Why do genetically modified foods exist

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Share on Pinterest Illustration by Diego Sabogal. What are GM foods? Why create GM foods? View All. Clean eating: What does the research say? Carbohydrates: Are they really essential? How bad are carbs, really? Common GM foods. Reduce lignin. Reduce phytate. Pollination control. Resistance to insects. When it comes to insects, there are genetically modified plants that can repel only the very particular type of insect that feeds on it.

With some crops, this has significantly lowered the need to apply pesticides. Other GM plants have been developed to be resistant to certain herbicides thus making weed control more straightforward and less expensive. Today, those who directly see the most benefits from GMOs are farmers and agricultural companies. GMOs are also used to produce many medicines and vaccines that help treat or prevent diseases.

Before GMOs, many common medicines had to be extracted from blood donors, animal parts, or even cadavers. This article is part of a series of articles that we did on GMOs this one being specifically about the history of GMOs. I was the editor who put together this series, and I have to say that I went into it a skeptic.

I thought that there had to be something sketchy about GMOs. We have another article dedicated to health effects, and even another dedicated to the potential for allerginicity. Please check them out! Like the author of this post, I am a graduate student. We are an entirely grad-student-run organization. The comments on this article, by majority, are proof that this is a terrible time to be intelligent.

They call this article misleading for integrating two human influenced concepts, but the title of the article is clear. What a brilliantly, precise conclusion of this comment section!!

So many people attempting to disprove scientifically supported truths!! The research and insights presented in these articles are providing a great launching point, thanks to the referenced sources and measured fact based conclusions, for my own graduate project.

For that, I want to say thank you to the authors. I am still trying to narrow my focus and develop my initial research approach and methods but the information contained in all of these articles has helped me cut past the sensationalism and begin to build a good base of literature concerning the history, process, concerns, and development of GMOs. Again, thank you.

This comment is primarily aimed at Sitn Flash? I am trained as a scientist math, physics, etc. This must lead a disinterested observer to ask what they Monsanto, Dupont and their ilk are trying to hide, or at least to be receptive to even Conspiracy Theorists who claim on the basis of likewise anecdotal evidence that they cause cancer and other ills.

It would not be amiss here to mention the U. No, thank you. Even the farmer cannot use his own corn to plant a crop the following year. Now, I am just a typical skeptical scientist drawing common-sense conclusions from the facts that I think I know. That is, they should have started feeding laboratory rats their Roundup-tainted corn e. Gabriel and Sitn? But I also want to feel that I can possibly make the choices I want to in what to eat, without having to worry that some corporate giant will have bought their label-free way into the food market, which would thereby affect me.

American plant in use for literally hundreds of years or more in that continent and that can be used broken up as a sweetener. And it has no side effects. However, the plant stevia has about 80 other molecules, which may or may not be the reason the other molecules why stevia has no side effects. See you in a couple of generations, and meanwhile may your grandparents not suffer the fate of mine!

So …, I feel no scientific compunction in drawing my own conclusions in this case, or in trying to avoid being a Guinea pig for Monsanto. And then avoid eating them. So call me a conspiracy theorist. Sounds like a sound theory to me! Hello and thanks for your comment! I am a scientist biologist. That is, the process of genetically engineering food does not make it bad for you. I think it is reasonable to label GMOs if it actually has useful information in it—like what the food is modified with.

Also, your understanding of how glyphosate-resistance RoundUp-resistance works is a little off. The plants do NOT bind the pesticide. Is that to say I think Monsanto is a great company that can do no wrong? Given the RoundUp-resistant weed problem, we need to proceed carefully with investigating how they might affect our environment, and public-sector research is key for this! But I am hopeful that GM foods can do good in the world by helping us to lessen the environmental impact of farming.

I am a high school student writing a paper on GMOs and I found this article and your comments to be very helpful! However, after researching for this product, I find this article and series very interesting. I find it interesting that many people were upset by the part of the article that commented on price changes caused by GMO labeling. I completely agree with the article: if GMOs were labeled, it might cause the public to view them as something dangerous since they have to be singled out with a label therefore decreasing demand for them.

GMO crop prices might also increase as producers tried to make a profit off fewer sales. Overall, I found this article very informative; I especially appreciated your comment about allergies, since that is an angle I had never considered before.

If you had any more information regarding GMOs and how they work, I would find that very interesting! Thank you for taking the time to read this! Excellent blog for lots of extremely use bits of information and facts! It is a very good feeling to finally acquire such a handy resource. I have been previously searching the site over an hour or so now and also have really found out a lot. Just wanted to let you know. Of course these products can be dangerous to human life if not to follow it all, but everything is controlled by specialized commissions.

You accept it or not, but our future for GMOs, but otherwise everything is very bad. GMO will one day change us humans to superbeing. Would it be good or bad, only time will tell. I found it very usefull. If provided me with tons of information for my project. I would reccomend this website to anyone who needs information on GMO technology. Thank you Harvard! If GMO is so great, why is there any debate about whether or not a product must be labelled?

If I have no fear of competition, why vote for monopoly? Putting two compatible strains of corn grass together in a field hoping to increase yield is substantially different than messing with the encoding of an organism on the genetic level.

Noticing desirable traits in two dogs and allowing them to breed them is markedly different than building a non-native chemical compound cooked up in a lab into a plants genetics.

The modern era is punctuated by incredible technological potential in the hands of children playing with matches. If you remove one card from a house of cards and the house does not collapse, it is irrelevant, just pull another card — oh, no collapse yet? Just keep pulling cards dummy, it will soon come screaming down around your ears, which in my opinion, is no great loss on humanity, one or more morons collapsing something large and heavy onto their fool heads. After reading your comment, I can immediately tell you are very misinformed.

All of your argument is based on opinions that have been drawn from sources with insufficient evidence. The writing shows that you have not been properly educated on this subject, and therefore should not be making false comments on this article. I must say, I am quite offended by your comment. My mom is a nurse, and some of my best friends parents are doctors, and all of us are vaccinated every year. And though we have been defeating diseases for years, they took a large toll on human society.

For example, the black death killed a third of europe before it slowed down. Some people dont think that GMO should be labelled because it would just add to the myth of the dangers of GMO, which many major companies are using to sell more products. And I am almost one hundred percent sure that you have eaten sweet potatoes, which are naturally GMO, and have been for years or so.

Schubert even charges that researchers who turn up results that might raise safety questions avoid publishing their findings out of fear of repercussions. There is evidence to support that charge.

The paper showed that GM corn seemed to be finding its way from farms into nearby streams and that it might pose a risk to some insects there because, according to the researchers' lab studies, caddis flies appeared to suffer on diets of pollen from GM corn. Many scientists immediately attacked the study, some of them suggesting the researchers were sloppy to the point of misconduct. There is a middle ground in this debate. Many moderate voices call for continuing the distribution of GM foods while maintaining or even stepping up safety testing on new GM crops.

They advocate keeping a close eye on the health and environmental impact of existing ones. But they do not single out GM crops for special scrutiny, the Center for Science in the Public Interest's Jaffe notes: all crops could use more testing.

Even Schubert agrees. In spite of his concerns, he believes future GM crops can be introduced safely if testing is improved. Stepped-up testing would pose a burden for GM researchers, and it could slow down the introduction of new crops.

That is a fair question. But with governments and consumers increasingly coming down against GM crops altogether, additional testing may be the compromise that enables the human race to benefit from those crops' significant advantages. This article was originally published with the title "Are Engineered Foods Evil? Food, Inc. Peter Pringle. Tough Lessons from Golden Rice. Martin Enserink in Science , Vol. Natasha Gilbert in Nature , Vol. Watch a video on how genetically modified crops are made at ScientificAmerican.

David H. Freedman is a journalist who has been covering science, business and technology for more than 30 years. Credit: Nick Higgins. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Discover World-Changing Science. The vast majority of the research on genetically modified GM crops suggests that they are safe to eat and that they have the potential to feed millions of people worldwide who currently go hungry.

Yet not all criticisms of GM are so easily rejected, and pro-GM scientists are often dismissive and even unscientific in their rejection of the counterevidence. A careful analysis of the risks and benefits argues for expanded deployment and safety testing of GM crops. Benefits and worries The bulk of the science on GM safety points in one direction. Credit: Jen Christiansen Despite such promise, much of the world has been busy banning, restricting and otherwise shunning GM foods.

A clean record The human race has been selectively breeding crops, thus altering plants' genomes, for millennia. A way forward There is a middle ground in this debate.