Note: Because I'm busy as all hell, I didn't get any writer's specific writing done. However, I found one more Biotech write-up to post, this time on GMOS. The format was to find and summarize various articles that support either pro or anti-GMO positions in preparation for a class-wide debate. I was selected to be pro-GMO, so that's how I focused my research. 

Question One: Health and Safety of GMO foods. 

To show that GMOs are, in fact, safe for human consumption, I found this recent study requested by the European Food Safety Authority, wherein the scientists genetically modified a model fungus, Komagataella phaffii,  to produce soy leghemoglobin from GMO soy, which is often used as an additive in many foods [1]. The EFSA was looking for the potential for Genetically Modified soy leghemoglobin to exacerbate soy allergies, as well as to cause problems for the environment, among other things (such as the risk of causing cancer) [1].The study found that there were no known health or environmental risks associated with the soy leghemoglobin being produced by the fungi, and thus the EFSA deemed it safe for human consumption [1].

Based on what I read, the authors did not mention the need for any further studies, which tells me that they’re not concerned about this particular GMO product at all.

Question Two: Environmental Impacts of GMOs

For this question, I found a 25-year-long study looking at the global effects of GMO crops [2]. The study found that GMO crops had helped 17 million farmers worldwide plant more crops more efficiently, reducing humanity’s overall carbon footprint by removing the equivalent of 15.27 million cars’ worth of CO2 emissions [2]. On top of that, while glyphosate resistant weeds have become a problem, farmers have switched to other ways to manage weeds in their fields, reducing the environmental impacts of glyphosate usage significantly [2]. In fact, the study found that the usage of HT crops actually has a net environmental gain [2].

Note: HT crops are Herbicide Tolerant crops. Basically, they're crops genetically engineered to better tolerate heavy herbicides. 

Question Three: Consumer perception of GMOs

For this question, I found a paper wherein researchers completed four different studies looking at consumers’ opinions/behaviors towards GMO and non-GMO labeled foods [3]. The first study got 1343 people to respond to a questionnaire involving various GMO and non-GMO marinara sauces [3]. The second study got the same participants to give their opinions on GMO-labeled vs non-GMO-labeled pickles and potato chips [3]. The third study got 882 participants to rate various potato chip brands based on whether or not they had “GMO free” on the label [3]. And the fourth study asked 202 people to respond to GMO labels based on their colors [3]. 

The studies concluded that non-GMO products are usually favored over GMO products, because people are led to believe that non-GMO products are better and healthier than GMO products [3]. Consumers weren’t deterred by the higher prices of non-GMO products, but were very much swayed by the colors used in the logos of non-GMO and GMO products [3].

Question Four: GMOs in Developing Countries. 

The study I chose for this topic was one done in the Sannine-Baskinta region of Lebanon. It looked at the impacts of GMOs on all of their products (potatoes, lettuce, dried vegetables, grapes, bananas, apples, sheep, goats, rice, and wheat), on the poverty rates in Lebanon [4]. According to the study, the Lebanese government has taken steps to subsidize and encourage GMOs in farming, in order to combat things like famine and climate change [4]. The study concluded that poverty rates in all of Lebanon would go down from 55% to 36% if 70% of the country’s farmers grew GMO foods, like what happened in the Sannine-Baskinta region [4].

Question Five: Anything else?

I think the main issue surrounding GMOs is messaging. From my experience as both a writer and a scientist, most scientists I’ve run into have sucked at writing (sorry, not really). People latch onto narratives and stories much better than they latch onto straight facts. Scientists often spew facts at people, assuming that they will pick up those facts and put them together. However, that’s not how the human mind works. 

I want to know how to better explain GMOs to people, such as my mom, so they don’t believe in misinformation. For instance, my mom is convinced that the pesticides and herbicides encoded into GMO foods are proven to cause cancer in people. I know, scientifically speaking, that there’s no scientific evidence to back up that claim. However, after years and years of hearing carefully crafted, heart-string-tugging narratives about how GMOs cause cancer, it’ll be very difficult to get my mom to actually understand the science behind GMOs, such that she will stop wasting money on non-GMO lettuce over the cheaper GMO stuff in the stores. 

I know there’s a way to do that. But, it’ll take many more scientists than just me to properly communicate science through stories, rather than just hammering people with cold, hard facts and expecting them understand anything.

References:

1. Casacuberta, J., Barro, F., Braeuning, A., Cubas, P., Maagd, R., Epstein, M. M., Frenzel, T., Gallois, J., Koning, F., Messéan, A., Moreno, F. J., Nogué, F., Savoini, G., Schulman, A. H., Tebbe, C., Veromann, E., Gennaro, A., Gil Gonzalez, A. B., Gómez Ruiz, J. Á., . . . EFSA Panel Genetically Modified Organisms GMO. (2024). Assessment of soy leghemoglobin produced from genetically modified komagataella phaffii, under regulation (EC) no 1829/2003 (application EFSA‐GMO‐NL‐2019‐162). EFSA Journal, 22(11), e9060-n/a. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2024.9060. 

2. Brookes, G., & Barfoot, P. (2020). Environmental impacts of genetically modified (GM) crop use 1996–2018: Impacts on pesticide use and carbon emissions. GM Crops & Food, 11(4), 215-241. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2020.1773198. 

3. Kim, Y., Kim, S., & Arora, N. (2022). GMO labeling policy and consumer choice. Journal of Marketing, 86(3), 21-39. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429211064901. 

4. Roberts, R. J., & Naimy, V. (2023). Overcoming agricultural challenges with GMOs as a catalyst for poverty reduction and sustainability in lebanon. Sustainability, 15(23), 16187. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316187.