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Sunday, April 13, 2006. Posted: 12:18pm CENT. |
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Genetically Modified
Foods: Serving the World |
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A
TSO Letters Special
Series:
Genetics Ethics |
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The following is part of a
TSO
Special Series: Genetics Ethics. In this series, students
are writing letters to newspapers, organizations, and politicians who have
influence over the issue of Genetics Ethics. Students select a topic to
write their letter on, and send the letter to an audience they select.
TeenSpeak Online merely serves as a destination for these letters to be
published. To submit your letter, click
here. Read more stories from
this series by returning to the Letters home page. |
Dear Congressman Emanuel,
The topic that I chose to write on is genetically modified
foods. I don't know what your views on them are, but I think that they
benefit the world rather than harm it.
The controversy surrounding this is that one side claims
genetically modified plants can end world hunger and do away with
pesticides. The other side says that this all will harm the human race
rather than help it. Combining genes from different organisms is known as
recombinant DNA technology, and the resulting organism is said to be
genetically modified, genetically engineered, or transgenic. Genetically
modified products include medicines and vaccines, foods and food
ingredients, feeds, and fibers. Based on the research that I have made, I
believe that the use of genetically modified foods will help better serve
the world and help eliminate global hunger.
Ronnie Cummins, a national director of the BioDemocracy
Campaign thinks
that genetically engineering food is wrong and immoral. She argues that
genetic engineering of crops can result in foods that are toxic,
carcinogenic, and allergenic. She warns that widespread planting of
genetically engineered crops could cause unexpected harm to the
environment; as crops are engineered to be resistant to weeds, insects,
and viruses, evolution will cause these pests to become stronger and more
dangerous. I agree with Cummins. The fact that foods that are not tested
enough and hit the market quickly may cause carcinogens and may be toxic I
can agree with. I do not believe that foods that are examined and proceed
correctly will cause these things. Evidence that health problems have been
from genetically altered foods can be seen in a potential severe
allergic reactions and in severe cases even death. Dr. Veljko Veljkovic,
an AIDS virologist from Belgrade, Serbia said that "The problem with
genetic engineering is that the development of techniques is much faster
than development of knowledge. As a consequence, the experiments cannot be
completely controlled, and their outcome could be unpredictable and
sometimes dangerous. GMOs are definitely involved in the horizontal gene
transfer and, for this reason, represent permanent potential source of new
pathogens that could be created accidentally or intentionally. This is so
especially for GMOs used in gene therapy, vectored vaccines and edible
vaccines." I feel that what Mr.Veljkovic is saying is that he has the same
opinion as me. He feels that genetically modified foods have to be
regulated. I also feel that the U.S. government should put warnings on
foods that are undergoing the process of becoming genetically altered.
All the claims that Ronnie Cummins said can at times be
true. But just look at all of the benefits that genetically modified foods
can give us. In 2003, about 167 million acres grown by 7 million farmers
in 18 countries were planted with transgenic crops, the principal ones
being herbicide- and insecticide-resistant soybeans, corn, cotton, and
canola. Other crops grown commercially or field-tested are a sweet potato
resistant to a virus that could decimate most of the African harvest, rice
with increased iron and vitamins that may alleviate chronic malnutrition
in Asian countries, and a variety of plants able to survive weather
extremes (
www.ornl.gov, 2005). In my opinion, one of the most beneficial ways
that genetically modified foods a beneficial to us humans is the fact that
using genetically modified foods can ultimately wipe out global hunger. By
growing abnormally large fruits and vegetables and also producing them to
grow faster will cause malnourished humans
to be able to feed them selves ultimately wiping out global hunger.
Evidence that this is true can be shown in Africa and in Cuba where the
use of genetically modified foods have caused crops to grow in record
time, thus causing the country to become more stable, hunger wise
(Christopher, David A, 2003).
Another reason why genetically modified foods are more
beneficial than harmful is because the use of them may help create animal
and plant vaccines quicker. On the horizon are bananas that produce human
vaccines against infectious diseases such as hepatitis B, and a safe,
effective vaccine for swine pseudo-rabies, a fatal herpes-virus, is
already in use. Disease-causing genes are not included in the genetically
engineered vaccines. Therefore, the vaccines build up the body's immunity
without the risk of causing disease. (Access Excellence, 2001). Some
vaccines are now being used to fight the foot-and-mouth disease, a highly
contagious viral disease that infects cattle, sheep, and other animals.
Although this disease has been eradicated in North America, it still
causes substantial livestock productivity losses elsewhere, particularly
in developing countries. Infected herds must be slaughtered, and
contaminated ranches must be left idle for months to prevent new outbreaks
of the disease (Access Excellence, 2001). The use of these medicine and
vaccines on these animals will result in less death and ultimately will
create more profit for the farmers. In my own opinion, I feel that the use
of these vaccines in the United States more often will cause more
efficient use of livestock and create more of a profit for farmers.
After you have read my letter I hope that your views on the use of
genetically modified foods are the same as mine and even if they are not,
I hope that I may have changed your mind. I suggest that you try and take
a call of action in using new genes to create new vaccines in animals and
to help eliminate world hunger.
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Please Note: The opinions in the above article are those
of the writer and do not in any way reflect those of TeenSpeak Online.
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