Student Name – Rom FradkinDate – January & February 2018Thesis: Genetically modified food is safer and healthier than organic food.Genetically modified foods can be modified to resist bacteria, boost nutritional values, and be produced in places that do not have a sufficient amount of food.Golden rice is a genetically engineered version of rice which contains high amounts of vitamin A, where shortcomings in vitamin A leads to millions of deaths each year.”Plain white rice is a relatively robust source of energy, but has few nutrients. The seeds of white rice contain no vitamin A, but just one bowl of Golden Rice would fulfill 60% of a child’s daily vitamin A needs”(Friedman 3).This innovation in Genetic Engineering has led to many lives saved each year.The amount of pesticides used by farmers each year can lead to thousands of dead animals. The use of genetic engineering to resist the impact made by these animals can minimize the amount of pesticides needed.”Some 400 to 500 Chinese cotton farmers die every year from acute pesticide poisoning because, until recently, the only alternative was risking near total crop loss due to voracious insects”(Hirshberg 3).The use of genetically engineered cotton has diminished that number by integrating defense mechanisms straight into the plant.In places that do not have enough food, genetically engineered crops have expanded the yield dramatically, lowering their rates of hunger.In Africa, nearly 40,000 people die every day from malnutrition (3).Using Genetically Modified crops has, and can continue to lessen the amount of starvation deaths.The amount food costs will be lowered if you purchase genetically modified food.Genetically modified food is cheaper to produce for the farmers because there are reduced use of pesticides, which in turn can lower the price for for consumers.”One study found that it reduced the quantity of pesticides by 37 percent and the cost by 39 percent”(Cummins 4).This leads to a cheaper product, which is possible by reducing the expenses of the farmers.5The crop yield is greater in genetically modified food, which can lower the cost by spreading the expenses out over a greater amount.”…the annual rate of increase in food production globally has dropped from 3 percent in the 1970s to 1 percent today. Additional gains from conventional breeding are certainly possible…”(Hirshberg 5).With the help of genetically modified food, there could be an increase in the amount of food produced, therefore lowering the total expenses.The use of non-browning products would improve the life span of many foods, therefore lowering the amount spent on repurchasing rotten products.”The USDA-approved non-browning Arctic apples that made news last month were achieved but a method of genetic modification called gene silencing”(Shanley 3).This innovation would keep products that brown in better conditions for a longer period of time.Any food that has been approved by government agencies has caused no harm to humans or any ecosystems.Any food that has been approved by the food and drug administration has not shown any negative effects on its users.All Genetically modified food have gone through rigorous amounts of tests to be approved by government agencies for human consumption (Hillstrom 61).If any organism is detected to be a threat to humans, they are removed before they can do harm to anybody.The delicate natural ecosystems have not been disrupted by anything that has been genetically modified inside a laboratory.”…we run the risk of accidentally creating pesticide-resistant weeds and insects that could disrupt delicate ecosystems”(51).While the possibility that we could destroy ecosystems is a risk, the safety precautions that have been put in place minimize the risk of that occurring.Many people believe that genetically modified food is bad for humans health, ecosystems. and does not have enough research to support the fact that it is a safe practice.Some scientists believe that gene transfer, the way we genetically modified food, is based off of a flawed understanding of how it works.”The widely accepted safety of GM food is based on that faulty gene-transfer hypothesis… Agribusiness giants like Monsanto Company typically block independent research on their products and rely on positive reports from researchers within the biotech industry that their products are safe”(Levaux 1).This could put many people at risk if we do not truly understand how to transfer genes safely without any negative consequences.When genetically modified food is isolated there are no cases of cross contamination, but if it is not isolated, plants have been none to cross pollinate.”…one study showed that, even at plot-scale, 31 per cent of plants had become hybrids as far as 1 km from a GM variety”(Kintisch 2).This could lead to unintended mutations on organic plants that have been contaminated.