Genetically Modified Organism

Introduction

There has been a great surge in the protest levels of genetically modified foods by the environmental organizations and public interest groups. The genetically modification of food crops and animals is considered extremely bad and for 25 years now this procedure is on. There has been a great increase in the dangers of this technique which has been recognized by scientists and farmers around the world.The countries have requested for the ban of the GMO products or insisted that they should be atleast labeled. Today, the threat is considered to be more drastic as it reports have suggested that the foods that are designed create RNA which can either silence a gene or activate a gene which was silent. The GMO is commonly meant for those crops that are eaten by humans and livestock. They are modified through use of new biological techniques.

Discussion

The main purpose of using these techniques is to increase those characteristics such as improvedconflict to chemical fertilizers and improvement in the nutritional content of the crop. In the beginning the methods used was breeding, however, such methods take a lot of time and usually are not viable. Genetic engineering is the method through which the traits of the plants become exactly the way they are desired. For instance, a gene which is responsible for drought tolerance can be inserted into different plants and thus, the new genetically modified plant will get the trait of drought tolerance.

Advantages of the GM food

The need for genetically modified products has mainly risen due to rise in population and to cater to the increasing demand. This is a major challenge being faced today.The important reasons for using genetically modified products are through creating pest resistance. The pest creates great losses of crops which results in devastation as this causes loss to the agriculturalists and hunger in many emerging countries. Further, people are unwilling to eat such diet products which are cured with pests as they create health hazards.The uses of excessive pesticides are also then passed on as agricultural waste which can than poison the water supply. Thus, it harms the environment.The genetically modification of food crops can finish the use of pesticides and reduce the costs that are associated from growing till it reaches the end user. Moreover, it is not an effective way to remove the weeds physically of some crops by way of tilling and therefore, farmers make use of spraying the herbicides in large quantities. This method is mainly employed to kill the weed and is an expensive and time consuming procedure. The spray needs to be done with proper care as it can also harm the crop. Therefore, the crops that are genetically engineered are resistant to the use of powerful herbicides and can help prevent environmental damage. For instance, genetically engineered soybeans will not be affected by the use of herbicide and thus, when the farmers grows these soybeans, there is a need for only one application of weed killer instead of ...