The topic of GMOs has become a hot-button issue in recent years. Having only existed for a few decades, there is still so much to learn about genetically modified organisms and how sustainable and safe they are for the planet, for people, and for animals.
Read on for a breakdown of everything you need to know about the controversial topic, and how sustainable GMOs are — or aren’t.
What Are GMOs in Food?
A GMO, or genetically modified organism, is a plant or animal whose genes have been modified in a lab by introducing a gene from another organism; this gives the organism a new trait, resulting in an organism that is not found in nature, and cannot be created with typical crossbreeding methods.
Typically, scientists create GMOs to give an organism a trait that makes the plant “better” in some way — for example, most GMOs have been manipulated to be resistant to pesticides, meaning they can be sprayed with endless amounts of pesticides and stay alive, as per the EWG. Other GMOs have had their genes manipulated to be resistant to things like insects, browning, frost, or diseases.
How Do GMOs Affect the Environment?
GMOs are linked to a number of negative environmental effects — and when an unnecessary process is harmful to the environment, that generally makes it unsustainable. As mentioned above, most GMOs are designed to be resistant to herbicides — namely, glyphosate. The most common name-brand version of glyphosate is Roundup, which is produced by Monsanto (now owned by Bayer).
To make glyphosate more effective, Monsanto developed “Roundup Ready” crops that can be sprayed with boundless quantities of Roundup and still flourish. As per a study published on NCBI, the U.S. has sprayed more than 1.6 billion kilograms of glyphosate between 1974 and 2016. Glyphosate is a strong chemical that can add to the degradation of wildlife habitats and kill native plants, which reduces biodiversity; it can also remain in soil for up to six months, the National Pesticide Information Center(NPIC) points out. That means large quantities of glyphosate are perpetually sitting in American soil and waterways.
One species significantly affected by the increasing glyphosate use in the U.S. is the monarch butterfly. As explained by Make Way for Monarchs, a study conducted at Michigan State University found that glyphosate kills milkweed, a plant that butterflies rely on, and this may be linked to the decline in butterfly populations. And because butterflies are pollinators, they are extremely important to our ecosystem.
Are GMOs Sustainable?
Genetically modifying a crop is not inherently unsustainable — but when you consider the fact that most GMO crops are genetically modified so that we can spray herbicides and pesticides with reckless abandon, then yes, overall, GMOs are unsustainable.
That said, the GMO debate is highly controversial. According to The New York Times, 90 percent of scientists think GMOs are safe, and the American Medical Association, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the World Health Organization all reportedly agree. But on the flip side, only about one-third of consumers are under the impression that consuming genetically modified food is safe, according to ScienceDaily.
Since GMOs are only a few decades old, we don’t have all the answers on the topic yet — time will continue to tell how GMOs are really affecting our society.