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GMO and environment |
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by prayash pathak | 28-11-2016 23:43
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Genetically modified organism(GMO) are one of the majorly debated issue nowadays. Many countries are protesting against it and most of them have already banned GMO on their country. USA being the home of Monsanto, that governs the monopolistic market of GMO, is the most criticised country. It has also been acused of attempting to control the global market through GMO. While this debate countinues, I became curious about the relationship of GMO with environment and researched about it. First of all, it is important to understand what a GMO is precisely. GMO rae simply the genetic modification of the crops to make them more productive, more pest resitance, more drought tolerant and to make them suitable for any environmental parameters. In laymen the gene engineering of an crop to make it better is GMO. The World Heath Organization (WHO) defines them as organisms whose DNA has been altered in a non-natural way. GM plants are usually changed to be insect resistant, virus resistant, or herbicide tolerant. With these changes come some potentially problematic environmental challenges may occur. GMO have both good and bad effect on environment. One of the significant environmental benefits of GM crops is the dramatic reduction of pesticide use. The need of spraying pesticide is highly low in GM crops as they are made pest, weed and disease tolerant. This can prevent the thousands ton of carbon dioxide released by GMO to reach the atmosphere. Some negative impacts are: • The use of GMO means the replacement of the hardy tolerant local varieties that could resist and fight climate change. • Many research has shown that GMO has direct effect on non- target organisms. The tolerance of GMO to pest can be a poison to other beneficial organism. The common victims of GMO crops are the natural pollinators like bee and butterfly.Bacillus thuringenis( Bt) has pest tolerant property. So its gene is incorporated in the GMO crops. The cultivation of Bt corn had proven to have a negative impact on Monarch butterfly larvae. The genetically modified GMO protein affects the non- target wildlife. • Pest have the capacity to develop resistance to the GMO. They may alter their DNA to resist the tolerant capacity of plants. The short term benefits of using less insecticide will be in vain and if this happens then the need of pesticide to control the resistant pest will be huge that result in a massive dumping of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere that results global warming. • The small genetic changes in plants may produce even larger ecological shifts, meaning that there is potential for GMO? to become persistent and weedy in agricultural conditions. This can also mean being invasive in natural settings, where GMOs, of course, do not occur naturally. It is not impossible for new, human modified, plants to become invasive species in delicate, natural ecosystems. This will shake the natural balance of the environment. • The sustainability of the ecosystem is kept into risk by the GMO. The monocropping of GMO relaces the local seeds. The nature of GMO means lees weed flower so there is less nectar for pollinators. The toxins released by GM crops to the soil may become life threatening for the soil organisms and micro organisms. Monocropping of GMO means the presence of soil void of nutrients as GM crops do not enjoy nutrient cycling. So all this creates dependence on a cycle of GMO seeds, fertilizers and pesticide for the growth of single crop. Soon the means of air and water transfers all this effect on the entire ecosystem and the whole bio mass is affected. So these are some of the points that I found. Although GMO may increase the productivity and be a way to balance the food supply and population growth but their negative impacts on environment can never be neglected. A way to reduce these impacts can be EIA( Environmental Impact assessment ). Before the introduction of a new GMO variety it should be tested for its negative impacts environment. Of present the ways to mitigate it should be searched. Only those GMO are to be used that ensures not only economic security but also ecological sustainability. |
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2 Comments
Hello prayash
I hope you are doing well
Thank you so much for this report
Green cheers
Regards
Asmita Gaire
Posted 12-05-2020 18:56
The sustainability of the ecosystem is kept into risk by the GMO. The monocropping of GMO relaces the local seeds. The nature of GMO means lees weed flower so there is less nectar for pollinators. The toxins released by GM crops to the soil may become life threatening for the soil organisms and micro organisms. Monocropping of GMO means the presence of soil void of nutrients as GM crops do not enjoy nutrient cycling. So all this creates dependence on a cycle of GMO seeds, fertilizers and pesticide for the growth of single crop. Soon the means of air and water transfers all this effect on the entire ecosystem and the whole bio mass is affected.
This
Posted 05-12-2016 13:06 Delete