Soybeans: associated with granola-popping, hiking, healthy livin' hippies who only eat organic foods for the health of themselves and the world around them. But is this perception really true? No. Soybeans are the most genetically modified food on the planet. Genetic modification is the manipulation of genes, or the transferring of one organism's genetic material to another. The question we ask ourselves is, is it really necessary? How genetic modification is done, profit, and possible detrimental effects are three hot topics in this controversial field.
Organisms can adapt to their environment in unnatural ways with the help of genetic modification. The incidences of many diseases have gone up dramatically in the past 20 years and this may be attributed to genetic modifications of organisms humans eat: when a population eats, for example, meat from cows that have been injected with antiobiotics to resist disease, antibiotics become extremely overused and ineffective because resisant bacteria will have evolved. Animals receiving hormones have caused both early puberty and breast cancer because of high levels of hormones such as estrogen in the bloodstream. Tomatoes are made hardier when crossed with an arctic potato and chickens have bigger breasts and more meat when genes are manipulated. Produce can have built-in pesticides, harmful to the pests no longer attracted to it, and possibly unhealthy to humans. .
But, the manufacturers say, your chicken is meatier! Your apples don't have worms! It is a fallacy that big business wants the average person to believe. It's not for Joe Smith and his family down the street; it's for the industry's profit. Bigger chickens mean more meat, and more meat means more money. Produce with built-in pesticides equate to less wasted fruit and vegetables, because insects will not have gotten to them and ruined the supply, and more produce to sell plainly translates to larger profits.