Final Writing Exam

3. The advantages of GM foods are greater than the disadvantages. Agree or disagree and explain why.


Genetically modified food has been the subject of lots of debates for months. Us consumers here about it every single day whether it’s on the news or the newspapers. Everything is about food. But one particular issue we all wonder about is if the disadvantages of GM foods are less superior to the advantages. In this essay we will figure out if there are more advantages.

First of all the GM (genetically modified) food are safe. They are highly tested, follow the guidelines and must be approved by Canada Health to be on the market. All the tests are related to chemistry, molecular biology, toxicology and many more. It is also checked for potential long term health trends. Furthermore it could prevent undernourishment in others countries who truly need a supply of food because the “world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 year(1)”. This matter could be a big problem and, without the technology of GM foods, how could we provide enough food for the whole world. Using this technology allows more productivity. As well the GM crops are able to be tolerant to harsh locations. So that it could be a lot easier for farmers to produce GM foods in many places. Moreover GM foods offer nutritional substance. For example with the “golden rice” that contains vitamin A that prevents millions of Asian kids to going blind.

Besides, there are others good aspects of GM foods. The crops we use to create GM foods are strong enough to be resistant to herbicide and pesticide. In addition to that, it could avoid severe damages on the environment because if a plant becomes more and more resistant to chemicals it will decrease the utility of it. On that same aspect, GM plants have also a positive impact on the environment. “Plants such as poplar trees have been genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil(2).” These GM plants can have a helpful affect on the groundwater pollution.

To sum up, of course there will always be a lot of controversy regarding GM foods. But GM foods could answer to the problem of starvation and malnutrition. It also has a constructive impact on the environment. The food is extremely supervised on the testing. The world can’t ignore all that technology could bring and all the benefits of it.


References:

1- http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php
2- ibid.

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