Dear Madame/Mr. President:

My whole life i have been told not to eat junk food and to be careful with the processed foods I eat, and to be careful with insects all around us like mosquitoes, spiders, and even bees because they can cause diseases and viruses due to GMOs. In my opinion, I believe that Genetically Modified foods or (GMOs) is a life threatening situation that needs to be handled immediately. Even though it may help with growing crops, be resistant to insects and a tolerance to herbicides it still affects our human bodies as well as nature, by increasing the percentage of illnesses, allergies in children under 18,and cancerous diseases. I believe that this form of issue is important to handle because it reduces the amount of diseases, and allergies that it causes and it could decrease the amount of patients who die from any form of cancer.

The effect of this cause can be both negative and positive. I’ll start with the pros. There are many ways we can keep our vegetables and fruits fresh for longer, and one of those ways is by improving the food quality and having fruits or vegetables such as tomatoes be engineered to stay fresher for longer, which can help feed more people in developing countries, it can also engineer Vitamin A rich ‘Golden rice to contain a higher level of Nutrients, but is it worth it? GMOs also have a tolerance to herbicides which reduce the need for pesticides herbicides, as well as reducing the manpower needed to successfully grow crops. And lastly it has a tolerance for heat,cold, or drought weather. The GM technology is engineered to have crops withstand all weather fluctuations and extremes, meaning that they can provide sufficient yields and quality despiting severe or poor weather seasons.

It has come to my attention that there are more effects of this issue that can damage the body and can be a risk towards life. GM foods may be linked to allergies, antibiotic resistance and even cancer. The genes that are used in GM technology might be taken from a food that causes allergies to some people, these foods are mainly caused by nuts. GMOs have skyrocketed food allergies, disorders such a Autism, reproductive disorders,digestive problems, and others to rise rapidly. This devastating process that we still keep progressing affects our health in many many ways, by altering your metabolism, inflammation, Kidney and Liver malfunction, and reduces fertility.

A professor named Lauren Williamson said “Consuming these genetically altered and more processed foods can lead to increased risk of diseases and even cancer”. The percentage of illnesses has increasingly jumped from 7% to 13% in just 9 years. Researchers cite animals studies showing Organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system disorders, accelerating aging, and infertility. This issue not only does it cause cancer or allergies to act upon but it also causes farmers a lack of growing crops. This process poses a threat to farmer sovereignty and to national food security of any country including the United States and Canada.

Another example of someone's opinion is from an article called ¨Why do people fear GMOs?¨ written in Cosmos Magazine by David Ropeik, gives the opinion of two Professors and why they fear GMOs. Professor Paul Slovic at the University of Oregon and Professor Baruch Fischhoff at Carnegie Mellon University both explain their fears, ¨Its not natural to take the gene of one species and put it in another. Its just not Natural!¨ So this issue isn’t just a concern to me but to hundreds, thousands, and maybe even millions of others who agree with the fact that GMOs are not safe.

In solution to this situation I strongly state that we should be using more wheat products to increase our health and start an end to cancerous diseases and Allergies. Yes, this does help with growing fresher crops and keeping them fresh longer but our health and the ecosystem is very important to human nature as well as nature itself.

Sincerely,

Hannah T.