What is GM food? Talk about the benefits and risks of GM food.
GM foods,so called genetically modified foods,are the foods that are derived from genetically modified organisms. Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques. GM technology is the separation and decorated artificial genes into the genome of organisms, and to gene expression, access to new traits of biological technology.
Since this technology was practiced,genetically modified food has developed a lot.In 1983,world’s first case of successful cultivation is tobacco.In 1994,the U.S. first case of GM food is tomatoes.In 1996,large-scale production has come into use.Since that,the amount of GM foods increased by 52 times each year.People have shared a lot of advantages as time went by.GM crops are more productive and have a larger yield. They can offer more nutritional value and better flavor. What is more,a possibility that they could eliminate allergy-causing properties in some foods and inbuilt resistance to pests, weeds and disease. They are also more capable of thriving in regions with poor soil or adverse climates and remaining fresh longer.Still,at the same time,much danger has been put up all the way. For example,in August 1998,a British research institute reported that rats ate GM potatoes, which was insect-resistant transgenic potatoes produced by snowdrop lectin .And
there was damage to internal organs and immune systems and this impeded the growth of mice.Apart from what we have mentioned above,genetically modified foods has also exerted influence on the possible impact of human consumption and may affect the ecological environment,such as super weed problems,the impact of biodiversity and destruction of ecological balance.What is more serious,GM crops may expand to“genetic pollution”,which might destroy the biodiversity, leading to extinction of individual species,affect the hidden dangers of biological diversity and GM foods have yet to appear directly harmful to human cases.
In my opinion,the benefits outweigh the potential risks .One one hand ,trust in food safety and regulatory systems .On the other hand,watch out the further safety evaluation and risk assessment.
