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According to a recent CBS/New York Times poll, 53% of consumers said they would not buy food that has been genetically modified.

 

There are many arguments arguing against GMOs which claim they are unsafe. The main points against GMOs are:

 

  • According to Charles Benbrook, a research professor at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources at Washington State University, the annual increase in the herbicides required to deal with tougher-to-control weeds on cropland planted to genetically modified crops has grown from 1.5 million pounds in 1999 to about 90 million pounds in 2011.

    • However, PG Economics released a report on the study, where the study was criticized for a variety of reasons. The report can be read here.

    • Also, low levels of herbicides ingested from the food we eat are well below what has been determined acceptable for daily human consumption. The use of every herbicides on food crops in the United States is considered and evaluated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against a standard of reasonable certainty that the use would cause no harm to human health or the environment.

  • Another reason that many people are against GMOs is because they think that they are unhealthy for human consumption.

    • However, there have been over 2,000 studies done that prove the safety of GMO use.

    • For example, University of California-Davis Department of Animal Science geneticist Alison Van Eenennaam carried out a study reviewing 29 years of livestock productivity and health data from before and after the introduction of genetically engineered animal feed. The study represented more than 100 billion animals covering a period before 1996 when animal feed was 100% non-GMO, and after its introduction when it jumped to 90% and more. The results of the study show that there was no indication of any unusual trends in the health of animals since 1996 when GMO crops were first harvested. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Anti-GMOs

  • Another reason people are against GMOs is because of "superweeds" and "superbugs".

    • According to a study published by Environmental Sciences Europe,the increased use of herbicides and pesticides results in theemergence of superweeds and superbugs, which are plantsand insects that are resistant to the herbcides and pesticidesfarmers use, which in turn results in more of an increase of these chemicals.

    • Also, these "superbugs" can be damaging to the crops.

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