Genetically Modified Crops
Essay 3 - Argumentative Essay
Topic:
Genetically modified food should be strictly controlled due to its various detrimental effects on the environment as well as human health.
Every time we go to supermarkets or any grocery stores, we would not know whether the vegetables, fruits or even meats being sold are genetically modified. To make this situation worse, most consumers do not pay much attention to what they are eating, when they are actually devouring genetically engineered food. Despite of this ignorance, more and more people, including researchers, are becoming aware of the impacts of genetically modified food, and debate over the issue of whether genetic engineering should be stopped from modifying organisms has never ceased. According to a statistic from Institute for Responsible Technology (2007), 91% of soy, 85% of corn, and 80% of canola sold in the U.S. are genetically modified. In fact, analysts estimate that 60% to 75% of processed food commonly found in supermarkets and restaurants are genetically engineered. Although genetic engineering technology in agriculture can help increase crops production, reduce environment pollution, increase the amount of nutrients in food, create pharmaceutical products, and slow down ripening process of plants, genetically modified food should be strictly controlled because it would create herbicide-resistant superweeds, cause genetic pollution, induce allergic responses, post risks to human's health and have negative impact on other wild species.
What exactly is genetically modified or engineered food? In molecular biology, genetic engineering is defined as "the direct manipulation of genes for practical purposes" (Campbell & Reece, 2005, p. 384). In other words, genetically modified organisms have specific changes in their own genome, mainly by the process of introducing foreign genes or DNA into the cells. Organisms that have been genetically engineered are scientifically called as "transgenic organisms",
Topic:
Genetically modified food should be strictly controlled due to its various detrimental effects on the environment as well as human health.
Every time we go to supermarkets or any grocery stores, we would not know whether the vegetables, fruits or even meats being sold are genetically modified. To make this situation worse, most consumers do not pay much attention to what they are eating, when they are actually devouring genetically engineered food. Despite of this ignorance, more and more people, including researchers, are becoming aware of the impacts of genetically modified food, and debate over the issue of whether genetic engineering should be stopped from modifying organisms has never ceased. According to a statistic from Institute for Responsible Technology (2007), 91% of soy, 85% of corn, and 80% of canola sold in the U.S. are genetically modified. In fact, analysts estimate that 60% to 75% of processed food commonly found in supermarkets and restaurants are genetically engineered. Although genetic engineering technology in agriculture can help increase crops production, reduce environment pollution, increase the amount of nutrients in food, create pharmaceutical products, and slow down ripening process of plants, genetically modified food should be strictly controlled because it would create herbicide-resistant superweeds, cause genetic pollution, induce allergic responses, post risks to human's health and have negative impact on other wild species.
What exactly is genetically modified or engineered food? In molecular biology, genetic engineering is defined as "the direct manipulation of genes for practical purposes" (Campbell & Reece, 2005, p. 384). In other words, genetically modified organisms have specific changes in their own genome, mainly by the process of introducing foreign genes or DNA into the cells. Organisms that have been genetically engineered are scientifically called as "transgenic organisms",