Advantages of Genetically Modified food (CAJ)

After having done some research on the internet, I came across many various websites being in favour of genetically modified food.  I found hardly any that could provide real evidence why GM food is dangerous. However, there are lots of websites opposing to it.

Instead of saying that GM food is harmful and being against it, it would be better to consider the fact that sufficient evidence classifying and proving GM food as dangerous does not exist. This is an important fact which can and should not be ignored.  Also, the so called “Frankenstein Food” brings many undeniable advantages not only for farmers but also for societies worldwide.

First of all, it is not a secret that global population and 3^rd world hunger are increasing massively. Genetically modified food seems to be a great promise to solve this on-going crisis.  

Secondly, plants can be genetically modified in order to become more disease resistant. Thanks to this, they would become more robust and bacterial, fungal and/or viral infestations could harm them less as they can now without the modification. Especially farmers are in favour of this development as they would have to less fear crop failures. Another important modification concerning plants could be performed by changing their genes in order to protect them against dehydration, frost, salty soil etc.  A gene from a plant which can survive prolonged water stress in desert conditions has already been introduced into rice and it turned out to be a successful experiment. The rice was then able to produce a certain kind of sugar which protects the plant against dehydration.

Finally, genetically modified food could also be used to produce edible vaccinations in order to replace medicines and vaccines which often are costly to produce and require special storage conditions.  Researchers are, for example, working on developing edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes. If they succeed in doing so, these vaccines will be much easier to transport, store and administer in comparison to the traditional injectable vaccines.

As can be seen from all the mentioned-above examples, the benefits of genetically modified cannot be neglected. What is remarkable is the fact that GM food has several advantages in various areas, such as society and world population, the development of plants leading to improvements of harvest, and also in the area of pharmaceutics. Even though some still oppose to this kind of modified food, there is no certain evidence proving its harmfulness.