Benefits of GM foods

The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways:

• Pest resistance: Crop losses from insect pests can be staggering, resulting in financial loss for farmers and starvation in developing countries. Farmers typically use many tons of chemical pesticides annually, however consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of potential health hazards. Growing GM foods like corn can help eliminate the need for pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market.


• Herbicide tolerance: For some crops, it isn't cost-effective to remove weeds by physical means such as tilling, so farmers will often spray large quantities of different herbicides to destroy weeds, a process that requires care so that the herbicide doesn't harm the crop plant or the environment. Crop plants genetically modified to be resistant to a very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by reducing the amount of herbicides needed.


• Disease resitance: There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases.


• Cold tolerence: Unexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish has been introduced into plants like potato. With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill unmodified seedlings


• Drought tolerence: As the world population grows and more land is utilized for housing instead of food production, farmers will need to grow crops in locations previously unsuited for plant growth. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places.

People argue that GM foods are better for the environment. By using genetically modifyed crops that are resistant to attack by pests or disease, farmers do not have to apply large amounts of pesticides to the surrounding environment. Developing crops that are resistant to particular herbicides and pesticides may reduce the amount of pesticides used in food production and the pesticide levels in the environment.

References: http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php