A big problem in the world today is the ever growing population.  A question that is often asked is how are we going to feed everyone?  I personally believe that we need GMOs in order to feed the 7 billion plus people.  GMOs stands for genetically modified organisms.  What this means is that genes of plants or animals are modified for a specific reason.  GMOs can help produce more yield per unit.  This means more tomatoes per plant or more meat per pig.  GMOs don’t just produce more food per unit it can also make crops more resistant to weather and pests.

PROs

                The obvious benefit of GMOs is we can produce more food as a society.  This is a big solution to the problem of an ever growing population.  Not only does GMOs increase a crops yield, it also makes it so that crops can be grown in harsher conditions.  This increases the places that crops can be grown and ultimately increase our food supply (Source).  One of the uses of GMOs, that a lot of people are not familiar with, is that it can actually make food taste better.  According to JR Minkel in a blind taste test of 37 people about 60 percent preferred genetically modified tomatoes compared to regular ones.  Another benefit of GMOs is that plants can be modified to need less water.  This can be beneficial to areas that receive less rain fall such as the desert or California which is experiencing a drought.  GMOs can be compared to inventions with a lot of research and money going into them; here is a video that explains how they are made.  As seen in the video using GMOs can benefit a plant when fighting disease.  This is nothing new, farmers have done cross breading for many years in order to have a plant that is more resistant to disease.  The only problem with the method of cross breading is that it can take many years, however, with GMOs it takes substantially less time with better results.  As seen in the video when treating a plant for a disease it works that same way as getting a flu shot.  The plants genes are modified, often times giving it a gene from the disease, in order for it to build up a resistance.

Cons

With all the great that GMOs offer there are some negatives as well.  With GMOs we are able to make plants more resistant to disease, however; when we do this we aren’t just making the crops more resistant.  Due to cross pollination weeds can become more resistant to being killed thanks to GMOs.  This increases the use of pesticides which are harmful to the environment.  When rain causes runoff from farms this washes away the pesticides into lakes and rivers.  The added pesticides in the water causes what is known as algae bloom which is harmful to the aquatic ecosystem.  The ecosystem is all connected and by changing one part it can have a bigger effect than people think.  Another common argument against GMOs is that it causes allergies.  According to Andrew Porterfield there has been an increase in the percentage of kids with allergies but this is not caused by GMOs.  This is a topic we have talked about in class where correlation does not equal causation.  People have seen an increase in the use of GMOs and an increase in allergies so they put the two together.  GMOs provides an opportunity to be able to produce more food in less time.  GMOs does what farmers have been doing for years in cross pollination in a faster more efficient time.

Picture Sources

Genetically Modified…What?: The Public’s Misinterpretation of GMOs

http://www.article-3.com/genetically-modified-ignorance-914581.1.html