A Response to Genetically Modified Food

The topic of genetically modified foods is one that is similar to the topic of processed foods, which I wrote an expository paper on. Although the paper was informational, if it were a position paper, I would have said that processed foods were not as safe as organic foods. The position Sebastian took on genetically modified foods was similar to the position I would have taken on mass-produced and industrialized foods. Sebastian claims that genetically modified foods are not safe because of allergen and health risk factors, as well as environmental risks. I agree with this position because chemical alterations in food are never guaranteed to be 100% safe. Since we are not all food scientists, we never know what modifications are truly happening to our food.

Genetic modification, which is inserting desirable genes form one organism into another, poses health risks. The first argument made was that allergen genes could be transferred from one organism to another. This could be potentially fatal to somebody who thought a food was originally safe to eat, and was not aware of the allergen. Personally having some food allergies and restrictions, this is troublesome to me. If I unknowingly ate food containing one of the allergens I have, medical problems could arise. As of right now, the main health risk in GM foods is allergenicity. In an article called "Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?", there were some claims of unknown health risks, but scientists could not make any specific correlations proving that genetically modified foods presented human health risks.

Although I believe that genetically modified foods have the potential to be harmful, similar to processed foods, they can be mass-produced. Since genetically modified foods can grow in harsher conditions, the production numbers can increase. I believe this could help solve the problem with undernourishment that is occurring (according to a “World Hunger” presentation given by Faculty Associate Julie Thurlow of the Nutritional Sciences department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, approximately 1 in 6 people throughout the world are undernourished). Genetically modified foods and industrialized foods can be mass-produced and yield bigger products than organically grown foods. However, the health risks that accompany genetically modified foods are too dangerous at this point. Similar to Sebastian's point of view, I believe the production should cease until safer methods are created. Chemical alterations can be helpful and/or harmful; until safer methods are created and used, we should stay away.