Genetically Modified Foods

Genetically Modified (GM) crops are plants which have had genes inserted into their seeds to enable a farmer to increase crop yield while saving money. Often a crop is changed genetically to make it more resistant to disease, to make their own insecticide, to be resistant to high doses of pesticide, or grow larger so that the plant produces more food. However, GM crops could also contain pesticides because a plant could make its own pesticide or because a greater amount of pesticide can be applied to a pesticide-resistant crop. Additionally, many people argue that “playing with genes” by doing things such as inserting the antifreeze gene from fish into tomato or strawberry plants will have negative health affects to people that eat the plants.

 

Do you believe that genetically modified foods are good or bad? Support your position with at least 3 reasons or examples that illustrate why GM foods should or should not be created.