• Question: What impact on humans can genetically modified food have. (on us and future generations)

    Asked by anon-177600 to Andrew, Becky, Daniel, Helen, Nicola, Urslaan on 19 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Helen Littler

      Helen Littler answered on 19 Jun 2018:

      GM foods can allow us to grow things more efficiently – using less land and/or less water to grow them. We can develop crops which are more resilient.

    • Photo: Urslaan Chohan

      Urslaan Chohan answered on 19 Jun 2018:

      There is currently little research on the effects of GM crops on humans (if you mean what it does to our bodies). This is because GM crops is a very recent development, and investigating the long term effects of consuming GM food takes many years. So the long term physical effects are unknown. If you mean in terms of improving our lifestyle, then GM foods are developed to be tastier, more physically pleasing and have longer shelf lives. As a result, GM foods will be better for consuming, and result in less wastage.

    • Photo: Becky Thomas

      Becky Thomas answered on 20 Jun 2018:

      Millions of people around the world are starving and this is only going to get worse with climate change. GM crops have been around for 30 years, and can do things like boost the vitamins in our foods, reduce a farmers use of pesticides (which is a very important thing), and essentially could allow us to grow enough food for the worlds population. People are very worried about GM crops, but so far there is no evidence that they pose a risk to human health. Hopefully with more research, they will help to solve many food sustainability problems that we face at the moment.

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