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Genetically Modified Organisms

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INTRO Genetically modified organisms are genetically modified organisms. If you look in the average American cupboard many of the packages found there contain foods that have been genetically modified. Some researchers believe that people need to be more aware of the genetically altering chemicals put in their body. Consumers should be limiting the amount of genetically modified foods in their daily diet.
“In a study in the early 1990s, rats were fed genetically modified (GM) tomatoes. Well actually the rats refused to eat them. They were force-fed. Several of the rats developed stomach lesions and seven out of 40 died within two weeks. Scientists at the FDA who reviewed the study agree that it did not provide a “demonstration of reasonable certainty of harm.” In fact, agency scientists warned that genetically modified foods in general might create unpredictable allergies, toxins, antibiotic resistant diseases, and nutritional problems. Internal FDA memos made public from a lawsuit reveal that the scientists urged their superiors to require long-term safety testing to catch these hard-to-detect side effects. But FDA political appointees, including a former attorney for Monsanto in charge of policy, ignored the scientists’ warnings. The FDA does not require safety studies. Instead, if the makers of the genetically modified foods claim that they are safe, the agency has no farther questions. The genetically modified tomato was approved in 1994.”(Smith).
Society thirty years

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