GMO: POSITION PAPER!

 Welcome to my final AP for Unit 3 (like a quick, week long unit!) in our Food class.  We started by talking about an American Scientist, his name was Norman Borlaug.  He introduced new, disease-free wheats to India and solved hunger there.  Becuase of his new wheat, look at the yields of wheat in India since 1960:

From his work they have much better yields, that is critical for solving hunger!  We also discussed how plants reproduce, and we did a little bit of probabilty but we didn't have much time to study that.  And we went to a farmer's market to talk to farmers about food and organic food and stuff.  It was really fun to eat lunch with the class in the nice weather!

I believe that GMO food is positive for the world.  Hunger is a serious issue, and look at the graph above.  GMO food can help increase yields and make for more food for everybody.  Some people will argue that GMO foods are not safe, since we don't understand the long term effects, and creating new foods in the labratory is unnatural.  However, there was 150 Nobel prize winners that signed a letter saying that GMO foods are safe and most arguments against them are based on emotion and not science.

Also, in our farmer's market visit, I talked to a farmer from Smits Farm, in Chicago Heights.  He told me that the farm was not organic.  But, that was because their farm used yard waste from neighbors -- they picked up grass clips or leaves or things like that -- to use as compost.  He said they maade a choice:  recycling neighbors' waste means it's not organic, but it is sustainable and recycles.  So I think that's important: just because something is not 'organic', it can still help out in different, important ways.  And I believe that's the case with GMO's -- maybe they would never grow without our help in a lab, but if we're feeding so many more people then it's defintiely a positive.

SOURCCES:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stop-arguing-over-gmo-crops/

http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC

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