When farmers plant their crops at these higher altitudes, where the air is cooler and more humid, crops can encounter new species of bacteria, fungus and insects. In pursuit of sustainability, genetically modified crops can boost the environment by minimizing crop devastation from pests and thus reducing food waste. Researchers have also developed GM crops that produce more food per acre than their non-GM counterparts. By altering only one sequence of DNA, researchers in New York developed tomato plants that sprouted additional branches, leading to more tomatoes.
By altering only one additional sequence of DNA, tomatoes stayed on the branch longer without prematurely falling off. Ensuring the health and well-being of future generations will require a combination of organic and GMO foods.
We all desire sustainability, but creative compromise and mutual trust will help us reach our goal. Kevin Doxzen is a science communications specialist at the Innovative Genomics Institute. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle. Most Popular. Top of the News. Proposed S. Amazon warehouse overshadows potential of neighborhood site. Many U. As a result, the majority of processed foods in the U. Despite the growing use of genetically modified crops over the past 20 years, most Americans say they know only a little about GM foods.
These more deeply concerned Americans predominantly believe GM foods pose health risks. A majority of this group also believe GM foods are very likely to bring problems for the environment along with health problems for the population as a whole.
While a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine suggests there is scientific consensus that GM foods are safe, a majority of Americans perceive disagreement in the scientific community over whether or not GM foods are safe to eat.
And, only a minority of Americans perceive scientists as having a strong understanding of the health risks and benefits of GM foods. And people deeply concerned about this issue are particularly skeptical about the influence of industries behind research findings.
A minority of three-in-ten Americans say that research findings from scientists about GM foods are often influenced by the best available evidence.
People who know more about science topics, generally, are more likely to trust information from scientists and see scientific research findings about GM foods in a more favorable light. Foods with genetically modified ingredients have been available to Americans since about the mids when U.
Genetically engineered ingredients are widely used in processed foods from breakfast cereals to cooking oils to corn chips. The Pew Research Center survey explored this possibility by first asking about the safety of eating of GM foods with an explicit option for those not sure of their opinions to register that uncertainty. Those who are less familiar with GM foods are comparatively more inclined to say the effect of GM foods is neither better nor worse than non-GM foods.
Younger adults are more likely than their elders to consider GM foods health risks. There are modest differences in views by gender. A Pew Research Center survey also found women were more likely than men to say it is generally unsafe to eat GM foods.
While a related Pew Research Center report found issues related to climate and energy issues are strongly divided along political lines, Democrats and Republicans hold similar views on the effects of eating GM foods. Those who care a great deal about the GM foods issue are also more likely to follow news on this topic. In contrast, only about one-quarter of other Americans follow news on GM foods somewhat or very closely.
Those who care a great deal about this issue are more likely to report greater awareness about the topic. There are only modest differences in concern about this issue by other demographic and educational groups. Older adults, ages 65 and older, are a bit less likely than their younger counterparts to care deeply about the issue of GM foods.
Those with high school degrees or less are a bit less likely than other educational groups to care about the issue of GM foods.
Americans have mixed expectations about the likely effects from genetically modified foods, with many expressing both optimism and pessimism about consequences of GM foods. Most of the public expects GM foods to increase the global food supply. At the same time, about half of Americans say environment and health problems will result from GM foods. People who are more personally concerned about the issue of GM foods are especially worried that such foods will lead to health and environmental problems for society.
In contrast, majorities of those who are less engaged with this issue say environmental and health problems stemming from GM foods are not too or not at all likely. These expectations of risks for society from GM foods are in keeping with the wide differences among these groups in their views of the health risks associated with eating GM foods.
Men and women have somewhat different expectations for GM foods. Men are more optimistic, while women are more pessimistic about the likely impact of GM foods on society. These modest differences in expectations by gender are in keeping with other studies. There are modest generational differences in expected effects from GM foods.
Adults ages 65 and older are less pessimistic than their younger counterparts about the likely effects of GM foods for society; more adults ages 65 and older say harm to the environment or to public health from GM foods is not at all or not too likely to occur. But younger adults, especially those ages 18 to 29, are more likely to think that GMOs will result in more affordably priced foods. Those with high science knowledge are more optimistic in their expectations that GM foods will bring benefits to society.
Education, which is closely linked with levels of science knowledge, shows a similar pattern. This creates combinations of plant, animal, bacteria, and virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods. However, new technologies are now being used to artificially develop other traits in plants, such as a resistance to browning in apples, and to create new organisms using synthetic biology. Despite biotech industry promises, there is no evidence that any of the GMOs currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit.
Visit the What is GMO page for more information and a list of high-risk crops. Are GMOs safe? In the absence of credible independent long-term feeding studies, the safety of GMOs is unknown. Increasingly, citizens are taking matters into their own hands and choosing to opt out of the GMO experiment. Are GMOs labeled? Sixty-four countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union, require genetically modified foods to be labeled.
Canada does not require any GMO labeling.
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