Argumentative Essay Sample: GMOs Should Be Banned

📌Category: Biology, Food, GMO, Science
📌Words: 706
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 12 February 2022

GMOs, in other words, genetically engineered organisms, are probably one of the most prominent technological inventions of recent. It’s common knowledge that technology has been cultivated and improved over the eras, whether for economic reasons or by paying dividends in everyday luxury in our lives. This naturally brings a question to the mind of many: Are GMOs one of those great inventions that humanity truly needs? However, it’s important not every technological invention turned out for the better, and GMOs are a great example of this occurrence, given their adverse harm to the environment, terrible effects on people’s health, and the disruption of the natural course of food crops. 

One argument many multinational corporations bring up is that the invention of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) reduced the percentage of starving people globally. This claim has been proven false. Ever since GMOs were introduced, nearly over twenty years ago, the amount of famishing people has only risen globally. Many energy-producing crops, such as potatoes corn, and wheat have been overridden by GM soy crops in countries like Argentina and Brazil, to name a few. Furthermore, most of these GMO crops are destined to be animal feed, biofuel, and textiles instead of human consumption. And when it comes to nitrogen use efficiency, which is essentially the ability of crops to pull nitrogen from the soil, creating more effective use of fertilizer, and eventually reducing the demand for fertilizers, and conventional plant breeding outperforms genetic engineering. The production of GMOs has also shown no positive effects on the crops; according to data from the US Department of Agriculture, there has been no rise in soya and corn yields since GMOs were first introduced. One inference to derive from this study is that GMO crops do absolutely nothing in helping the hungry population in the world and should be eradicated. 

Besides not helping the starvation issue, there is very little known about the health implications of GMOs. Besides the scarce knowledge about genetically modified organisms, recent studies have shown that animals that are fed GM-containing feed can acquire severe health issues, which are harmful if passed on. Adding to the fact that there is little known about GMOs, current “certified” information is given by the same firms that produce them in many parts of the world, including the EU. This naturally causes some questions on the quality and bias of data. In addition to this, most GM crops are one of two types: herbicide-resistant or insecticide-producing. What this means is that when herbicides are used on GMO crops, the weeds become resistant over time, necessitating the application of even more chemicals. Insecticide-producing crops, on the other hand, create toxins that hurt not just pests but also pollinators, which improve the quality of the crops.

Subsequently, pesticides usage has increased by 404 million pounds ever since the introduction of genetically modified crops in 1996, which is an extremely critical amount. Through the process of putting genetically modified organisms as food on our table, we can expect to eat at least some percentage of the pesticides sprayed on so many of these GMO crops. A rising number of studies have linked some pesticides to an increased risk of cancer and diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, particularly among people who have been exposed to eating much genetically modified food. Another study shows that pesticides have also been linked to birth abnormalities, making unborn children particularly vulnerable. One of the most critical cases that involve this is Monsanto, the world's leading producer of GMO seeds, which are engineered to withstand the hazardous weed killer RoundUp, which the company also sells. As a result, the use of hazardous herbicides was classed by the World Health Organization as a carcinogen, which causes cancer in the human tissues. This marks one of the obvious reasons why GMOs should be removed from our food palate, given that it provides more harm than good. 

As time goes by, it’s obvious that there will be many new types of inventions attempting to solve the many problems in the world, and plenty has succeeded, such as the invention of vaccines and whatnot. However, not every technological progress has been helpful, and GMOs are a prime example of this, given their poor environmental effects, terrible health consequences, and interruption of the natural flow of food crops. GMO agriculture has also had no positive effects on crops, according to the US Department of Agriculture data, and we shouldn't completely trust them because we don't know enough about them. Among the reasons why GMOs should be banned, it’s obvious that the negative implications far outweigh the advantages.

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