Social Implications of GMOs
The presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is becoming extremely prominent in this day and age. As like the development of any new technology, we must stop and evaluate the positive and negative implications on society, and the many facets it can affect.
Positive Social Implications of GMOs
Nutritional Value
The clearest benefit of GMOs are their nutritional values. The new technology allows for the engineering of food that is much more nutrient rich than their non-modified counterparts. Malnutrition, sadly, is a growing presence in our world today. One example is vitamin A deficiency—a deficiency that has a critical impact on one’s ability to reproduce, have a properly functioning immune system and strong vision. Dr. Nilva Egana notes that every year, “approximately a quarter of a million children in Southeast Asia go blind because of VAD and many more become susceptible to infectious diseases such as measles” (1). Figure 1 shows the severity of vitamin A deficiency across the globe. These sobering statistics led to the incredible development of “golden rice,” a strain of rice produced by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences that contains a higher amount of vitamin A than non-enriched rice. Rice is a major food staple for more than half the world’s population, and Asia is one of the biggest consumers (2). While GMOs will not eradicate the problem of malnutrition, they are certainly helping improve the situation.
(Check out this video on the benefits of golden rice! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sbxA4WlkUP8)
(Check out this video on the benefits of golden rice! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sbxA4WlkUP8)
Another major nutritional benefit of GMOs is the ability to disseminate crucial vaccines and medicines more easily. Biotechnologists can insert vaccines into food products, allowing for organizations to be able to transport and deliver them to the many in need. One incredible example is the development of transgenic potatoes, or potatoes that contain genetic material into which DNA from an unrelated organism has been artificially introduced. These potatoes have been developed with the capability to protect consumers from to E. coli and rotavirus, two fatal diseases (3).
Environmental Value
Biotechnology can also genetically modify certain crops to resist environmental damages, such as frost and drought. This will extend growing seasons and help alleviate unfavorable conditions, allowing more food to be produced. This could greatly effect regions that suffer from drought and lack of fertile land (4). Providing food in regions that were once unable to grow their own has huge social implications, potentially even alleviating strains from famine, or eradicating it all together. Additionally, this improvement in efficiency can reduce our carbon footprint.
Negative social implications of gmos
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's) are becoming a huge part in everyday life. They have brought up a lot of moral complications along. Most of them concern leaving nature and God’s creation alone.
GMO’s include a variety of plants and animals that are changed at the DNA level achieve a certain desired quality, such as resistant to pesticides.
Companies have been growing their seeds, but the question is if it’s moral to patient these plants. Is it okay to owe a gene sequence in an animal and everything it breads with? Is it okay to create a baby by selecting its best genes?
This was thought of in the 1997 film Gattaca. It is part of Politicians’ big plan, and time will show us how we will become desensitized to what is going on around us. So where do we draw the line of what type of life we can and cannot own?
There are many other implications relating to the general human well-being, such as people’s rights and the principle of justice. Also, laboratory experiments, environmental release and commercial production of agricultural biotechnology products may bring about other sorts of ethical issues. Some of these are listed below:
· Loss of local organic production – for example in some parts of Spain the organic production of natural maize is already being reduced and hard to find. This reduces the capacity of the rural economy and develops interdependence and economic development.
· The loss of these rural and natural seeds reduces the biodiversity of the regions affected by GMO’s.
· Difficulties for seed growers and producers; since this whole process accelerates many companies’ interest in seed industry, this makes the work of seed producers economically much more difficult.
· Possible vanishing of non-GM seeds from markets. This has occurred in many countries such as Europe where if no change is presented in the future, there will be a possible disappearance of non-GM seeds.
Also, some religious groups have opposed GMOs. For example: Some aspects of biotechnology are against the teachings of the Catholic Church. They are against the ruin and damage of the human embryo while harvesting the stem cells since they also believe that that life begins at fertilization.
A lot of the discussion on GMO’s also focuses on human cloning, which is divided into two types: the reproductive cloning and the therapeutic cloning. Reproductive cloning is used to make a clone of another person while therapeutic cloning is used to regenerate damaged or lost tissues by using embryonic stem cells.
In an effort to regulate the amount of research and ensure that ethical and moral fears are still considered in GMO’s, there has been several restrictions and bans on the production of GMO’s.
GMO’s include a variety of plants and animals that are changed at the DNA level achieve a certain desired quality, such as resistant to pesticides.
Companies have been growing their seeds, but the question is if it’s moral to patient these plants. Is it okay to owe a gene sequence in an animal and everything it breads with? Is it okay to create a baby by selecting its best genes?
This was thought of in the 1997 film Gattaca. It is part of Politicians’ big plan, and time will show us how we will become desensitized to what is going on around us. So where do we draw the line of what type of life we can and cannot own?
There are many other implications relating to the general human well-being, such as people’s rights and the principle of justice. Also, laboratory experiments, environmental release and commercial production of agricultural biotechnology products may bring about other sorts of ethical issues. Some of these are listed below:
· Loss of local organic production – for example in some parts of Spain the organic production of natural maize is already being reduced and hard to find. This reduces the capacity of the rural economy and develops interdependence and economic development.
· The loss of these rural and natural seeds reduces the biodiversity of the regions affected by GMO’s.
· Difficulties for seed growers and producers; since this whole process accelerates many companies’ interest in seed industry, this makes the work of seed producers economically much more difficult.
· Possible vanishing of non-GM seeds from markets. This has occurred in many countries such as Europe where if no change is presented in the future, there will be a possible disappearance of non-GM seeds.
Also, some religious groups have opposed GMOs. For example: Some aspects of biotechnology are against the teachings of the Catholic Church. They are against the ruin and damage of the human embryo while harvesting the stem cells since they also believe that that life begins at fertilization.
A lot of the discussion on GMO’s also focuses on human cloning, which is divided into two types: the reproductive cloning and the therapeutic cloning. Reproductive cloning is used to make a clone of another person while therapeutic cloning is used to regenerate damaged or lost tissues by using embryonic stem cells.
In an effort to regulate the amount of research and ensure that ethical and moral fears are still considered in GMO’s, there has been several restrictions and bans on the production of GMO’s.
Relations to case study
So now that we know how GMOs are made, and some of the positive and negative implications of their use, we can look at the case of Eric with a more educated mind. The production of Super Maize definitely had applicable positives, such as making the corn and therefore the tacos made with it would be less expensive, making the tacos less expensive to produce as well. This could translate to savings for Taco Heaven that would result in higher income for the company and might even carry over to savings for the consumer. Affordable food is indeed an issue in today's society. However, Eric's case is an example of how the negative implications may have seriously outweighed the savings Taco Heaven owners and consumers may feel.
Critical thinking questions
- How can the creation of nutrition packed GMOs affect developing countries? How could this different in developed countries?
- From what you now know about “golden rice” and vitamin A deficiency, what possible issues could you see with the production of golden rice?
- Should religion play a part in determining the ethics of science when it comes to GMO’s?
Works cited
1) Luttrell, Andy. "The Benefits of Genetically Modified Food Crops." Suite101.com.
2) Moore, Patrick. "AMERICAN.COM." How to Fight Childhood Blindness — The American Magazine. N.p., 12 Oct. 2007. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.
3) Luttrell, Andy. "The Benefits of Genetically Modified Food Crops." Suite101.com.
4) Smith, Nick. April 13, 2000. “Seeds of Opportunity: An Assessment of the Benefits, Safety, and Oversight of Plant Genomics and Agriculture Biotechnology.” For the One Hundred and Sixth Congress Second Session.
Other works used
"Food, Farms, and Famine." : Morality of GMO's. N.p., 20 Apr. 2010. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
"The Moral Implications of GMOs." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 11 Nov. 2003. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
"OVERVIEW OF THETECHNOLOGY." Ethical Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
2) Moore, Patrick. "AMERICAN.COM." How to Fight Childhood Blindness — The American Magazine. N.p., 12 Oct. 2007. Web. 10 Nov. 2012.
3) Luttrell, Andy. "The Benefits of Genetically Modified Food Crops." Suite101.com.
4) Smith, Nick. April 13, 2000. “Seeds of Opportunity: An Assessment of the Benefits, Safety, and Oversight of Plant Genomics and Agriculture Biotechnology.” For the One Hundred and Sixth Congress Second Session.
Other works used
"Food, Farms, and Famine." : Morality of GMO's. N.p., 20 Apr. 2010. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
"The Moral Implications of GMOs." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 11 Nov. 2003. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.
"OVERVIEW OF THETECHNOLOGY." Ethical Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012.