Why GMO Popcorn Won’t Kill You
It was the middle of the afternoon, and the familiar sensation of hunger was prickling my stomach. Needing nourishment, I wandered downstairs to my family’s pantry in search of a quick salty snack to keep me going until dinner. The boxes around me were full of messages such as “30% less fat” and “No Added Sugars,” likely placed in an effort to make consumers such as me feel better about devouring a processed product instead of a healthier alternative. Eventually, I decided upon a bag of microwaveable popcorn, and while ripping open the box, I noticed a particular label that got me thinking. The words “made with non-GMO popcorn” were spelled out excitedly in bold, white letters for everyone to see.
The truth of the matter was that a label like this one was not unusual. For years while roaming the supermarket I would come across countless labels like these on hundreds of products. It seems like just another label made to tell shoppers the nutritional benefits of the product. Much like “made without high fructose corn syrup” or “extra iron,” it was a label whose significance I didn’t fully understand but vaguely believed meant something positive. Therefore, for much of my youth, I connotated GMOs negatively in my brain without knowing what those three letters even stood for.
What are GMOs? And are they really bad for you?
GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. GMOs are any type of living being that has had its genes edited so it is unlike any naturally occurring version of itself. This definition means that GMOs can get genes from other species or have their normal genes altered to serve a specific purpose. What the labels on boxes are talking about are GMO crops, which have been edited for better characteristics such as yield or flavor.
GMO crops have been around for decades at this point. The first real GMO product, the Flavr Savr Tomato was introduced to the market in 1994. This tomato was edited for longer shelf life, so tomatoes could be transported long distances and still look ripe upon arrival at a supermarket. It sounds like a great idea, right? After all, the reason fresh fruits and veggies are harder to eat is that they spoil quickly. When people live in areas that can’t grow crops easily they’re unable to access fresh produce and can’t live healthy lives. Therefore, a tomato that could be transported while still preserving its freshness would be revolutionary. Unfortunately, this logic was not shared by everyone. Campaigns against GMOs and high shipping costs retired the tomato, leading it to not have a long shelf life as was originally intended.
While the Flavr Savr Tomato was one of the first ventures into GMO crops and a failure, the efforts to improve natural crops haven’t stopped since. Scientists have expanded to soybeans, cotton, rapeseed, corn, and rice. As GMOs have become more commonplace, so has the public outcry about them. Opponents worry that “unnatural” genetic material will harm humans. They reference studies done on rats which apparently showed that GMOs lead to increased toxicity and eventually organ death. They also argue that scientists are trying to conceal this from the public because most studies to test the effects of GMOs have been on rats and mice. While those might immediately sound like compelling reasons to be anti-GMO, these studies are in fact false. Scientists have done many studies feeding rats a variety of GMO crops and have shown that these rats show no more harm than rats in the control group. As for the fact that studies aren’t done on humans, this is largely unethical. Scientists avoid human subjects and focus on rats which have been proven to be excellent model organisms for humans.
Other concerns include GMOs causing cancer-linked mutations in humans upon consumption. But good news! This concern has also been debunked by many studies which showed that GMOs are not mutagenic (mutation causing).
Why are people still so afraid of GMOs?
When it comes down to it, people will always be afraid of change. New technology has invoked fear in people throughout history even though such technology often benefits society. Change is the only constant, but human psychology always causes people to be resistant. GMOs seem like a scary new Frankenstein-like creation to those who aren’t well educated about them. Misinformation, like the claims above, is hard to debunk once people get it into their heads. GMOs seem different from everything people think agriculture should be and this causes fear.
However, even claiming that genetic modification is a “new” idea is somewhat misleading. Humans have been altering and breeding crops and animals for over 30,000 years since the agricultural revolution. The best example of this is modern corn. You may be imagining biting into a bright, yellow ear of corn on the cob as the plump corn kernels explode in your mouth. This type of corn seems like a healthy, natural crop, free from alteration. However, corn has not always been this way.
Corn originally came from a wild grass called teosinte which is the farthest left plant in the photo. It looks nothing like the corn we eat today, right? This is because humans grew the types of teosinte that had larger kernels. Over thousands of years, this process led to the corn we know and love today. Technically, this is a form of genetic alteration because genes that caused larger kernel yield were selected for by farmers.
Why should we support GMOs?
GMOs are just the next step in humanity’s journey to increasing food yield. New agricultural revolutions have occurred throughout human history and are the reason we can sustain our exponentially growing population. For example, in the 1960s, fertilizers came into use during the Green Revolution, greatly expanding crop yield. People were also initially resistant to the prospect of chemicals like fertilizers being used to grow their food. However, these chemicals are the reason that third-world countries can feed their large populations. Back then, the global population was three billion, less than half of what it is today. We are approaching a world population of eight billion people, with the UN estimating another two billion in the next 30 years.
To sustain the world, farmers will need to produce at least 70% more food than they do today. Innovations such as GMOs will be essential because they encourage many beneficial factors in plants that cannot occur naturally. An excellent example of this is golden rice, a type of rice genetically engineered to be more nutritious than normal rice. This rice was created specifically to address Vitamin A deficiency in children in developing countries. It is thought that nearly 500,000 people each year die from this lack of Vitamin A. However, many countries and activists are resistant to the use of this rice due to common misinformation about GMOs.
GMO crops have also been engineered to be Bt, meaning that they contain a toxin only dangerous to insects, which discourages pests from devouring plants. The use of Bt crops has also led to a 90% decrease in pesticide use since their introduction, which is better for the environment.
Some plants have also been engineered to resist plant viruses which can lead to the extermination of species if measures aren’t taken against them. For example, in the 1950s most banana plantations grew the Gros Michel variety, but a disease raced through plantations killing most of the bananas. The Cavendish banana, a new variety, was found after a struggle and now dominates world banana sales. Most modern crops are of a single variety that has been proven to be superior and appealing to the consumer. The danger of this is that, like the Gros Michel banana, if a dangerous pathogen comes along the supply of that food could vanish. Therefore, engineered viral resistance in plants’ genomes will also be important in future agriculture.
Conclusions
It is easy to look at labels in the supermarket and fearmongering from people resistant to GMOs and be afraid. However, the facts are clear, population growth is not stopping, GMOs do not lead to organ failure, and plants could be in danger if not engineered. Fear is a base human instinct which is easy to give in to, being braver and facing the coming future takes strength. GMOs are the future whether people like it or not. However, it would be a lot easier if people did like them.
