Table of Contents
What is GMO and why is it important?
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) provide certain advantages to producers and consumers. Modified plants, for example, can at least initially help protect crops by providing resistance to a specific disease or insect, ensuring greater food production. GMOs are also important sources of medicine.
What are 3 good things about GMOs?
Function
- More nutritious food.
- Tastier food.
- Disease- and drought-resistant plants that require fewer environmental resources (such as water and fertilizer)
- Less use of pesticides.
- Increased supply of food with reduced cost and longer shelf life.
- Faster growing plants and animals.
What is the most common use of GMO?
Although GMOs are in a lot of the foods we eat, most of the GMO crops grown in the United States are used for animal food. To make it easier for consumers to know if the foods they eat contain GMO ingredients, the U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains a list of bioengineered foods available throughout the world.
Are GMOs beneficial?
GMOs also reduce the amount of pesticides that need to be sprayed, while simultaneously increasing the amount of crops available to be eaten and sold. Over the last 20 years, GMOs have reduced pesticide applications by 8.2\% and helped increase crop yields by 22\%.
How do GMOs harm the environment?
Research indicates that GM crop technology can result in a net increase in herbicide use and can foster the growth of herbicide resistant weeds. In addition, there is concern that the use of GM crops may negatively impact the agriculture ecosystem.
What foods are non GMO?
Most frozen fruits and vegetables are non-GMO unless from one of these five high-risk crops: corn, Hawaiian papaya, edamame (soybeans), zucchini and yellow summer squash. Choose organic or non-GMO verified for those five and watch out for other ingredients that might be from a risk crop.
What are the positives of GMO?
In theory, genetically modified crops and animals will also be more environmentally friendly because they conserve water, soil, and energy. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations states that one of the positives of GMOs is that farmers can produce more nutritious food.
What are the cons for GMOs?
Cons: Gene Transfer. A constant risk of GMO foods is that the modified genes of the organisms may escape into the wild. Brown University warns that herbicide-resistant genes from commercial crops may cross into the wild weed population, thus creating “superweeds” that are impossible to kill with herbicides .
What does GMO stand for?
GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. Let’s break it down word by word. Genetically refers to genes. Genes are made up of DNA, which is a set of instructions for how cells grow and develop.