Band 6+: some people think that genetically modified (GM) crops are a positive developement. Others, however, argue that they are potentially dangerous. Discuss both these viwes and give your own opinion.

Are the GM crops worth the potential risks?

Over the past decade, a lot of milestones have been reached in what comes to scientific discoveries applied on daily life basis. One of them being, through the use of advanced technology, the development of genetically modified crops in order to help suffice the global food demand. However, together with the known benefits of transgenic crops, there has been a lot of growing concern towards the unregulated use of said technology, arguing that it could be potentially harmful for our health. Albeit there is no such thing as black or white in this scenario, there are benefits and risks as well, as we will discuss further.

Since the last century, the population has had a huge increase. For instance, this means that there will be more people to feed than there used to be in the 1900’s and that is where the genetically modified crops come to play. In order to increase the production of food such as cereals and vegetables, scientists have given us a variety of crops that could withstand adverse weather conditions and in certain cases diseases or plagues, therefore augmenting the amount of available food in a certain plantation.

Nonetheless, one of the main concerns towards this type of crop is that they could bring health problems if consumed regularly. This is because sometimes, as the crops tend to be bigger most of the time, they require a lot more nutrients that are mostly applied by the use of agrochemicals that are infamous for their pollution and soil degradation, hence the health problems derived from prolonged chemical ingest. Additionally, GM crops threaten the small organic agricultural plains since, in an economical context, there is no way a small plantation can compete against the huge transgenic agronomic lands.

This certain topic bears for discussion because whether we embrace or ban the use of transgenics, there will be a broad set of problems coming with any posture. In my opinion there shall be more research done to seek for a point in which we reach an agreement altogether with the scientific community and the agricultural sector because genetically modified crops are somewhat new and perhaps we are yet to find the full potential behind the use of this technology.