The Potential Harm of Consuming Genetically Modified Food

In his article, the Truth about Genetically Modified Food, David Freedman attempts to unravel the truth behind the safety of consumption of genetically modified food. He first does this by analyzing the opinion from some of the top notch researchers and scientists in molecular biology among who include Robert Goldberg to whom, the crops are safe for consumption and wonders why researchers still raise sharp questions. His opinion is in line with fellow researcher’s David Zilberman who also considers the crops as the key solution to feeding the overpopulated world. On the contrary, other researchers like David Williams, a cellular biologist, consider the crops potentially harmful to human health when consumed.

He then proceeds to outline some of the benefits associated with the utilization of the crops. Among the advantages he outlines include reduced food prices and less hunger deaths. Succeeding the benefits of the GM crops are their limitations and in depth statistics regarding the adoption of the crops which directly point the negative side, where the Western nations highly condemn their usage as the African and other developing nations follow the trend. He also looks at the situation of the crops adoption in Europe where skepticism is at all high with demands for shutdown of the technology until proven absolutely safe.

In the succeeding sections of the paper, he outlines the records of some of the genetic altering of the plants which have been conducted successfully in the past with zero cases of harm to the participants. He also includes some of the futile experiments on the toxic nature of the GM crops perhaps in support of the idea giving an instance of a recent, highly refuted research conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Caen in France. A research that was aimed at establishing the toxic nature of the GM crops which despite giving positive results, was dismissed to the advantage of the GM technology. He then concludes by suggesting a way forward for the GMO technology stating the need for intense testing of the GM crops even though he does not take a clear stand on the subject.

In my opinion, I believe the Genetically Modified crops are not all that bad, simply because the modification of some of the plants are all geared towards human benefit. A good example is the paper tree, although not necessarily meant for human consumption, has helped reduce the number of trees cut in pursuit of paper production. Besides, the genetically modified maize plants have helped feed the hungry in a good number of impoverished countries, reducing the hunger death toll by a great proportion. However, the major problem with GMOs arise when companies put more focus on profit rather than consumer health, a key factor likely to result in the production of toxic crops. For now, as Freedman notes, required is intense testing of the crops ensure they are absolutely safe for human consumption, else, the sharp questions pertaining to their human health will never cease.