ARE GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS SAFE?
BY JOSEPH OKPAIRE
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for an organism. It is usually of plant or animal origin and contains essential nutrients needed for growth and support.
When we talk about food, we are not just talking about nutrition in our food, but also how it’s grown. How it impacts our families and planet-and the sustainability of the practices involved. These questions make food production a serious business. Asking questions such as these leads to questions about the safety of genetically modified food a major concern of food consumers worldwide.
Genetically modified foods do not undergo the traditional cross-breeding method of propagation hence the concerns. Some schools of thought claim that it might lead to the susceptibility of the carcinogenic promoters and all.
Today, we will try to throw more light on the continuous debate surrounding genetically modified (GM) foods.
According to the WHO, genetically modified foods are developed from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.
Genetically modified organisms are generated and tested in the laboratory for desired qualities. The most common modification is to add one or more genes to an organism’s genome. Less common genes are removed or their expression is increased or silenced or the number of copies of a gene is increased or decreased.
Many products in industries like medicine, consumer goods, and agriculture are made with genetic modification. Common examples include insulin and laundry detergent. When it comes to plants, genetic modification refers to seeds. GM seeds grow in the ground like any other seeds, but they only have certain desirable traits. These seeds grow into plants that might better handle water-limited conditions or better withstand challenges like harmful insects, weeds, or diseases.
Fruits like today’s seedless watermelon and bananas, which are significantly different than earlier versions, are the result of traditional plant breeding techniques. Modern GM seeds can also be the result of traditional plant breeding that adds desired traits to plants—the combination of advanced methods and foundational plant science.
Genetically modified seeds, for instance, are developed by:
- The desired trait (like disease resistance or drought tolerance) is identified in an organism in nature.
- The gene for the trait is transferred into the plant seed.
- The plant is tested to ensure that it is safe for people, animals, and the environment.
- After years of testing and approvals from governments around the world, the new seeds are available to farmers.
For example: suppose a farmer does not want his potatoes or apples to turn brown when they are cut or bruised. Researchers come to the rescue by removing the gene that is responsible for this browning and replacing it with an altered version that blocks browning.
WHY GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS?
The question therefore is, do we really need them? Like all arguments, there are reasons for and against. The following are reasons for GMOs.
EFFICIENT USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Some GM seeds produce crops that are drought-tolerant—water-efficient plants can help farmers grow food while using less water, especially as climate change continues to change weather patterns. Herbicide-tolerant GM seeds allow farmers to manage weed growth without repeatedly disturbing the soil through tillage. Conservation tillage helps keep more moisture and carbon in the soil and reduces farming’s carbon footprint by allowing farmers to use less fuel.
FIGHTING PESTS & DISEASE
Just like people, plants are vulnerable to disease—and can even have their existence threatened. The Papaya Ringspot Virus was a significant threat in Hawaii during the 1990s. Researchers were able to save the papaya by making a virus-resistant version. The GM papaya today looks and tastes the same as non-GM papayas.
CONSERVING NATURAL HABITAT
GM seeds can help farmers make the most of their acres by allowing them to grow food without using more land. This has a positive effect on biodiversity, encouraging many species of plants and animals to continue to thrive even as our population grows.
Despite all these acclaimed benefits of GM foods, seeds, crops, etc. There is still a lot of controversies surrounding the use and safety of the GM seeds and crops especially. Examples of such include: the release of genetically modified cowpeas to farmers in the country; the release of two transgenic cotton hybrid varieties into the Nigerian Seed Market; the granting of permits by the Federal Government for confined field trials on genetically modified maize, rice, cassava, sorghum, and cowpea to ascertain ability to resist insect attack; etc. and this action has led to a growing opposition by a coalition of civil society organization (CSOs) against the introduction of GM foods into the country.
THEN THE ULTIMATE QUESTION:
ARE GMO FOODS SAFE?
Biotechnology has moved at such a rapid rate that laws and regulating agencies can’t keep up with these innovations. Research can scarcely begin to prevent unforeseen consequences from arising.
Farmers are consumers, too, and they want to feed their families safe, nutritious food while being careful stewards of their land. Scientists, for their part, place the highest priority on the safety of each product and conduct rigorous and demanding tests on each.
There is a scientific consensus that currently available food derived from GM crops poses no greater risk to human health than conventional food, but that each GM food needs to be tested on a case-by-case basis before introduction.
In fact, GM seeds have been tested more than any other product in the history of agriculture—with no evidence of harm to humans, animals, or the environment. The data have been reviewed by hundreds of independent scientists and researchers globally.
Nonetheless, members of the public are much less likely than scientists to perceive GM foods as safe. The legal and regulatory status of GM foods varies by country, with some nations banning or restricting them, and others permitting them with widely differing degrees of regulation.
A growing chorus of critics warns of unintended results, ranging from severe economic dislocation for the world’s farmers to environmental destruction and threats to human health. Researchers warn that there are no long-term, large-scale tests to prove the safety of genetically modified food and opponents have also claimed that long-term health risks have not been adequately assessed and propose various combinations of additional testing, labeling or removal from the market.
Some potential dangers of GM foods:
- Allergic reaction: If a gene producing a protein that causes allergic responses ended up in corn, for instance, people who suffer from food allergies could be exposed to grave danger. Despite the fact that food-regulating agencies require companies to report whether altered food contains any problem proteins, some researchers fear that unknown allergens could slip through the system.
- Increased toxicity: Some experts believe that genetic modification may enhance natural plant toxins in unexpected ways. When a gene is switched on, besides having the desired effect, it may also set off the production of natural toxins.
- Resistance to antibiotics: As part of the genetic modification of plants, scientists use what is called marker genes to determine if the desired gene has been successfully embedded. As most marker genes provide resistance to antibiotics, critics fear that this could contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Other scientists, however, counter that such marker genes are genetically scrambled before use, thus alleviating this danger.
- Spread of “superweeds.”: One of the biggest fears is that once modified crops are planted, genes will escape via seeds and pollen to weedy relatives, creating “superweeds” that are able to resist herbicides.
- The demise of safe pesticides: Among the most successful GM crops are some that contain a gene that produces a protein toxic to insect pests. However, biologists warn that exposing pests to the toxin produced by this gene will help the pests develop resistance and thus render pesticides useless.”
In the end, the choice of the type of food consumed lies solely in the court of the final consumer. Should you consume GM foods or organic foods is a personal decision. Nigeria is yet to attain an effective mechanism of monitoring the safety of even natural produced foods.
With our current state, will Nigeria be able to monitor and maintain the complexities as regards GM foods? Is there any information or protection for citizens who would rather choose, what type of food they want to consume?
REFERENCES:
- https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/01/are-genetically-modified-foodsgmos-safe/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food
- https://www.fao.org/cfs/home/blog/blog-articles/article/en/c/1104228/
- https://www.premiumtimesng.com/health/health-news/280412-court-strikes-out-suit-against-genetically-modified-crops-in-nigeria.html
- Featured Image Source: (Source: dovemed.com)