Download Idil Osman

Idil Osman
Omnivore's Dilemma Final Paper
12/15/10
Going off from the phrase “you are what you eat”, if that’s so then, we
humans are corn, or processed corn to be more precise. Corn is one of the main
constituents of the food we obtain, “virtually all the sodas and most of the fruit
drinks sold in the supermarket have been sweetened with high-fructose corn
syrup (HFCS)-after water, corn sweetener is their principle ingredient”. (pg.18).
Furthermore, “There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American
supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn. This goes for
the nonfood items as well”. (pg.19) Therefore, a great percentage of the products
we consume or use contains corn, or modified corn. There is so much
controversy regarding the topic of GMO, genetically modified organisms and
whether or not genetically modified food products, such as corn, should be
permitted to be made and sold to the public. Genetically modified organisms
bring about advantages as well as disadvantages; therefore, the question is do
genetically modified product’s benefits outweigh the costs?
An organism is said to have been genetically modified when a gene from
one organism is deliberately transferred to improve or modify another organism,
in a laboratory. There are many different ways in which a gene can be
transferred into an organism to produce the desired traits. One way of doing so is
through a process called selective breeding. In the case of plants- corn for
example, selective breeding is done by breeding two plants with the desired traits
to produce more plants (offspring) with the desirable traits. This process was
formerly recognized by the Native Americans “by taking the pollen from the tassel
of one corn plant and dusting it on the silks of another, they could create new
plants that combined the traits of both parents” (pg.29). Selective breeding of
corn brought about great benefit to the farmers as it a quick and efficient way of
producing plants with desirable traits.
Another mechanism used to create genetically modified corn is genetic
engineering, transferring a foreign gene into another organism’s genome. This is
done by physically transferring the genes that possess the desired trait into the
desired plant to improve the trait in that plant, this process is done in the
laboratory. This process differs from selective breeding because with selective
breeding often unwanted traits are passed down into the organism, whereas
when the genes carrying the desired trait are physically transferred into the plant,
there are no unwanted genes passed down and there are no complications with
extra genes being expressed or ‘turned on’.
There are several traits that have been introduced into GMO corn to
further enhance or improve the plants tolerance and resistance towards pests,
insects, and other diseases. These traits include: insect resistances, pesticide,
herbicides. The addition of these traits leads to the production of more plants with
similar traits, which could survive harsh conditions and reproduce further.
From my perspective the idea of genetically modified organisms such as
corn comes with a great number of advantages along with disadvantages.
However, although genetically modified organisms and or products can be
beneficial towards the public, I feel as though the disadvantages outweigh the
benefits. The advantages of producing genetically modified organisms include
efficient use of space, as genetically modified plants increase the yield there will
be less space needed for a larger amount of plants produced which is a great
advantage to farmers. Also, genetically modified plants increase the variety of
plants produced as well as increase the production of food, because genetically
modified corn are grown fast and have high yields they can feed a lot more
people than organic corn. Furthermore, genetically modified corn lead to the
production of cheap meat that is affordable by the consumers, “...meat which
used to be a special occasion in most American homes, so cheap and abundant
that many of us eat it three times a day.” (pg.67)Another advantage that comes
along with the corn-fed cows is that the meat provides a good source of energy
as well as a having a taste and texture that the American customers like.
Disadvantages of genetically modified organisms such as corn include,
the production of such crops leads to environmental and health issues: “polluted
water and air, toxic wastes, novel and deadly pathogens”. (Pg 67) Moreover, the
meat from corn-fed cows is less healthy as it contains less omega-3 fatty acids
and more saturated fats. “A growing body of research suggests that many of the
health problems associated with eating beef are really problems with corn-fed
beef”, this statement indicates the harmful effects GMO corn could have on our
health. Another disadvantage is the fact that bacteria are now becoming
resistance to the antibiotic and as we intake this we can also receive some sort
of strain of bacteria that may be very lethal and kill us. In addition, the additives
usually added to the GMO crops lead to obesity and other diseases such as
diabetes as they contain high amounts of sugar and they make the consumer to
want to consume more.
Organic corn although it may not have a high yield, there are no health or
environmental issues associated in processing it or consuming it. Therefore, I
believe it is much safer to consume organic corn as it has no or little effect on our
health as opposed to genetically modified corn, which increases the risk to
obtaining unknown diseases and other harmful effects.