Genetically Modified Organisms: a threat or a saviour to modern day civilisation?

Throughout human history, civilisations have constantly lived off fertile land where community growth was fuelled by the availability of ample resources. In each case, as the civilization grew, a point was reached where resources were used faster than they could be replenished. If the society continued to grow, producing a population "overshoot," one or more essential resources eventually disappeared, leading to economic and societal collapse.

One of the solutions is to produce animals or crops which are sustainable, resistant to disease, grow faster, and have a higher quantity of food products. This is only achievable through genetic modification. A genetically modified organism (GMO) is a life form i.e. organism, who’s genetic material has been changed in any way, using genetic engineering techniques. These genetic engineering techniques are known as “recombinant DNA technology”.

Recombinant DNA technology takes advantage of the fact that every living organism on this planet shares the same genetic code. Each organism’s genetic code comprises of DNA of the same chemical structure. The DNA translates into proteins which are important for various life dependent functions in each organism. A change in the DNA results in a different protein produced all together. Since all organisms share the same form of genetic code, theoretically speaking, any gene can be moved from one organism to another resulting in the production of new proteins, or a new property (such as disease resistance). Many researchers around the globe view this technology as a tool that can help the growing modern human civilization in many ways.

Our current human population has already overgrown our planet's capacity. We are rapidly depleting the world's resources, unwittingly pushing thousands of living species into extinction every year, polluting the soil, oceans and atmosphere, chopping down and burning the planet's forests for food agriculture, causing irreversible climatic change and destroying the agricultural potential of huge tracts of land. Just as has been documented for many past civilizations, the inevitable consequences of our current lifestyles will be societal collapse accompanied by tremendous human suffering. The difference between past civilizations and ours is that this time, resource depletion is occurring on a global scale. This global depletion is heightened by the change from food farming to biofuel farming in the USA, leading to a spike in food prices, and less food available for a growing population. During the construction of this article, the current world population was 6,827,935,687 and is growing digit by digit every minute. Out of this figure, 1.02 billion people go hungry every day. With climate change linked with modern man’s environmentally demanding lifestyle, it is inevitable that this figure of starvation will grow and spread through the global population like a disease. The answer to this solution is GMOs. Plants can be “redesigned” to increase yields by 80%, which means that crop production is almost double than that of Non-GMO yields. This results in almost twice as many people being fed. Such crops would be of huge benefit to countries struck by famine caused by environmental factors such as drought. Crops have been developed which can grow in conditions where water supply is short. These drought resistance crops can do wonders for a community struck by drought.

Gene technology is seen as controversial, especially in Europe. In recent polls conducted by the European Commission, a majority of consumers regard gene technology with hesitation, approximately one half of consumers are able to accept gene technology, particularly when benefits for consumers and for the environment can be linked to GMO products. Europe has a very reserved and negative outlook on GMO foods, which follow the rule of thumb to avoid anything that can pose a risk to health, disregarding clear scientific evidence that GMOs are not a health or environmental hazard in any way. Many environmentalists fear that the genes from the GM plants can “flow” into neighboring non GM plants, this is incorrect as it is a well known scientific fact that genes cannot “infect” or “flow” other plants or consumers of the end food product.

On the contrary to consumer beliefs that GM plants are dangerous to eat and can damage the health, quite a few plants have been developed which produce vital minerals and vitamins, other plants produce oral vaccinations against cholera, Escherichia coli, Helicobacter pylori  and the West Nile virus. In regards to the vitamin and mineral producing plants, one such plant which has been used is the tomato plant. Usually the colour of the tomato fruit is between an orange and a red colour. However, the plant genes have been manipulated to produce a berry like deep red to almost wine colour. This colour is not produced for aesthetic purposes. The deep colour of the GM tomato is due to the production of anthocyanins, which is a class of pigments produced by berries. Anthocyanins have been associated with protections against a broad range of human diseases. Unfortunately, most commonly eaten fruits and vegetables do not contain enough anthocyanins to promote any benefits to health. The anthocyanin producing tomato increases the life span of mice significantly.

Out of all of the topics in science that have caught the public eye, genetic modification and gene technology is by far the most controversial and the most misunderstood. Like anything else, as a consumer one would be careful that they’re getting they are getting their money’s worth, the product is safe to use, and is environmentally friendly. When researching a product a lot of the pros and cons are weighed, before choosing a product and the consumer is allowed to make their own decision. In that sense, the people of Europe and the European Commission is entitled to free choice and decision on whether the growth of GM plants in Europe should be banned or allowed. However, each decision so far has been biased and has been made without researching the core scientific facts of the pure benefits that GM foods can deliver to human health and the environment. The world’s population is increasing day by day, and as a global community we must take great strides towards food development in order to prevent the ill fates that previous civilizations have faced.