Genetically Modified Foods Boon or Bane

In this era of Globalisation, a large mass of human population sleeps hungry every
day. Food crisis is one of the biggest problems prevailing in the world today, which calls for
help for better and more food. For years, scientists have studied, researched and
experimented on various living organisms trying to find a solution to the problem of food.
Mutation and evolution are two such processes which although occur naturally, have been
used by scientists with an intention to gradually shape and modify the plants around them,
making them more resistant to pests and also improve productivity, nutritional values and
taste. These methods led to the innovation of the Genetically Modified Food or GMF.
DNA, which is considered as the Blueprint of Life, is a double-helix structured
molecule which looks like a twisted ladder connected by base pairs. Parts of the DNA
contain genes which are specific sequences that code for different proteins through the
process of transcription and translation. These proteins are responsible for the specific
traits in an organism. Mutation is a natural process by which the Gene sequences in the
DNA is altered and a new trait is introduced in the organism.
GMF uses a very simple idea of altering the gene sequence in the DNA to code for
proteins to gain desirable traits in plants. This process of Mutating a plant is in the field of
genetic engineering. Gene transfer technology is simply a sophisticated version of a cutand-paste operation of desirable genes. Once the desired gene is identified in the native
organism's genome, it can be cut out, transferred to the target plant, and pasted into its
genome. The gene can be transferred to the target genome through several methods. This
genome replicates and grows into a plant with the specific traits present in it.

Papayas in the Hawaiian islands had a very big problem of the PRSV (Papaya
Ring-Spot Virus) disease that caused the fruits to deform and caused the plant to not
produce food at all. To solve the problem, researchers tried mutating a papaya plant with
an PRSV resistant gene so that the plant would be able produce the anti-bodies on its own
and would also be able to fight against the virus itself. Scientists removed the PRSV gene
from the PRSV spreading organism and replaced it with a PRSV resistant gene. As soon
as the resistant gene had entered the plant body, Papaya plants were able to produce
proteins to protect them from the virus.
Our ability to manipulate plants by introducing new genes promises innovative
solutions to many real-world food problems. One such problem could be, :
"For a broken down farmer, for whom paying for pesticides to keep his plants healthy is
going through the roof, GMFs can be the perfect solution. Scientists have developed
plants with genes of high pest resistivity that protect the plants from pests thereby reducing
the amount of money spent on pesticides". Therefore, in this case GMFs can prove to be a
good solution the farmers and further the world as a whole.
These methods give humans the power to destroy, modify or create any trait or
characteristic in an organism as per their own needs. One of the most common examples
is the GMF Tomato which grows faster, is believed to be pest-resistant and produces juicy
red tomatoes throughout the year.

The GMFs can prove to be helpful in some situations but skeptics argue that they
cannot survive in the long run. "Mutation and evolution are both natural processes which
are now been accelerated to a large extent through artificial mutations by scientists
worldwide. Nature is a balanced combination of all the elements that exist within or with it.
Whenever an action is done which disturbs the natural balance, nature tries to alter other
things to balance itself again. " Skeptics argue against GMFs using this point and claim
that artificial mutations can become a threat to humanity as well as all other species on
Earth as the mutation of other animals and plants can one day change humans also.
When we eat food, the mutated protein in the organism would enter our body ultimately
mutating us. Even if it is not able to affect us, humans would still become carriers of the
proteins making it sure that one day humans would have a different shape. Evidence has
been found in the US and parts of Africa where it has been scientifically proven that the
pesticides developed inside a GMF, are also activated in the bowel and intestines of
humans and other animals when consumed. These pesticides cause many gastrointestinal problems in humans causing extreme pain and sometimes even death. The
number of cases of gastro-intestinal have increased many folds after the introduction of
GMFs in the 1996
All that nature has in itself, is for some good. Skeptics argue that mutating plants
might make them pest resistant but it would create more bigger problems. Mutating plants
and crops would replace their natural immunity to the artificial immunity. If in the future a
virus appears whose only cure is in an un-mutated species of a plant, the mutated variety
will not be able to survive and even if it does, it would become a carrier of the virus and
affect us indirectly.

In India, farmer suicide rates have been constantly rising and some skeptics blame
GMFs to be the reason behind the suicide. As per Alakananda Nag, author of a
documentary on Indian farmers suicides, the farmers take loan from the money lenders
and banks with an expectation of getting higher yields but end up committing suicide due
to poor yields. BT cotton has not been as successful in India as expected initially as has
been in news for farmers suicide.
Due to all these negative drawbacks to the GMOs, I believe that GMOs can be
considered as a threat to all life on earth not only for its negative health syndrome, but also
for the economy of a country. According to a famous consumer activist and advocate
against genetically modified foods Jeffery M Smith, "GMFs are no better than the ordinary
organic food produce. It has no extra nutritional values, does not grow faster and also not
much productive. GMFs have not fulfilled any promises that it had promised." According to
this it can be concluded that countries are basically paying more for nothing extra. This
affects the economy of a country and due to this many countries like Russia, France and
Germany have banned GMFs to be produced in their countries.

All the facts mentioned above are the evidence of the fact that Genetically modified
foods are not very advanced types of foods to be considered far much better than the
organic variety of food produce. They only pose to stand as another threat to all life on
earth and a threat to the economy of various countries in the world. Personally I believe
that there are many other solutions to global problems such as hunger crisis. Advanced
farming techniques such as Hydroponics can prove to be a better solution to the problem.
Hydroponics is a science of agriculture in which plants are grown on a bed of water and no
soil is used. This method has proved to multiply the amount produce many folds and also
makes the plant highly resistant to pests. Also, the produce is 100% organic and contains
no proteins which might affect the future generation. Therefore, it can be said that GMOs
are a bane to the world more than a boon.

Bibliography:

http://sustainablepulse.com/2015/10/22/gm-crops-now-banned-in-36-countries-worldwidesustainable-pulse-research/#.VwZkQxN95-V
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/science/gmfoods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G-yUuiqIZ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKmNf2Gk8rU&nohtml5=False
https://www.rt.com/news/206787-monsanto-india-farmers-suicides/