In the essay by Pamela Ronald, “The truth About GMOs”, Ronald talks about how genetically modified organisms are safe to consume. There are no reasons why GMOs are unsafe, “Genetically engineered crops currently on the market are as safe to eat and safe for the environment as organic or conventional foods.” GMOs have been around for many years and not a single person has died from them. Over the years people have been changing and modifying crops left and right trying to creating stronger and more durable crops to withstand insects and diseases. GMOs are safe for consumption and great for the human population growth because without GMOs people would have an even more serious issue with hunger in the world.

With the help of GMOs, farmers are able to use less pesticides on plants allowing the crops to be less harmful and toxic to our environment and to us. With modifying crops they can create them to be resistant to pests and other things, “Genetic engineering can be used not only to combat pests and diseases, but also to enable farmers to use less harmful chemicals to control crop­choking weeds.” Using a lot of herbicide is more dangerous and harmful than genetically modifying crops. Scientists found a better way to help the environment by creating GMOs. In many ways using less herbicide helps the planet, thus helping the people. Using less means less toxins in the air and it allows all of the beneficial insects to live while the bad insects die. There are many useful traits for GMOs that go beyond just insect repellant. They can help get traits that someone may need out of a crop, “Consumption of golden rice… could provide sufficient vitamin A to reduce sustainability the estimated 2,00­6,850 deaths caused every day by vitamin
A deficiency and save the sight of several hundred thousand people per year.” This golden rice was modified to have more vitamin A because people were dying every day of that deficiency.
With help from GMOs like this who can say they are a bad idea or unsafe if it is saving lives?
Rosamond Naylor responds to Pamela Ronald by taking her side and saying that GMOs shouldn’t be banned without a good talk about it, especially from low income countries. In
Africa all countries but 5 do not allow genetically modified crops into their country because they are uncertain that GE foods are safe. People worry who will benefit from GMO’s the most. Will it be starving consumers who get food or the farmers who get money for food? In the end, both benefit with GMOs because they would both get food. It’s important that we help and try to feed the world but the takers need to understand that what they are being given is not anything bad.
Pamela Ronald wonders, “Why the scare, especially when food security throughout the country is in jeopardy?” If someone needs food then they need it, especially a whole country. However we do need to look at the economy and what could happen, “...The possibility that GE material might spread from one farm to another unintentionally, or to the wild where it can alter natural ecosystems irreversibly, is a serious problem.” We don’t want to mess with anything natural but we need to get out food to countries that need help. I believe that people in general all over the world should accept GMOs and get over being skeptical of them because they have the power to help stomp out hunger.

People are very uncomfortable with genetically modified crops because there has not been a study shown that they are safe or unsafe so that is why people are so uneasy about GMOs. People are afraid of them, “ Perhaps the greatest concern surrounding GE foods is their effect on human health.” Of course there has been many studies on GE food. If it were unsafe I do not believe that they would be selling GE foods in stores. People have been scared into thinking that
GE foods are unsafe for consumption because people such as anti­science campaigners have been protesting against them ignorantly but loudly allowing people to only hear one side of the story. I have never heard of any protests “pro­GMOs”. People fear what they don’t understand and science is one of many fears of theirs, “... the success of the manufactured­uncertainty strategy “shows how the public’s understanding of science has devolved into a perverse worship of uncertainty, a fanatical devotion to the god of the gaps.” If people were more knowledgeable about GMOs or payed attention to GMOs’ past then they would not be so skeptical and they would be able to understand that they have never hurt anybody. The fact that science made
GMOs is amazing and will benefit the world.

Mark Lynas wrote in the New York Times that he thinks that GMOs are beneficial. In his article “How I Got Converted to GMOs” he talks about his trip to India and his interview with a
GMO eggplant farmer. The farmer was able to not use any pesticide that year because the eggplant was modified with a soil bacterium “Bt”. It creates a protein that kills off insects and allows no use of pesticide which is special because normally the plants would have to be sprayed about “140 times during a growing season.” People, however, were upset that he was doing this because to the public, GMOs are their number one enemy. Pesticides and herbicides are proven to be damaging to human health and that is what is used in the absence of GMOs, so the fact that people become outraged about GMO use clearly means that they do not fully understand what is really happening. The eggplant farmer should be getting acceptance from everyone because as
Lynas says, “ He is improving the environment and tackling poverty. ” He is improving the environment by bringing food to the table to other people's’ homes and he is tackling his own poverty by bringing home some money.

All foods that are genetically engineered in stores are currently safe but new ones are to be tested frequently, “Each new plant variety, whether it is developed through genetic engineering or conventional approaches of genetic modification, carries a risk of consequences.”
This may be true, but it is also true with every other scientific prototype. GE foods have been around for a long time and people have yet to trust that they are safe because they do not trust the large corporations that sell them. Markets make fruits and vegetables look unsafe by labeling them with GMO tags, markets such as Whole Foods. In a couple years, Whole Foods is planning on having everything that is genetically modified labeled that it is. “Almost all food would require such a label because virtually every crop grown for human consumption has been genetically modified in some way…” Whether a crop has been made into a hybrid in nature or scientifically, almost all crops have been tampered with in the past to be made the best market choice so it would sell. Having labels on the crops in markets make people believe that there is something wrong with the products because it is labeled so prominently, “The implication of this labeling is that there is something worrisome about GMOs that consumers need to be warned about.” The labels that the stores put onto the products that say “non­gmo” or “organic” sell for more because people believe it is better for their body or health. These days you can’t really walk into a store and not find any GE crops. Almost every crop has been modified at some point,
“Unless you forage for wild berries, hunt game, or catch wild salmon, you are consuming a food that has been genetically modified.” Vegetables and fruits have been tampered with for years upon years. If someone was to actually purchase a completely non­gmo item it would have to be from a farmers market, even then no one could be positive if it has been messed with or not.
GMOs are beneficial to our environment, ourselves, and especially to countries with low income. They have been around for a very long time and have yet to have anything terrible happen to anyone. Mankind have been doing this since they first started raising crops. They tweaked the crops and got what they want and genetic engineering is the same exact thing but it is just quicker. There was an article about GMOs causing cancer to rats in a French magazine but that was taken back because it was incorrect and there were many things wrong with it. This uncertainty of GMOs is silly and I think that with time and knowledge people will finally understand the benefits of them. I believe that someday GMOs will help the world with the growth of our population and will save lives.

Thompson 6

Works Cited
Lynas, Mark. “How I Got Converted to GMO Food.”
New York Times
24 Apr. 2015
Ronald, Pamela. “The Truth About GMOs”.
Boston Review
6 Sep. 2013.