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At Healthfully, we strive to deliver objective content that is accurate and up-to-date. Our team periodically reviews articles in order to ensure content quality. The sources cited below consist of evidence from peer-reviewed journals, prominent medical organizations, academic associations, and government data.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Questions and Answers on Food From Genetically Modified Plants
- MedlinePlus: Genetically Engineered Foods
- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: A Diet Rich in High-Glucoraphanin Broccoli Interacts With Genotype to Reduce Discordance in Plasma Metabolite Profiles by Modulating Mitochondrial Function
- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: A Diet Rich in High-Glucoraphanin Broccoli Interacts With Genotype to Reduce Discordance in Plasma Metabolite Profiles by Modulating Mitochondrial Function
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What Is the Purpose of GMOs?
According to the World Health Organization, or WHO, genetically modified foods were introduced to the market in the mid-1990s with herbicide-resistant soybeans 1. The most common genetically modified foods are corn, canola, soybean and cotton, which is used to make cottonseed oil. Scientists create genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, by altering a plant’s DNA, making a new species that might contain more nutrients, resist insects or diseases, or require less water so it grows in drought-stricken areas.
Crop Durability and Food Security
Scientists developed genetically modified, or GM, plants by introducing genes that kill insects or weeds or protect against viruses. Some GM plants require less water so they can be grown in areas of the world where water is scarce or during times of drought. As farmers lose fewer crops to diseases, insects, weeds or drought, more food is available to sell on the market, keeping up with the demand of a growing world population.
Economic and Environmental Benefits
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Some GMOs grow and ripen faster, allowing farmers to grow more crops throughout the year, increasing their income while keeping prices lower for consumers. An article published in June 2014 in "PLOS Biology" reports that plants could be engineered to make more of their own nitrogen, requiring less fertilizer. This would reduce the cost to grow food and reduce damage to the soil caused by fertilizers.
Improved Nutrition
Helen Keller International is working with the University of California, Davis researching whether rice can safely be genetically altered to contain vitamin A, a product called Golden Rice 4. If this food is found effective and safe, it could save some of the 500,000 children worldwide who go blind from vitamin A deficiency. A study published in 2013 in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” found that a genetically modified type of broccoli reduced cardiovascular and cancer risk factors in participants by increasing the amount of a specific nutrient already found naturally in broccoli.
Safety Concerns
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Some concerns regarding the safety of GMOs include increased risk of allergens, toxins, mixing GM crops with regular crops and risking wiping out the original species, or simply unknown side effects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's goal is to make sure foods available on the market today have undergone testing to ensure they're safe for you to eat.
Related Articles
References
- World Health Organization: 20 Questions on Genetically Modified Foods
- MedlinePlus: Genetically Engineered Foods
- PLOS Biology: Key Applications of Plant Metabolic Engineering
- Helen Keller International: Biofortification
- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: A Diet Rich in High-Glucoraphanin Broccoli Interacts With Genotype to Reduce Discordance in Plasma Metabolite Profiles by Modulating Mitochondrial Function
- 20 questions on genetically modified foods. Food Safety.
- Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods: Approaches to Assessing Unintended Health Effects. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2004.
- 1. Raven PH. Does the use of transgenic plants diminish or promote biodiversity? New Biotechnology. 2010;27(5):528-533. DOI: 10.1016/j.nbt.2010.07.018
- AMA Reports of the Council on Science and Public Health. https://www.ama-assn.org/sites/ama-assn.org/files/corp/media-browser/public/hod/a12-csaph-reports_0.pdf. Published 2012.
- Barrows G, Sexton S, Zilberman D. Agricultural Biotechnology: The Promise and Prospects of Genetically Modified Crops. Journal of Economic Perspectives. 2014;28(1):99-120. DOI: 10.1257/jep.28.1.99
- Bruhn C, Earl R. Position of the American Dietetic Association: Agricultural and food biotechnology. J Am Diet Assoc. 2006;106(2):285-93.
- GENERA. Viewing study.
- Key S, Ma JK, Drake PM. Genetically modified plants and human health. J R Soc Med. 2008;101(6):290-8.
- Klümper W, Qaim M. A Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops. albertini emidio, ed. PLoS ONE. 2014;9(11):e111629. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111629
- Sánchez MA, Parrott WA. Characterization of scientific studies usually cited as evidence of adverse effects of GM food/feed. Plant Biotechnology Journal. 2017;15(10):1227-1234. DOI: 10.1111/pbi.12798
- Snell C, Bernheim A, Bergé J-B, et al. Assessment of the health impact of GM plant diets in long-term and multigenerational animal feeding trials: A literature review. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2012;50(3-4):1134-1148. DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2011.11.048
Writer Bio
Kristin Mortensen began writing newspaper articles in 1992 for The Sierra Vista Herald. She has also been a registered dietitian since 1991, and has worked for hospitals, clinics and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) programs. Mortensen has a bachelor of science in dietetics from Brigham Young University.