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Yoojin Bae
Professor Vincent Gilhooley
J039-2
16 June, 2016
A Poisoned Chalice, GMO
201222785 Yoo-Jin Bae

GMO, which is genetically modified organism, is a fairly familiar concept. However, many
people do not know what it is exactly. Ministry of Food and Drug Safety defines Cultivated ingredients
and processed foods which are genetically engineered can be called GMO. (Food Safety Korea) People
tend to ignore a long-term safety if they do not feel any problems now. Unfortunately, in Korea, people
are not aware of how much seriously GMO has side effects. In 2014, Turkey government prohibited the
import of the Korean instant ramen because genetically modified ingredients were detected in the
imported products. (Kim, 42) This problem resulted from the fact Korea is not strict for the food
industry compared to other countries. Many countries normally use GMO techniques as an industrial
field. According to a Korean law on the food labeling, government does not ask manufacturers to put
labels on food if GMO DNA or proteins do not remain in the food even though the original source is
GMO after processing the food (Food Safety Korea). It is essential to take an interest in what we are
eating. Therefore, people need to know side effects of GMO and social problems from GMO and they
should figure out why they should stop eating GMO food. Even if it might be a solution for a shortage
of food, it just causes a vicious circle.
Above all, GMOs have plenty of side effects for human and nature from agriculture to natural
ecosystem. First, GMO uses antibiotic resistance genes that have the possibility of damaging effects
for human. (Science on, 91) If the genes spread to other germs in humans body, there is no way to
cure the virus due to developing a tolerance. The first GMO on the market was milk made by cows
which were injected with recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone. It was blamed for one of reasons to
cause breast cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer. (Engdahl, 24) In addition, when
genetically engineered seeds which are resistant to herbicide are planted, weeds might be decimated

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in the initial stage. Nonetheless, if the weeds are exposed to repeated herbicide, they will develop a
tolerance to the weed killer. As the result, farmers have to spread stronger pesticides to remove
weeds. Furthermore, genetically modified seeds could have unintended consequences for animals that
interact with the crops. Resistance genes of GMO can be easily passed to other animals through the
food chain and it can destroy biological diversity.
Next, GMOs cause various social problems. Monsanto which is a large multinational
corporation occupies 43.88% of the world seed markets (MK, 2016) and the colossal companies
control GMO industry. Introducing genetically engineered seeds to developing countries makes local
farmers dependent upon the corporations. It results in pushing those farmers into a cycle of debt. As
the uploaded video shows, people think the wave of suicides among cotton farmers in India was linked
to the introduction of costly genetically modified seeds, fertilizers and insecticides. Moreover, other
agricultures like organic industry have lost ground to the food market because GMOs have heavily
competitive price. Superior GM strains could crowd out indigenous crops on the market. This
phenomenon can bring the monopolistic structure of the market and it can narrow down the choice of
the customers. In fact, many people and countries do not believe the safety of GM foods and they are
strongly opposed to eating GMO in spite of support for GMO from major companies such as the
Rockefeller foundation. For example, when Bill Gates wanted to help Africa with GM foods, Zimbabwe
rejected to take the aid and said they will not eat what people must not eat no matter how hungry they
are. (Park, 29) This issue is basically related to bare essentials which are foods. Therefore, continual
protests against GMO can make society unstable.
Genetically modified foods might look like a magic bullet because of its many benefits like a
golden rice. A golden rice is a variety of oryza sativa rice produced from genetic engineering which
contains a large of amount of A-vitamins and it can help developing countries where malnutrition and
vitamin A deficiency are common. However superior traits of GM foods such as a taste, a quality and
the nutrition may be, if people consider them as garbage, it is garbage. In early 2015, Russia
government legislated a law to punish people who trade in GMO, cultivate it or carry it in Russia as a
terrorist. (Cho, 2015) While some people advocate drought-tolerant and soil-tolerant crops are
cultivated by GMO technique, it cannot be sure the stable price of crops. That is a hidden pitfall. GM

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seeds cannot guarantee food security because GMO market is monopolized by a few large companies.
Consumers and many tenant farmers cannot avoid disaster if those companies increase in the price of
the seeds. Sadly, the disaster already happened. Vandana Shiva who is an environmental activist from
India said that Monsanto increased the global price of cotton for 5 to 3200 rupees (Indian currency)
per 1kg. She is against GMO and tries to protect their right for foods. (Seo, 18) What is more, the one
of the biggest benefits is most GM crops are engineered to be herbicide tolerant but it is not actually a
benefit. The reason is because the weed killer is linked to antibiotics resistance and hormone
disruption. One study suggest that glyphosate, which is the weed killer, may affect pathogens such as
Salmonella in ways that can contribute to antibiotic resistance. Other recent research suggests it can
interfere with hormones. (Grossman, 2015)
To sum up, GMO is getting to be one of the biggest industries in our world. It is a very
controversial issue because nobody can be sure if it is really good for us. The more it occupies in our
table, the more we have to care of what true is. As this essay showed, even though it might seemingly
look like to have some merits for peoples life, people cannot help but break out of a vicious circle as
long as they keep their hold on GMO. There is no convincing reason to reach a compromise at the risk
of the negative effects of GMO itself and social problems. Now, it is time to have an awareness of the
importance of eating a healthy diet. Otherwise, nothing remains but to eat garbage.

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Works Cited

Cho, B. M. [ ]' GMO ' GMO .

http://www.sportsseoul.com/news/read/313346. Sports Seoul. 11 November, 2015. Web.
11 June, 2016.
Engdahl, W. Seeds of Destruction. The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation. Ed. Hongok Kim.
Seoul: Gil, 2009. 24. Print.
GMO http://www.foodsafetykorea.go.kr/portal/board/boardDetail.do. /
/GMO/GMO /GMO . Food Safety Korea. Web. 13 June, 2016.
Grossman, E. what do we really know about roundup weed killer? National Geographic 23 April,
2015: Web.
Kim, B. Y. , Financial News. 22
May, 2015. Home ed.:42. Print.
Lee, J. Y. , . http://news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php?
year=2016&no=345283. MK. 13 May, 2016. Web. 11 June, 2016.
Park, I. S. [In&Out] GMO Seoul News. 13 June, 2016. Home ed.:29.
Print.
Science on. GMO . Suwon: , 2010. 91. Print.
Seo, Y. J. [ ] 87 200 .
Joongang daily. 26 December, 2015. Home ed.:18. Print.
http://www.foodsafetykorea.go.kr/portal/board/boardDetail.do. /
/GMO/GMO /. Food Safety Korea. Web. 13 June, 2016.