Environmental Issues

Environmental issues associated with the use of GM Food

As mentioned earlier, the gene of the Genetically Modified Food has been altered and does not occur naturally. Due to this reason, development of herbicide tolerant, viral resistance or insect resistance GM crops can be favorable to the environment. For a pest resistance GM crop, their pest resistance is achieved by incorporating a gene for toxin production from a bacterium into food plant. When GM crops are pest resistance, the usage of pesticide is reduced. A high usage of pesticide is likely to cause pollution of streams, rivers and wetlands when it rains. This pesticide would seep into the river with the rain and it might indirectly affect the marine wildlife. Growing GM food can help to prevent environmental damage by eliminating the application of chemical pesticides thus reducing the cost of bringing a crop to the market.

In addition, GM crops produce their own pesticide and protect the plant from yield loss. This could reduce the food shortage problem. Also, GM crop reduce the need to expand agricultural acreage. As a result, it would prevent deforestation from taking place. If deforestation was to occur, it could lead to the depletion of ozone layer which in turn would cause global warming.

On the other hand, GM food could also become a disaster to the environment. GM seed that is left behind after harvest may sprout and become weeds the following years. GM plants engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds might cross-breed, resulting in the transfer of the herbicide resistance genes from the crops into the weeds causing the formation of superweeds, potentially disturbing the balance of nature. Furthermore, GM plants could also outcross with wild species resulting in superweeds that are more competitive and much more difficult to control. This would make weed management more complicated, expensive, labor and chemical intensive.

Unfortunately, GM crop plants could unintentionally harm other organisms by cross pollinating with non-engineered plants, introducing the new genes into wild plant population and ecosystem, thus causing detrimental chain effect on food web. For example, pollen from Bt (Bacillius thuringiensis) corn could be carried by the wind onto milkweed plants in neighboring fields, causing the caterpillar to consume the pollen and perish. If this was to continue, it can lead to the loss of biodiversity.