In the past 70 years, the world has gone through a food revolution. With the start of genetic engineering, we have been able to manipulate and reconfigure the same foods that humans have been eating for thousands of years. This engineering includes creating specific foods that are pathogen resistant, injecting additional micronutrients into food and increasing the fertility and yield of crops. This has led to an increased production in food and the reduced use of pesticides, which given the worlds constantly growing population, has been a positive outcome. Yet what negative effects has this had? Research into the risks of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) has been significantly lacking, leading to the broad release of potentially harmful organisms into the environment and into our bodies. Such risks include the breakdown of ecosystem specific biodiversity, the creation of additional pathogens and additional damage to local environments and organism health. Current policy deems GMOs as “substantially equivalent” to conventional foods, allowing these foods to skip the rigorous testing system that all other products are required to endure before mass production can occur. We must advocate significant policy change, reversing this ruling and requiring that all GMOs go through safety testing before being mass produced. This policy change is essential to our environmental and personal health.
Schedule (“Categories”)
- 04-18-0830
- 04-18-1140
- 04-18-1450
- 04-19-1140
- 04-19-1450
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- 04-20-1630
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- 04-23-1430
- 04-25-0830
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- Uncategorized
I really liked your poster. It was concise, easy to read, and appealing to the eye. You also had a number of very informative and eye-catching images that really made your poster stand out. I especially liked the corn/vitamins picture. It was also very easy to tell that you were passionate about your topic. When I was talking to you and you were telling about your work, I could really see how knowledgeable you were about the subject matter and how much care u put into this project. Overall I was very impressed by your project.
It was interesting to hear what your views on GMOs were, because part of my own project concerned the benefits of GMO foods. You presented your arguments for lack of adequate safety testing on products such as Bt corn in a very concise manner, and I agree with your beliefs – even though extensive testing is performed on the specific genes to be inserted into the GMOs, relatively less testing is performed in the field and in animals. Perhaps the reason why there is little testing is because there is so much concern for animal testing (animal rights, ethics, etc.?) It might be worthwhile to explore the reasons for why so little testing is performed (you mentioned profit for the GMO industry as one reason for inadequate, speedy testing) so that we can find solutions. As I presented in my project and as we both agreed, GMOs have so many benefits that if GMOs were safe, we would both be proponents! We should look for practical solutions – somehow encourage more testing.