Monsanto is a leading
company of genetically engineered (GE) seeds. They said “Biotechnology is one
of tomorrow’s tools in our hands today. Slowing its acceptance is a luxury our hungry world
cannot afford”. Genetically modified organims (GMOs) are plants that have
undergone processes where DNA has been modified in order to get new features
which naturally couldn´t occur in the plant.
Throughout my research, I found that there are several
benefits that GMOs can provide to farmers, such as lower production costs and
higher yields because these plants have resistance to insects, diseases, and
environmental factors. GMOs are products that are subject to constant checks
and analysis even higher than traditional foods. All these advantages have been
justifications that producers of these plants have had to promote their
products, trying to fight hunger in the world and also fill our fields with
these organisms.
After the use of these plants, many problems have
occurred on the planet, and seventeen years later, hunger still pervades our
population. This is why I think that this is not the tool that will eradicate
hunger in underdeveloped countries. Most GMOs are resistant to chemicals such
as herbicides but unfortunately, the main producers of these plants also create
chemicals for weed control, which has become a big business that only increases
the use of these chemicals in our fields and every day pollutes more the
environment and food that will be produced from these plants. But the problems don’t end there. These
plants have toxic substances against diseases and insects that affect crops,
but these organisms, seeking survival, mutate and become new organisms. They
have no control and will destroy the crops. Not to mention that every day,
these crops also affect insects, animals, and other organisms that are
beneficial to the ecological balance of the environment, as is the case of the
Monarch Butterfly. These plants produce toxins as defense mechanisms, which can
cause numerous effects on human health. Tomatoes, corn, soybean and transgenic
potatoes have been produced gastric ulcers, intestinal damage, growth problems,
damage to the liver and kidneys, in rats that were fed with these plants, also
caused by the large amount of chemicals present in these foods. Besides these
crops, can have compounds that cause allergies by the combination of DNA from
different plants, as has happened with the soybean that was injected
with features a Brazilian walnut. Some studies also show that the vast majority
of foods from these crops, are indigestible, some compounds travel to the blood
and transmit components that block the action of drugs such as antibiotics.
From my point of view genetically engineered crops
were established as a business for big profits, but not as a method of ending
world hunger. Ironically, corn, soybeans and sugar beets, the most cultivated
transgenic plants are being used as a whole for animal food, especially for cattle,
and for the production of biofuels. But we need to feel calm because if our
planet was consuming these foods, the hunger would end in death. No doubt that
genetically modified crops won’t be the solution to world hunger, by contrast, it
will be more a problem for a population that every day is more extensive,
suffering from new diseases and has less space for the production of food. Thinking of production systems such as
hydroponics, where the products are completely organic, improving food security
bases in each of the countries and investing more money in the field, is the
solution.
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