Are GMO foods harmful?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-09 15:28

Genetically modified organisms are those with an artificially modified genotype. GMO products are created to reduce the cost of food for people and animals. In Russia, 17 types of GM lines of five products are allowed for use - soybeans, corn, potatoes, rice, sugar beet.

Disputes over the safety of genetic engineering products at times resemble an information war for the minds and stomachs of consumers. Opinions of scientists-researchers are sometimes opposite. Who to believe? Is it right to call GMO foods harmful in the absence of serious large-scale research results?

Which pros are worth considering?

• All agricultural crops and animal breeds are the result of human intervention in the genome of wild crops and breeds (mules have been used by humans for centuries). Genetic engineering is different in that it changes the genome in a targeted way.
• Our cells are impervious to foreign genes. The daily human diet contains a huge number of genes. And from what we eat, for example, fish, our gills do not grow.
• Gene engineering allows you to noticeably diversify the diet, achieve the best taste and nutritionproduct properties. In medicine, there is even a special branch - gene therapy, which improves he alth by enriching the diet with new crops.

• GMO products are cheaper than traditional ones and can solve the problem of food shortages in the face of growing world population and more frequent natural disasters.

• Traditional crop production technologies in today'sconditions actively use plant protection products, including pesticides and nitrates. GMO products are inherently resistant to weeds and pests, that is, they are grown “without chemicals.”
• Millions of people have been using GMO products for 15 years (in the US, the share of transgenic products today reaches 80%, their labeling is optional), and no side effects have been noted.

Opponents of the spread of genetic modification products speak of serious risks to human he alth and the environment:

• Food containing GMO products is potentially allergenic due to the synthesis of new, foreign proteins in it. When eating them, metabolic disorders and reduced immunity are also likely.
• The unstable genotype of transgenic plants can lead to changes in their chemical composition. There is evidence that in the process of metabolism they form toxins that are a thousand times higher than those in natural cultures.
• There is a risk of uncontrolled distribution of GMOs in the environment. Some species of plants of natural selection may gradually disappear, and afterthis can change the food chains of animals and entire ecosystems.



• Experiments conducted on small rodents prove the suppression of reproductive function due to the use of transgenic products already in the second generation (mules, by the way, are sterile).

According to the current legislation in Russia, the manufacturer is obliged to indicate the presence of GMOs on the product labeling if their content is above 0.9%. If you do not want to eat transgenic foods, avoid E322 lecithin, corn flour and starch, modified starch, hydrolyzed vegetable protein.