GMO’s: Go or No Go?
Illustration by Jamie Portch via Bloomberg
WIRED writer Sheril Kirshenbaum explores GMO’s in this article about the future global food economy. The term GMO stands for “genetically modified organism” and has become a hot-button issue lately across the globe for many reasons.
GM foods are modified with molecular biology technology and not through breeding, which is traditionally how crops have been modified over the years. For example, the molecule for draught tolerance can be isolated in the lab in a particular plant, and then injected into a plant it is not native to, thereby genetically modifying the second plant. GMO’s can be more weather resistant, disease resistant, pest resistant, and more nutritionally fortified than non GMO’s. However, the downsides include potential unforeseen environmental hazards, and currently the fact that GMO’s are hardly regulated or labeled makes it likely that you are already consuming GM foods and don’t know it.
WIREDInsiders: What are your views on the future of GM foods?
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