Why are GM foods produced?

GM foods are produced for financial gain for companies and they are also said to be able to have nutritional gain for us humans.
The initial idea behind GM foods was to produce foods with increased crop protection.The GM foods currently on the market are mainly aimed at an increased level of crop protection through the introduction of resistance against plant diseases caused by insects or through a high tolerance towards herbicides.

My opinion on GM foods

I think GM foods are wrong. My reason for this is that they are not what was supposed to be ; it is like defying the laws of gravity but with food and plant breeding.

There are many critisisms towards genetically modified foods and until they are completely proven to be harmless to the environment or humans, I believe we should not trust them.
If they are tested on animals, I believe that is wrong aswell as innacurate and I also think that GM foods could have bad effects on the human body if it is not used to these types of food.

Disadvantages of GM Foods

Many people are concerned that insects will become resistant to B.t. or other crops that have been genetically-modified to produce their own pesticides.

Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in some people.

There is a growing concern that introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health.

Bringing a GM food onto the market is a lengthy and costly process.

Another concern is that crop plants engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds will cross-breed, which means the weeds will become tolerant to herbicides.

Advatages of GM foods

Scientists are working towards making plants resistant to diseases.

Frost can destroy seedlings. An antifreeze gene has been introduceed into some plants like tobacco and potato. With this gene plants are able to withstand cold temperatures.

Some plants can hold more nutrition than others and in third world countries this helps a lot. While trying to develop a rice with more iron content, funding was stopped so this may not come to market but with the right resources, hunger could be reduced with GM foods.

Medicines and vaccines often are costly to produce and sometimes require special storage conditions not readily available in third world countries. Researchers are working to develop edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes. These will be much easier to store and administer than traditional injectable vaccines.

Plants need to be able to withstand bad conditions. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in more places.

GM foods

GM(genetically modified) foods are where a plant, animal or micro organisms genes have been changed or one from another organism has been inserted.These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance traits such as being more resistant to herbicides or to improve nutritional content.
This has traditionally been done through breeding, but that is very time consuming and sometimes inaccurate.