What is a GMO By: Madelyn Ostendorf
From food science to agronomy to economics, researchers, professors and concumers have taken an interest in genetically modified organisms. In grocery stores, aisles are peppered with “GMO-free” labels, and consumers may or may not be aware of what that means. What even is a GMO? First, it’s important to note that though many crops in the United States are GMOs, most of those crops are used for animal feed. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the following foods and their byproducts are classified as GMOs: • Corn • Soybean • Cotton • Potato • Papaya • Summer Squash • Alfalfa • Apple • Sugar Beet
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Each of the above plants has been genetically modified for a very specific reason, and generally for the health of the plant. Many of the crops are now naturally resistant to insects and need fewer pesticide treatments, causing less damage to the environment and decreasing pesticide resistance in insects. Some crops are modified to combat crop-specific viruses that would have destroyed them, like the papaya, according to the FDA. Genetic modification saved the papaya industry on Hawai’i that would have been otherwise wiped out by the ringspot virus in the 1990s, according to Cornell University.
