046.5 GMO's and World Hunger

Dear Warbles,
     I completely agree with you when you say that GMO's are a controversial topic. Pesticides are horrible for the planet, but bring food to 3rd world countries. Although many organizations, including the WHO, have published studies proving that GMO's have no negative affects on peoples' health, it doesn't put the disbelievers at ease. As you stated, Warbles, around 95% of the food we buy from the grocery store is genetically modified, so it's pretty hard to avoid. However, people who believe GMO's are harmful can easily go for the organically grown crops, which are not permitted to be genetically modified. Scientists argue that they only speed up immunizations that would have occurred eventually in plants, which is valid, and how bad can it be if it's feeding the world?

     The most worrying part of GMO's, for me, is what farmers are doing to the environment as a result. Plants' genes are most often modified to resist some sort of poison in order for farmers to be able to spray their whole fields and only kill of the weeds, not the plants. However, this poison still resides on the crop, making it essential for one to thoroughly wash all produce before eating it. One could argue that over time and generations this could pose health risks as well. However, when farmers spray deadly poison on their plants, it gets on the ground and when it rains it gets into the earth and can also wash into water systems, killing fish and wildlife. Poisons in large doses can seriously harm the environment. In addition, over time there is a good chance the weeds would also become immune to the pesticides, calling for more heavily modified plants and a more extreme poison, which is even worse.

     My solution to the problem would not be to stop producing GMO's, or stop feeding people in 3rd world countries, but for scientists to try and come up with a different, better solution rather than using poison to kill off the weeds. Why not try to make the plants stronger and more resistant to the weeds? Of course, I don't know the first thing about agriculture, so I'm not in a position to be throwing out ideas. Warbles, Quibbles, do either of you have any opinions on GMO's or an alternative to them?

Love always
~Nargles 11/28/14