Dear Future President,

Whenever you or anyone at all goes out to eat, or even cook a meal yourself, you might be consuming harmful chemicals with your food. Tons of farmers use genetically modified (GM) foods or certain antibiotics to enhance the flavor or look of food they’re growing. If you really care about the health of our nation, we need to work together and stop this problem now.

Farmers mostly use genetically engineered crops to create a resistance to certain conditions or bacteria, grow crops faster, and improve shelf life. If you think for one second this doesn’t affect us directly, then you are 100% wrong. Using genetically modified (GM) foods make us ingest chemicals that are very harmful to our bodies. Chemicals, such as pesticides, make vegetables and fruits less organic and unnatural. When you cook any farm-grown item from the grocery store, you could be introducing your family to new health issues such as, allergies, birth defects, and toxicity.

Additionally, antibiotics in food can cause a major problem where humans ingest so much of the antibiotic that they eventually become immune to it. If or when they need the drug, it cannot cure their sickness because their body is already immune. This is called drug resistance. Stated in the article “World leaders agree on step to curb drug resistance”, “700,000 people die from drug resistant infections.” “2 million people fall ill from drug resistant bacteria every year, and at least 23,000 die from those infections.” If farmers don’t stop using antibiotics now, thousands more may die.

The problem of GM and antibiotics in foods has been known in the U.S for a long time now. Yet only a few restaurants out of thousands have done something to contribute. Fast food restaurants such as Chipotle and Panera Bread have announced their reducing the use of meat from animals raised with antibiotics. Although this is much more than most restaurants have done, GM and antibiotic foods should be banned completely.

In conclusion, no one realizes that their everyday food is killing them slowly but surely. People might say we need to focus on the bigger issues in the world, but by banning these foods, we could save thousands of lives.

Sincerely, Michelle C.