Genetically Modified organisms, or GMOs, have been getting alot of press, and even more heat lately. There are actually quite a few theories why GMOs are dangerous, but none of them have officially recognized scientific backing. I've seen tons of erroneous and heavily exprapolated claims as of late and want to set the information battlefield straight.


GMOs cause cancer, weight gain, and premature aging!


No, they don't. GMOs have genes from other plants(or animals) inserted into their own DNA. If a GMO can cause these things, then so can the original plants.

GMOs cause infertility and higher infant mortality!

No, they don't. The fact of the matter is, farmers have to pay alot more for GMO seeds, so they invest in more pesticides to protect their investment, which is unnecessary and wasteful. The soy used in the experiments on rodents was not grown in labs, so there was no scientific conclusion to be reached in regards to the plants' respective qualities. The only infant mortality that would be caused by GM soy is a nut allergy.

GMOs are untested!


GM plants aren't regulated by the FDA, but that doesn't mean GM plants aren't tested by them. The FDA goes through a rigorous evaluation, more thorough than any other evaluation, before officially approving a GMO as safe for human consumption. GM plants are less likely to be approved by the FDA than Twinkies, and that's saying something.

But GMOs create superweeds!


How? In what universe does cross pollination occur between corn and the neighborhood dandelions? Unless we start seeing corncobs with dandelion fluff for kernels, this stays a myth.

The people in the white coats said so!


Most of the studies into the dangers of GMOs were funded by - you guessed it, anti-GMO activists. That means those people with the harvard degrees in the natural sciences were afflicted with some serious confirmation bias. They get paid to find the dangers of GMOs knowing their benefactors' asses are on the line. It's academic sabotage at it's worst, but the few reputable and neutral parties that studied GMOs found something surprising. GM plants are no different from non-GM plants, in regards to safety.


It'll change my DNA!


Maybe if this was The Walking Dead. No. GMO DNA cannot have abstract interactions with your gut bacteria, and any intact DNA that somehow manages to survive your stomach and be absorbed into the bloodstream would be inert and quickly destroyed by the forces of the circulatory system. You're not going to start growing nuts out of your forehead because you had soybeans last night.

The GM plants will mutate and eat my family!


GM plants ARE highly mutagenic(For now), but we can identify mutations before your parents can safely say they survived a man eating eggplant. Seriously though, GM plants will never mutate to the point of being dangerous.

But, but, but... It's unnatural!


What is unnatural? The genes that are extracted and inserted were taken from non-GM organisms. Nature has been genetically engineering things for billions of years but we've never questioned it. They're alive, that is what is defined as a natural entity, a living thing. Are we really to the point of refusing to recognize these things as nonliving? They conform to all the natural laws we've established, so saying they're unnatural is just plain ignorant.