Su Yun Kim
Prof. Kyle Brebner
IERW (04)
04 December 2015
For Better GMO Food
People can eat what they want anytime,
anywhere. These days, as the demands for food have increased, various
technologies have been developed to produce food efficiently. GMOs (Genetically
Modified Organisms) have also been developed for an efficient food supply. For
example, there is an improved plant such as a corn protected from harmful
insects and rice fortified with vitamins, which is one of the results of
genetic manipulation. Surely, it is true that food production has increased and
the shortage of food has been solved. However, there should be a compulsory
policy that makes indication of GMO ingredients because GMO causes fatal side
effects, it is not safe, and it is not trustworthy.
The
reason why GMO labelling system must exist is that those ingredients made by
GMO can cause health and environmental problems. For example, an improved corn was
tested through tests on mice by the Monsanto in 2002, which is one of the
biggest agricultural company. The result of the research was that the size of kidney
of the mice are smaller than others. Also, the constituents of their blood
changed. This result was revealed in 2005. For another instance, 35 people died
and more than 1500 people got sick by dietary supplements in 1989. The dietary
supplements includes L-Tryptophan, which is a kind of amino acid made by gene
manipulation. In addition, an allergenic substance was detected from an improved
bean called Brazil Nuts. Therefore, the development has stopped since 1993. For
an environmental example, native corn in Mexico became extinct due to the
supply of genetically modified corn in 2001. Even though some people claim that
these problems could be resolved by organized safety assessment system, it's
irrefutable that GMO food has a negative influence on human health and the environment.
Accordingly, the public definitely has the right to know whether what they eat
is dangerous or not and to choose what they want.
Another
reason is that GMOs have a lack of the safety. While the government of the GMO
producer such as United States and Canada emphasizes that it does not make any
problems and that it is absolutely safe, most of the researches of GMOs are
still in their early stages and the studies are not being carried out actively.
According to the British Medical Association, some examples are referred to as
wrong research. For example, there are studies known as the long-term impact of
GMOs to human and the environment. However, they show short-term impact and
exceptional cases. In other words, while mostly of the research of GMO end in
failure, almost research of GMOs that the public know have a positive result. It
means that only few successful case is made public.
Finally, the reason why GMO labelling
system is needed is because criteria of GMO safety that has been studied until
now was created by GMO food supplier. In other words, it means that they have
evaluated how safe GMOs are with their own standards. In reality, a GMO expert
who had been a high-ranking government official of the United States
investigated the inspection system of the F.D.A (Food and Drug Administration).
As a result, he found out that some companies that produce GMO food had
provided unclear information to the government. Although F.D.A says that all
GMO foods produced in the world are distributed through the strict examination,
the criteria of safety of GMO lost its credibility because the system revealed
a big hole in its standards such as a circulation of unreceived GMO wheat,
which was cultivated illegally in Oregon of United States and exported around
the world although the cultivation had been prohibited because of the herbicidal
ingredient inside.
As GMO food
raises a lot of problems in various fields like economic, society and public
health and its safety and credibility are not ensured, the production and management
of GMOs should be ameliorated by a GMO labelling system. The amelioration of
the GMO labelling system will lead to the public health improvement in the
world and economic entire development including economic, society and
environment. Also separate researches should be conducted with the
establishment of the labelling system. If the research are not accompanied with
the realization, it will be impractical that GMO food is safe.
Source
Hyunchul Park. The Way to Live Together. Seoul: Ecoview,
2008. Magazine.
www.biosafety.or.kr
