Due to consumer demand, there is a growing trend in the United States for food c

Question

Due to consumer demand, there is a growing trend in the United States for food companies to have their foods be verified to contain no GM (genetically modified) products or ingredients. Research the use of GM foods and plants within our food supply, including their pros and cons, primary use, and any possible health issues related to them.

In your post, address the following questions:

Are there advantages to the use of GM foods?

Is there a justifiable fear to consuming GM foods/ingredients within our diets or are consumers overreacting? Why or why not?

Are organic foods more nutritious and safer compared to GM foods? Why or why not?

After your research, will you change your dietary and food purchasing choices?

Explanation / Answer

Pros Of GMO Foods

It takes less money to produce the foods.
Fewer herbicides and pesticides are required.
There are fewer weeds invading the crop.

Cons Of GMO Foods

Advantages of Genetically Modified Foods

Improved crop quality

Frost resistant crops

Disease resistant crops

Flood resistant crops

•Improved nutritional quality

Foods designed to meet specific nutritional goals

e.g. leaner meat, added vitamins/minerals e.g.

reduce # of children at risk for Vitamin-A-deficiency-

induced blindness (i.e. Golden Rice)

•In the face of global warming and climate

change, only the more robust crops will

manage to survive and thrive.

Justifiable fear to consuming GM foods

Health Safety

Negative change in Nutritional Content

Allergenic potential: the splicing of different

types of plants could cause allergies (ex:

peanut) to spread among many food types

Possible Illness

antibiotic resistance: the genes that are added

to the crops to resist insects can cause

resistance to common antibiotics, including

penicillin and ampicillin

Creation of biological weapons

Organic Foods May Contain More Nutrients

Studies comparing the nutrient content of organic and non-organic foods have provided mixed results.

This is most likely due to natural variation in food handling and production.

However, evidence does suggest that foods grown organically may be more nutritious.

Organic food: Is it safer or more nutritious?

There is a growing body of evidence that shows some potential health benefits of organic foods when compared with conventionally grown foods. While these studies have shown differences in the food, there is limited information to draw conclusions about how these differences translate into overall health benefits.

Potential benefits include the following:

Finally I always preferred to go with the organic foods which contains more nutritious .

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