GMO Debate Reveals Advantages, Disadvantages

Genetic modified organisms have become a regular part of today’s marketplace. As a technology that produces more crops, provides biofuels and curtails rising food prices, yet also presents a pollution risks and is not regulated by law, GMOs have become a topic of controversy leading to a great debate on their advantages and disadvantages.

Supporters believe that GMOs, a resource used to make alternative fuels, could lessen the nation’s oil dependence as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Pro-GMO advocates also argue that GMOs increase the amount of crops produce, thus decreasing food prices.

GMOs critics debate that biofuels made from GMOs do more harm than good, arguing that the mass amount of raw material and land required to make biofuel actually increases costs. Further more, critics also argue that GMOs, once planted, run the risk of contaminating nearby plants. Even when GM crops are planted away from other plants, winds and water runoff threaten to spread the seeds and spores of GMOs far from where they are growing. Finally, Anti-GMO advocates argue that there is no GMO-free certification, thus consumers are left in the dark as to where what they are eating has been grown and processed.

Source: Whole Foods Magazine, The GMO Controversy: What You Need to Know