Are Transgenics Dangerous?

in #science6 years ago (edited)

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There is the erroneous belief that transgenic food is detrimental to health, an idea that is being disseminated by followers of conspiracy theory or people who were misinformed by an article on the Internet, in this post, we will talk about the Transgenics, if they are dangerous, who produces them, the benefits they may have and their harmful aspects. As a small advancement, Transgenics can become dangerous, but not for the reasons most people believe.

What are transgenics?

Well, first, for those who do not know, to put it simply, transgenics are genetically modified, which can be animals, plants and microorganisms in a process in which there are new organisms that would never have existed naturally.

To give an example if we have a tomato crop that is being affected by a plague , we could take a cell that has a melon that produces a substance that is able to eliminate the plague and then insert it into the DNA of our tomatoes and modify them genetically to be resistant to the plague and so we would have our transgenic food.

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Now that it has been clarified that they are transgenic, we can ask ourselves the following question: Are GM crops dangerous? The answer is no, transgenics alone are not dangerous at all, genetically modified foods go through much higher quality controls than any other type of food, when it comes to taking a transgenic to the market, it is reviewed again and again, if the substances that are produced by the new GM food (Genetically Modified) do not cause any negative effect on the consumer. The main objectives when genetically modifying a food are usually to increase its size, increase its resistance to viruses, fungi, pests, drought or improve its flavor, people who say that GM foods alone are dangerous (which is the general belief) and can cause cancer among other conditions is due to misinformation, or because it has been influenced by pseudo-scientific articles that ensure that GMOs can become dangerous which do not have sufficient evidence or are false.

Adventages

In fact, transgenics have many advantages, for example: In Hawaii in the late 90's the Ring spot virus affected 90% of the papayas that were grown in Hawaii which caused a fall of more than 50% of the production, by means of genetic engineering it was possible to develop a Papaya genetically modified that was able to resist the virus and recover papaya production in all the islands of Hawaii.
A Papaya with the Ringspot virus

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A Papaya without the Ringspot virus

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In China, the production of a transgenic rice (Golden Rice) which contains vitamin A was promoted to reduce cases of vitamin A deficiency in Chinese children, which was one of the causes of blindness in Chinese children.

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Disadvantages

The disadvantages attributed to Transgenics are postulates of unproven hypotheses that bacteria and viruses can assimilate genes implemented in GMOs evolving and becoming more dangerous, or the hypothesis that says transgenic can give Origin to new allergies which none have been demonstrated.

A real drawback is that transgenic and non-transgenic crops could be genetically contaminated with each other and that GM crops do not produce seed which causes the farmer to be dependent on the company supplying the seeds.

We already clarified the advantages and disadvantages of transgenics and we refute several of the myths that circulate on this subject and even though transgenics alone are not dangerous if they can become one, and you wonder, how is this? The answer is…

Glyphosate

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world that is responsible for eliminating the bad herbs, is manufactured by the brand Round Up that is owned by Monsanto is so potent that kills all the crops it touches including those you can cultivate, glyphosate also contaminates soil and spreads through the air, making it impossible to plant seeds that are not GM on those lands,which forces farmers to buy GM seeds that are glyphosate resistant that are also produced by Monsanto which means that monsanto has a large part of the monopoly of the agrochemical industry.

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Glyphosate remains impregnated in the food it is used in, such as soybeans, corn and rice, and it is also absorbed by workers' skin, studies say that glyphosate is not toxic but there are cases like the one of the town San Salvador Entre Rios in Argentina, in which the use of glyphosate is widespread and curiously the inhabitants of this town have bad formations and rates of cancer much higher than normal, coupled with that, the consumption of foods that were Cultivated with the use of glyphosate also increases the possibility of contracting cancer, which makes us suspect that Monsanto could (and has the resources and influence to) be manipulating official studies in favor of their personal interests regardless of the health of the people ( but that is a subject for another time).

We can conclude that transgenics are not dangerous or represent a threat to our health or the environment, but the use of glyphosate is what causes them to end up being toxic and harmful.

I personally believe that Monsanto does sponsor and modify scientific studies in order to prevent their capital inflow from being affected to the detriment of people's health, as many other companies do, but that is a very extensive issue that deserves its own post.
Well friends we have reached the end of my first post, I hope you enjoyed it and that you have solved some doubts, I will leave the sources a little below to verify that what I say is true, never trust anything you read on the internet without checking the sources and the reliability of the information, because you never know when you may be being cheated and because of that share unreliable information that only leads to misinformation which in certain cases can cause a lot of damage.

And Remember "Curiosity is what leads us to progress."

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You note that you are informed of the topic, great post.

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This topic is so interesting, thank you!