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Over the past decade, we have seen a shift in farming, grossly due to advancements in technology. Factory farming is something that many at least have a general idea of thanks to teachers wanting to show Food Inc. in health class. Any person who has gone to the grocery store in their life knows the overwhelming new varieties of “organic” or “free-range” options with a special Non-GMO certified label.

Organic has definitely become trendy but many believe, including myself, that it is for good reason that it is trendy. It wasn’t until September 15th in my SC200 lecture that I felt I had any reason to think otherwise. Andrew stated that there is no evidence to prove that genetically modified organisms are bad, and challenged anyone in the class who found valid evidence to prove him wrong. I sat there and thought, “Okay. How hard can this be? I’ll google are GMOs actually bad for you?” I hoped maybe some reputable science journal would pop up in one of the top searches claiming that they are in fact bad for you. But I didn’t find this. I did find an article stating that Bill Nye apparently doesn’t think GMOs are dangerous for our health, and if Bill Nye says something, I’m inclined to believe him slightly.
I did find an article however on Slate, that goes in depth discussion of how the anti-GMO crusade is largely full of fear mongering tactics and fraud. It talks about how a quarter of a billion children are suffering from vitamin deficiency, a problem that GMOs help to aid.

Nutrition is a field that I feel is constantly changing or at least media outlets will promote this idea for money, but I don’t believe everything with an “organic” label is healthy. I think the healthiest good is food that is grown locally without genetic modification, but it’s expensive.
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I eat a lovely Trader Joe’s diet off my parent’s dime, but most of the population cannot shop at the prices that local, organic and free-range usually call for. The biggest argument for GMOs is the sustainability that comes along with it. Genetically modified food, factory farming feeds significantly more people than organic does. Chipotle is a fast growing chain but McDonalds still feeds the most people.

I’ve realized now that I never did enough research into GMOs, at least not on both sides. I took an idea and believed it, which is dangerous, because I have then contributed to spreading false ideas. I never thought GMOs could be anything other than bad, and now I’m realizing that they might in fact be really good.

Sources:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/07/are_gmos_safe_yes_the_case_against_them_is_full_of_fraud_lies_and_errors.html

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