also resistant to the common herbicides that the farmers use. As they reproduce with other weeds of their species, the herbicide resistance spreads further. Suddenly, farmers can no longer use the herbicide they once relied on, and the weeds can easily out-compete the crops with their quick-growing and hearty nature. After the whole process of genetic modification and implementation, farmers are left with much bigger problems than originally.
GMO’s provide enough hard evidence to create an argument to support or attack their development. There also remains the cultural argument where people are uneasy eating food that has been genetically altered because GMOs are no longer ‘organic’ or ‘natural.’
Should we label these foods? If that’s the case then I argue that every item in the grocery store should be labeled as such. Humans have conducted generations of selective breeding for years, and that yields no different results from immediate genetic modification. GMO’s are inevitable for the future of human civilization and our ever-growing population. With more time and research, the benefits will grow, and the deficits will shrink until the implementation of GMOs is a no-brainer.
-Lockwood is a junior math and biology major from Indianapolis.