Why are GMOs created if scientists are not aware if it is really harmful?

Are GMOs really safe if you’re mixing to different DNA strands?

Who was the person or people who decided to create GMOs and why?

Can the consumption of an abundance of GMOs do more damage to the human body?

Expert response from Community Manager

Moderator for GMOAnswers.com

Wednesday, 07/02/2018 12:24

Thank you for your questions, we would like to address these individually.

Why are GMOs created if scientists are not aware if it is really harmful? and Are GMOs really safe if you’re mixing to different DNA strands?

yes GMOs are safe. In fact, according to this response, “the overwhelming consensus of scientific experts and major scientific authorities around the world, including the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the American Medical Association have ruled that GMOs are safe.”

“In the spring of 2016, The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) issued a comprehensive report where a panel of more than 20 scientists, researchers, agricultural and industry experts reviewed over 20 years of data since GMOs were introduced, including nearly 900 studies and tests and European and North American health data. They concluded – as other previous research concluded – that genetically modified crops are safe to eat, have the same nutrition and composition as non-genetically modified crops and have no links to new allergies, cancer, celiac or other diseases.

Extensive and continued studies on GMOs are being conducted to ensure their ongoing safety. In addition to the NAS analysis, there are thousands of studies available confirming the safety of GMOs, as well as hundreds of independent studies.”

Bruce Chassy, Professor Emeritus of Food Safety and Nutritional Sciences, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, explains the longest study done on how GMOs affect the longevity and overall health of human beings in his response here.

We invite you to check out the full response which provides more information about GMO safety.

GMOs are created for a variety of reasons. Crops are genetically modified to achieve a desired trait, such as resistance to an insect or disease. More detail on some of the traits crops are genetically modified to achieve and how they are beneficial to farming are included below:

• Insect resistance. This trait provides farmers with season-long protection against target pests, reduces the need for pesticide applications, and lowers input costs.
• Drought resistance. GM crops that express drought resistance can grow in much drier areas, conserving water and other environmental resources.
• Herbicide tolerance. Crops that can tolerate specific herbicides allow farmers to fight weeds by applying herbicides only when needed and enable them to use no-till production methods that preserve topsoil, prevent erosion, and reduce carbon emissions.
• Disease resistance. Through genetic modification, the Hawaiian papaya industry was able to recover from the devastating papaya ringspot virus that had crippled the industry. We created a video to explain this in more detail here.

Read more about why GMOs were first created and for what purpose, here.

GMOs are considered an important tool in addressing many complex issues around the globe over the years. This response addresses some of the “pros” of GMOs for farmers, consumers and the environment. GMOs can benefit the environment in many ways. This response and this response, explain in great detail some of the environmental benefits. 

Who was the person or people who decided to create GMOs and why?

Below is a snippet of a response from Britt Lebbing, Information and Communications Manager of Regulatory Policy and Scientific Affairs at Monsanto, explaining in detail when GMOs were created and invented.

“The first use of recombinant DNA technology, was created by Cohen and Boyer in 1972 with E.coli in 1972 and this article explains this advancement in biotechnology in greater detail. Here is an excerpt: ‘Their experiments dramatically demonstrated the potential impact of DNA recombinant engineering on medicine and pharmacology, industry and agriculture.’”

Recombinant insulin was the first commercial product derived from genetic engineering techniques created in 1976 by the Genetech Company. Virtually all diabetics today use this type of insulin because of its advantages to the animal-derived insulin used before this technology. 

In the early 1980s there were many simultaneous plant modification efforts initiated. Mary-Dell Chilton, known as “the mother of plant genetic modification,” led a team in 1982 at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and successfully used Agrobacterium to insert a gene into tobacco plants. Robert Fraley, now the Chief Technology Officer at Monsanto but back then a PhD scientist at Monsanto, shared a similar achievement, using Agrobacterium to transport new genes into petunias. A third team at Ghent University in Belgium, led by scientists Jeff Schell and Marc Van Montagu, also succeeded in this area with Agrobacterium. These efforts in scientific research and development resulted in the world’s first genetically engineered plants.”

Read the full response here.

This response also discusses how and why GMOs have been used for thousands of years.

Can the consumption of an abundance of GMOs do more damage to the human body?

Similar questions to this were previously answered, please see this response and this response.