Genetically Modified Organisms are often designed to work with pesticides. A plant may be altered so that it is resistant to a particular pesticide, which can then be used to kill everything except the food crop on a given parcel of land. There are some concerns, however, that the practice of creating pesticide resistant plants will accelerate the evolution of pests which are also resistant, rendering some common pesticides eventually useless. The practice of relying on pesticide resistant plants also means that there will be heavy use of chemicals which is expensive for farmers and may be potentially less healthy for consumers.
GMOs and Farming Practices
The Monsanto corporation offers both the GMOs to be planted and the pesticide to which is it resistant; this can mean that some farmers are heavily dependent on a specific company. Also, the strategy of killing all but one species of plant using a chemical pesticide reduces biodiversity and means that many farms are monocultures: growing only a single type of organism instead of a variety of food crops, and focusing on an extremely high crop yield. Critics point out that such monocultures are linked to an industrial food chain which is less healthy for consumers and the environment than locally produced and unprocessed foods. Monocultures may also be more risky and less economically feasible for farmers than other, older farming practices.
GMOs and Seed Saving
Some GMOs are created so as to make it impossible for farmers to save seeds from one harvest for use in the next year's planting. Because GMOs can be patented, the coporations which own the organisms can make it illegal to save and use seeds. Also, some plants can be genetically altered so that such saving is impossible, even if a farmer decides to risk breaking the law. This situation has had a disastrous effect on some poorer, developing nations. Farmers in these countries may not be able to afford to buy seeds every year, nor the expensive chemical pesticides needed to farm in the ways described above. In addition, failed crops may mean disaster for the entire population fi the food supply is not adequate.
Health and Labeling Concerns
Even in Western countries, there are health concerns. No one really knows for sure what the effects of GMOs are on those who consume them, nor what may happen if the genes these organisms contain spread to other plants. It is not clear that GMOs are properly regulated or tested in the U.S., as their unique classification creates an evironment which is permissive compared to that in other countries, such as the U.K. Finally, GMOs are not necessarily labeled, so consumers may not even know what they are eating.
Further Reading/Viewing
Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire (Random House, 2001)
Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis, King Corn (film, 2007)
