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Jon Ray
Mrs. Stemen
Biotech
4 February 2015
GMOs
GMOs are genetically modified organisms, and they are becoming more commonly used
in the world in the agriculture field. Some examples of things that are put into organisms to make
them GMOs are pesticides. They are used to help resist drought and anything that could kill
crops. Had it ever accord to you that you were consuming these GMOs? These GMOs will harm
humans even more than they may have already if humans keep consuming them.
Science shows that GMOs can harm human beings, for the most part. Thats a pretty big
fact against GMOs if the thing that made them can prove that they are harmful. Many studies
showed many problems with different kinds of people that consumed GMO products or products
that contain products contain GMOs. One study showed that DNA fragments from food that
humans eat can get into our circulation system through an unknown mechanism and get into our
cells. They tested this by taking blood samples from about 1000 people and testing the DNA
within them. One of the blood samples showed more plant derived DNA than human DNA, thus
proving that humans can absorb foreign DNA from our food. Another study connected GMOs to
birth defects and abnormalities (IRT 1).
Going to the other side of this debate, the FDA said that there little difference in GMOs to
organic organisms, so they should not be treated differently (Huff 1). The thing is there's not
enough information to make that conclusion (Walia 1). Scientists just don't know that much
about them except for that some do affect humans negatively, as told for many studies. The first

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commercial selling of GMOs was twenty years ago, not a lot of time to get enough info to prove
if they are harmful or not (Walia 1).
Now lets talk about how GMOs are made. GMOs work a very simple way. There are
multiple methods for making a GMO. A common method to do this is called the Plasmid method.
It starts by taking a plasmid, a small piece of DNA, and placing it into a container with
restriction enzymes which cut the plasmid into small pieces. The restriction enzymes them are
used to get the cut ends of the plasmid with the bacteria due to which sticky ends are produced.
This allows the complementary DNA to fuse together making a ring of DNA. Other enzymes are
then used to stabilize the ring of DNA, and then the DNA is put in safety for further processes.
Later the DNA is put into a culture of bacteria and will start to synthesize new proteins or
antibiotic resistant genes. These antibiotic resistant genes distinguish the plasmid bacteria from
the non-plasmid bacteria (Adnan 1).
Now lets talk about how these GMOs produce more of what it was made to, whether its
pesticides or toxins. This happens through a process called protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is
the process by which individual cells construct proteins. Both DNA and all kinds of RNA are
included in this process. Enzymes start off this process by unwinding the DNA strands to make
RNA strands. This is called DNA transcription. The RNA is then sent to the ribosomes in the
Endoplasmic Reticulum, also known as ER. There the RNA is decoded into proteins for the cell
to use. This is called Translation. This is how these pesticides and toxins put into the cell get
spread out.
There are many things leading people to believe that GMOs arent harmful, such as the
FDAs statement about it and the federal government being against labeling GMOs because it
doesnt make a difference. These things arent true. People disserve to know what they are eating

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and the FDA hasnt done much research about GMOs to make that statement sense theres all
these studies linking GMOs to problems within humans. People need to stop consuming these
products to make producers change their minds about how healthy their GMOs are.

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Work Cited Page
Adnan, Amna. "Genetic Engineering and Its Methods." Genetic Engineering and Its Methods.
N.p., 6 June 2010. Web. 06 Feb. 2015.
Byrne, P., D. Pendell, and G. Graff. "Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods." Labeling of
Genetically Engineered Foods. N.p., 25 Nov. 2014. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.
Huff, Ethan A. "US Opposes Honest Labeling of GMO Foods." NaturalNews. N.p., 9 July 2010.
Web. 06 Feb. 2015.
IRT. "Genetically Modified Foods Pose Huge Health Risk." OpposingViews.com. N.p., 20 May
2009. Web. 06 Feb. 2015.
Walia, Arjun. "10 Scientific Studies Proving GMOs Can Be Harmful To Human Health."
CollectiveEvolution RSS. N.p., 8 Apr. 2014. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.
"What Is Protein Synthesis?" WiseGEEK. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.