What are the pros and cons of genetically modified food?

Answer 1

The pros are limited only by what we understand how to do right now. Some foods are being modified to be more healthy to eat, some to require less pesticides, some to grow in more environments, and some to even be able to communicate their needs to farmers better to care is easier. This means in general terms more and better food for everyone.

Unfortunately, the cons can be pretty scary too. Altered food are, by definition, different. We don't always know exactly how they'll interact with the environment and what effects they'll have on the many other creatures nearby. There have also already been many incidents where genetically modified crops have mixed so easily and fast with normal crops that there was no way to contain the modified foods to just a small area. Likewise, sometimes it is hard to tell exactly how changes to a food will change the way it is digested and processed by the human body... which is the whole point of modifying food, after all!

The thing to keep in mind, though, is that there really exists no crop these days that has NOT been genetically modified. Changes in the past have not been so drastic or fast as genetic engineering can accomplish, but selective breeding and the use of certain chemicals have already rendered everything we eat into vastly different forms from those find in the wild.

Overall, I'd say it's a good thing. Scientists to want to poison themselves any more than anyone else! There are bound to be missteps as with any venture that isn't a sure thing, but I think the potential is just to great to simply ignore it.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

people have been genetically modifying food since the advent of agriculture thousands of years ago

at first it was done by preserving the biggest and best of the seed from a crop for planting the next year

cross pollenation caused new hybrids (different genetically from any previous plant) to form and the process was repeated as un-natural selection bred the biggest and best and tastiest

when mendel started the science of genetics, people could breed their plants better, faster, and with predictable results

I have never heard anybody wish that the only corn we had was what passed for corn when columbus landed in the new world

I have never heard anybody talk about the cons of current large and tasty apples

now we can change the genetic make-up even faster, with more artificial means but it is not intrinsically different than letting natural mutations do it, just faster and less random

Answer 3

GM crops may not require much pesticide and last longer on store shelves, some can be designed to contain specific nutrients (vitamin A in rice...etc) to help poor nations and rely on just rice, corn or whatever... and anything you could think of they can probably find a way to do.

People are still not sure of long term effects on surrounding enviornment (if artificial genes could jump to other unintended species). Because of fear of some activists farms that have GM crops are protected by law to maintain secrecy of what's growing on their field. And I'm sure there may be known cases where GM crops made people ill.

There's potential for abuse by companies. For an example one could invent crops that require farmers to buy more specific chemical products from biotech companies to keep the crops growing purely for money or come up with some similar scheme to make more money.

Lot of produce on store shelves today are engineered and my guess is there are more pros than cons.

Answer 4

if you genetically modify a veggie to resist a common plant blight that costs thousands of dollars to spray for or maybe the spray is poisoning the water, then its good to modify the plant, it will not seem like any different kind of corn, it just will resist smut.

Answer 5

YUCK!!! Are you serious!