A topic for concern: genetic engineering in foods

A topic for concern: genetic engineering in foods

In our day and age society has yielded substantial advances in technology on the molecular level. The dawn of genetic engineering has opened up the biological blueprints of life and given our society access to unfathomable amounts of information regarding genetic manipulation. Altering, splicing, and recombining genetic information in plants, animals, bacteria, and other organisms is widely practiced in the world today and is opening the door for endless possibilities. While modifying genes has the possibility to help cure disease and also find antibiotics for infections, it is also now being used to change what we eat. Scientists have not only been focused on how we can improve our bodies but also how we can improve what we put into our bodies. Genetic alteration in our food has been a fast growing trend and its effects on our overall health is poorly overlooked when it’s compared to its large economic influences and associations. The fact is over four dozen foods that we consume today are altered in some way genetically before they reach our table. The imposing message that these genetically altered foods will better benefit our health is a large misconception. While there are promises of ending world hunger, improving public health, and decreasing the use of pesticides they are also hidden factors that most people are not aware of. “Life science” corporations plan to monopolize production of seeds and food products at the expense of our health and well being. What needs to be realized about genetic engineering in foods is that it is producing hazards in all areas of our society including human health, environmental health, and socioeconomic health.
The relative new technology of gene modification has had no limits imposed on its practices. Regulations and things like proper labeling of genetically engineered foods do not exist because the practice is still in early development and most agencies argue that genetically modifying foods is not a hazard to...