In this post I want to talk about the future of Genetic Modified Organisms (GMOs) and why they might be the next “organic”. It sounds really strange at the beginning but let me explain what I mean.
I think we all need to understand the difference between:
1. being against the technology behind GMOs
AND
2. being against the business practice & way of usage of huge companies that manage our food supply.
I personally prefer non GMO food but let´s find out some more !
As we know, GMOs are a really controversial topic in science and especially in society for a good reason. We can use the art of mastering the behavior of genes & genomes for many things. Genetic modified Insulin for medical terms for example is widely accepted, while the discussions around genetic modified food, vegetables or agriculture in gereral are always really hot.
The same thing is treated different.
Lets begin with something we humans are doing since thousands of years, called natural genetic selection. Just let the strongest, tallest or healthiest individuals (the ones with the better genes) procreate each other and from generation to generation the stronger genes getting more pronounced.
Todays way of genetic engineering eliminates the need of waiting for a lucky hit. We can now make food grow bigger, have more vitamins, change the color or let it be immune & resistance to diseases. There are a lot of ethical questions, but for today I don´t want to dive in deeper. It depends on how we are using the types of possibilities concerning genetic food engineering.
Pesticides !
naturalnews.com
We are currently using millions on millions of tons of pesticides to keep animals, bugs and plant diseases away. With GMO we theoretical have the possibility to let our food be genetical resistance against theses things. Which doesn´t mean that the plants automatically are harmful for us humans.
The question is:
How do we feed our future generations ?
The Huffington Post
This is a really important question because the worldwide demand of food will grow immense in the near future. We could destroy even more forests to create more space for more cows & more corn fields and use more pesticides, which are expensive and the reason for many diseases.
OR
We find a more effective way to use the land & space we already working with. We need to drastically change agriculture to a much more sustainable model and being efficient is really important.
theatlantic.com
It is about minimizing the impact on our environment !
Intensifying farming instead of expanding it !
Vertical farming is just one idea !
At the same time we need to be really careful because we are playing with the code of nature. This could also has massive negative impact on plant species.
We can see again...
It depends on how we will use these types of technologies.
GMO has the potential to really change agriculture and be one of our our best friends in the future. (in case of us using it right)
It could also be that we can´t handle the responsibility.
Of course we still need to learn a lot about that topic and it is not easy to find a way for everybody. There are still some subjects we all need to discuss. Lets see.
Thank you for your attention and as always:
There is something incredible waiting to be known !
