WARNING GMOs INCLUDED

In our final unit of our Food class we focused on percent changes and GMOs. In this action project I present my opinion on GMOs and why they should be banned. I present some facts on how they negatively affect communities, farmers, and the environment. I really enjoyed this unit because we gt to see some great field experiences, like one to the Green City Market. I hope you enjoy.

Food: GMO Debate- IF from GCE Lab School on Vimeo.

95% of the United States’ grown sugar beets are genetically modified along with 94% of soybeans also being genetically modified. Soybeans are a large part of the American diet, so having this alarming amount of genetically modified soybeans brings up risks that can still be solved. GMOs should no longer be put into the diets of the global population. GMOs are expensive to both the farmer and the people buying it. GMOs make food desserts more common while also creating monocultures.

Genetically modified foods can be very expensive for farmers and various buyers of the foods. Farmers are sinking into debt with their equity decreasing and their debt levels rising 5.2% in 2017. Growers first sign a contract with a company that will sell their food but the equity rates keep getting lower and lower so the farmers fall into debt and they can’t leave the contract otherwise they won’t get paid. Genetically modified food is also affecting consumers of the products. Most foods that are genetically modified tend to be unhealthy, which is difficult for families to deal with. When you are a low income family your number one choice would be to buy food that is both filling and cheap instead of the expensive and small. The filling and cheap foods are so mass produced that the small healthy foods need to compete against the mass produced unhealthy foods. Still being a low income family you eventually need to cope with the unhealthy diet and obtain expensive medication. None of this would be necessary if GMOs were banned in food products.

GMOs can also cause food deserts where it can be difficult to obtain healthy foods. Food deserts typically exist in low income areas where people don’t have the money to buy locally grown food that isn’t just genetically modified foods that have been stuffed with preservatives. The low income areas usually obtain their food from cheap places that is filling and cheap, like I mentioned in the last argument the filling and cheap meals aren’t local and aren’t healthy causing these families to be unhealthy or overweight. GMOs lead to food deserts because genetically modified foods get put into low income communities so they have lower prices than organic food. Organic healthy food doesn’t sell at high prices when you can still get inorganic GMO food at low prices in low income communities, therefore making unhealthy food deserts.

Genetically modified foods are also creating monocultures. Monocultures are when one type of plant is being grown way too much and if a disease were to happen then it could possibly destroy that entire species for a short time period. GMOs cause monocultures by creating a high demand for one type of food like corn. This high demand of corn is making farmers grow more corn; the more corn grown the higher the risk of a disease wiping out the large amount of GMOs. Potatoes in Ireland fell due to a monoculture in the 1840s and the Irish starved because of it; this will most likely not happen as drastically as it happened to the Irish but it will impact us if corn gets wiped out. Corn is in everything from pop tarts, batteries, magazines, and cereal. Monocultures definitely will not be helping out our global food system.

This graph represents the rising amounts of corn being grown in Iowa compared to other foods. Orange represents the total  amount of cropping land corn is taking up. This data is only taking place in the years of 1956 - 1962. The percentage of total cropping land being occupied by corn is at 60% in 1956 an it had gone up to 64% in only 6 years; this is a percent increase of 4%. Both percentages show that we already have over half of all the pants being grown into a monoculture.

"Graph" IF 2017

A common argument use among GMO supports is that using GMOs are cheaper than growing organic food. It may at first seem this way but there are actually a lot of underlying cost to farmers. Farmers are buying GMOs, pesticides, and herbicides to grow the best plants. The more we implement GMOs into our food the more costly it gets for farmers. 

Genetically modified food should no longer be dispensed to the public because even if it is labeled it will inevitably be the number one choice for a lot of lower income people. These low income people suffer from both an unhealthy diet and can’t travel to get a better one when living in a food desert. Above all genetically modified foods are still being used today, but the underlying truth of the damage it has caused has greatly affected everyone. GMOs need to be removed from the shelves of stores and in the hands of fast food companies and replaced with local organic foods that are safe for everyone. GMOs need to be removed from food for the betterment of our low income communities and to lower the risk of a food wipe out.

Food, Inc. By Robert Kenner, Robert Kenner, Robert Kenner, Richard Pearce, Eric Schlosser, Eric Schlosser, Melissa Robledo, William Pohlad, Jeff Skoll, Robin Schorr, Diane Weyermann, Elise Pearlstein, Elise Pearlstein, Kim Roberts, Kim Roberts, Michael Pollan, Michael Pollan, Gary Hirshberg, Joel Salatin, and Mark Adler. Dir. Richard Pearce. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 May 2017.

Weise, Elizabeth. "Genetically engineered foods Q & A." USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 28 Oct. 2012. Web. 29 May 2017.

"Assets, Debt, and Wealth." USDA ERS - Assets, Debt, and Wealth. N.p., 17 Mar. 2017. Web. 29 May 2017.