What are genetically modified products?

We live in an amazing time: from the screens of TVs and pages of Internet publications, a huge amount of information is daily being poured on a person devoted to global warming, oil reserves, new diseases. Among this variety, a significant part of the articles fall on genetically modified products. Actually, even if you do not hear anything about it, it will not be possible to completely isolate yourself from the information. The fact is that, according to the law, products containing GMOs necessarily undergo special labeling, which on packaging can not be overlooked. This is the very sign "Without GMOs."

What does the term "genetically modified organisms" (GMO) mean? According to the classical definition, these are living plant or animal organisms into which the genes have been altered in order to obtain new properties. It's not clear, is it?

To understand what genetically modified products are, let's look at explanatory analogies. In one biblical story it is told about the bunches of grapes, the berries of which were so large that even one branch had to be carried by two strong men. Incredible! Appear now on the market for such giants, and the problem of hunger in developing countries would be solved once and for all. Alas, even the application of the most modern fertilizers, although it increases the yield, but to the one mentioned in the Bible is still very far away.

The appearance of high-yielding varieties of vegetables and fruits would allow:

- to reduce the landing areas, and in the liberated territories to break down forests, create ponds, plant flower fields;

- to release a significant part of the population engaged in agricultural production;

- reduce the dependence of agrotechnology on weather conditions, because it is much easier to organize watering 10 hectare than 10 hectares;

- to reduce the cost of such food products at the expense of less labor for their cultivation.

All this and even more "promise" to mankind genetically modified products. Alas, in this issue there are more controversial points than obvious advantages. The fact is that many sources claim that genetically modified foods are not just harmful, but deadly. In this article, we will not list the dangers of such food - this information has long been generally available.

To a person interested in this issue, it makes sense to turn to the works of recognized scientists. One of them is Peter Garyaev, who is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His work is directly related to genetics, so a person knows what he is talking about. Garyaev argues that genetics can not be considered only from a mechanistic point of view. Attempting to interfere with its mechanisms without a full understanding of the principles of operation can be compared to repairing an electronic device with scrap. It is also very interesting to get acquainted with the book of U. Enggal "Seeds of Destruction" - its peculiarity is that the author cites facts, most of which can be easily verified with access to the global Web.

We will touch on the question of whether it is possible to avoid the use of GMOs. For some, this will be a revelation, but the answer, unfortunately, is negative. Genetically modified foods surround us everywhere. Buying milk labeled "Without GMO", you can not be sure that the cow was fed natural beets and grain. By the way, since the latter is now all genetically modified, bread, flour, pasta, bakery are potentially dangerous. Corn, rice, soy - these cultures were the first to undergo changes, since they are fundamental in the food chain of most world nations. Accordingly, interest in them from the international corporations of agribusiness is the highest.

Currently, the only way to avoid the use of GMOs is to use as food products those plants that are of no interest to the agrarian industry.