In the past, the population was so small that it was satisfied from a small amount of organic food production, but as the world got bigger and population became big, GMO was needed. Before the discovery of DNA and the use of test tubes, farmers chose plants and livestock with the best traits for selective breeding, which was the natural way of manipulating genes. The process all started in 1973, when a scientist tried genetic modification by the alternation of DNA strings. There are two ways of genetic manipulation modern and traditional. The modern genetic manipulation is transferring DNA of the species to another species and traditional is done by selective breeding. In fact, GMOs were created with the intention of providing consumer goods for the whole population, but recent studies showed the harmful impact of GMOs on our health. I was able to find the whole background of GMOs and how they affect business and agriculture. Furthermore, I was able to find how they damage gut flora and the diseases they trigger. I wasn’t able to find more information about the whole process of adding antibiotic resistance to the gene. The Federal agency should ban genetically modified organisms, because they contain antibiotic resistance that kills useful antibiotics in gut flora and they cause humans’ allergies to genetically modified foods. In this article, I will discuss GMOs’ effects on our health and our daily consumptions, the toxic compounds found in GMO, and the benefits of gut flora and how it is affected by GMO products. The article focuses on three important issues that everyone needs to be aware of, including the antibiotic resistance that is added as a marker system during the process of GMOs, Glyphosate that harms cattle, and GMOs stimulation of human allergen.
The increase in antibiotic resistance is a concern regarding its damage to gut bacteria in living organisms, which leads to antibiotic resistant diseases. Antibiotic resistance is added as a marker system for gene uptake during the process of GMOs, which leads to concerns about the useful antibiotics in animal’s gut while the resistance is transferred to gut flora. As a matter of fact, gut flora and useful antibiotics help the immune system by warding off waste and other bad bacteria; moreover, gut bacteria breaks down food and nutrients. Immunologist Gary Huffnagle from University of Michigan stated: “The gut is the central sensor for the outside world. Everything that comes from outside ultimately is going to end up there.” This referred to the antibiotic resistance that is contained in genetically modified foods. Considering the disadvantages of antibiotic resistance, “critics of the technology have stated that there is a risk of the spread of antibiotic resistance to the bacterial population either in the soil or in the human gut after ingestion of GM food.” (key, K.C. Ma, and MW Drake) This referred to antibiotic resistance as a threat to the plants and humans, because it also kills the good antibiotics that provide our body with immunity. Antibiotic resistance ought to be avoided instead of being used on animals and plants, because it would hurt the gut flora of living beings, including animals and humans. In conclusion, the immunologists believe that antibiotic resistance is unhealthy to the soil and the health of animals. For example, animals are getting diseases as a result of their weak immune system. Although the immunologists might object that “resistance genes were initially isolated from bacteria and are already widespread in the bacterial population,” I maintain that antibiotic resistance should be banned. Therefore, I conclude that the whole process of adding resistance to antibiotics as marker system should be prevented.
In addition, GMOs are causing an increase in humans’ allergies to genetically modified foods. In detail, “proteins in food are what trigger most allergic reactions in people. Most of the foreign proteins being gene-spliced into foods have never been eaten by humans before or tested for their safety.” (GE Foods Can Cause Allergic Reaction, Organic consumer Association) This information indicated that protein, which triggers allergies in humans, is being transferred to untested human foods. The general argument made by author Leighton Jones in his work “Science, Medicine, and the Future: Genetically Modified Foods,” is that Soybean is increasing allergies in human beings due to GMOs . More specifically, Jones argues that soybean is increasing allergies in human beings due to GMOs that are added to it and it is inevitable in entering human bodies, which is a great concern that shows the rising allergies in humans. He writes, “The soya was intended for animal feed, not human food. During tests it became clear that the nut protein that was transferred to soybean was allergic to humans, and the company elected not to pursue the development, citing the potential difficulties of preventing the soya from entering the human food chain.” (583). Jones is suggesting that nut protein is ineluctably causing allergies to humans, so it should not be transferred to soybeans. Leighton’s believes that the GM foods that are transferred to our food are escalating the risk of allergies in human beings. The majority of the population is consuming GM foods and having a high chance of allergies. The thing is, food plays the most significant role in our health and when it becomes genetically modified, it triggers allergies. For example, “In 1996, researchers found that the main allergen from Brazil nuts retains its allergenicity after being transferred into a GMO soybean.” (Nothing to Sneeze at: the Allergenicity of GMOs, Xu) Unfortunately, GMOs are stimulating allergies and making them worse. Therefore, the whole process of transferring genetically modified food to humans’ consumption has to be declined.
