Should We Be Worried About GMOs? - Glad You Asked S1

At the current rate, we'll have to grow as much food in the next 30 years as we have in all of human history. And many experts argue that to do that, we’ll have to engineer the genes of our food. But the concern surrounding whether we should grow and eat genetically modified food has made the technology one of the most divisive topics of our generation.

Glad You Asked host Christophe Haubursin embarks on a journey to Hawaii to understand what the controversy is actually about — and uncovers whether GMOs are really delivering on their promise to feed the world.

Sources:

GMOs Decoded

Soybeans and Power

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS EXPERIENCES AND PROSPECTS:

0:00 Intro
1:10 Opinions on GMOs
3:04 The First GMO
4:43 How GMOs Actually Work
8:02 Maui
12:52 The Debate
15:26 Power

[Vox]

There aren’t many conversations about food quite as polarized as the ones we have about genetically engineering crops. We chose to take a look at the gap between what GMOs promised to do and what most of them are designed to do — but there’s so much more that we weren’t able to fit into this episode. If you want to learn more, I’d really recommend checking out this compilation of smart answers to some of the most common questions about GMOs:


That’s it for this season of Glad You Asked — thank you so much for watching!


-christophe

[elisabethwyae]

I liked that you mentioned the fact that "farmers can't harvest their own seeds" and "for the first time in agricultural history farmers are not fully controlling and owning theirs seeds". This is the main reason why GMOs are restricted in the EU. It's not that people don't think they are safe to eat. It's that it's creating these dependencies on these gigantic companies to almost a monopolyc nature. So while I wish this argument would have been build out a little more I love that you brought it up.

[raffaelepiccini]

"What scares me most about the loud arguments and misinformation about plant genetics is that the poorest people who most need the technology may be denied access because of the vague fears and prejudices of those who have enough to eat." -Pamela Ronald

[malakiwi]

"The biggest tragedy of all would be if the GMOs that could help people the most fail because the technology is controlled by a few corporations that prioritize profits instead of a sustainable economy".

[nimbulan]

I've always said that genetic modification isn't the problem, Monsanto is.

[faisalnh]

As a farmer, being independent is a must. Able to grow your seed that you harvest, know how to make your own fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide. GMO, which initially made for human to have a better plant (Super Tomatoes, Rice with Vit. A), has turn into money grabbing industry, . By buying GMO seeds from Monsanto, you will need to buy their fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, etc. Farmers won’t have their authority anymore, and could easily collapse if the the system fail.

[daisuke]

People don't seem to mind taking GM medicine but making lots if fuss with GM food. Also, corporation greed is the main problem here.

[rjab]

"put bacteria in genes" that sounds so misinterpreted on so many level

[dudueciab]

Great episode. I only think it lacked interviews with Farmers that use gmo crops to see their point of view on whats happening. As you said on the episode, most GMO crops are not used directly as human food, but without it, there wouldn't be this abundance of cheap livestock food, that provides us humans with cheap animal products. My point is that GMOs are already playing a big role in our world by this ability to produce more on fewer land with less harmfull pesticides.

[nebbnht]

So to recap:
Researching GMOs that produce hardier plants, bigger yields, better nutrition, and a higher resistance to insects and disease would be GREAT.
Monsanto and others are just focused on how much chemicals they can sell to farmers.
I think it would be very interesting to see small groups of farmers coming together and making their own GMOs that actually help them.

[eugenerhee]

Haha! Christophe tricked Vox into giving him a free vacation to Maui! But seriously, these “Glad you Asked” videos are great!

[jessicagreen]

This is an amazing series. I teach high school Science and some of these episodes have been wonderful for the classroom. Thank you and keep it up.

[mcoates]

So. In summary the genes aren't gonna harm us. But the environmental and economic impacts, as well as what the side effects (like more herbacides) of growing them, are.

[earthasian]

Scientists have done so much of research on GMOs and people with half knowledge spoil their years of research!

[thinkinginsideout]

I'm a Filipino, an agriculturist. I like how you did your research in this context.

[Tony.H]

Okay this is a great vid, though I feel Monsanto and friends' power is underplayed (yes, under). One risk I do feel you really skipped over is for the environment though, literally one sentence without explanation. Even without capitalism muddying things up, GMOs present one risk: biodiversity, and what if they break free. If they end up in nature, they could completely grow out of control and out compete and dominate any other plants, especially its natural cousins, and seeing they're GM, monocultures are a huge risk. That's the only conceptual issue I have with GMOs, and one that's insanely complicated. Would be great if you could talk about that more.

[pdoll]

The issue with GMOs is the emergence of monoculture and lack of genetic diversity with the resulting risk of catastrophic crop failure. Another huge issue is GMO crops can be patented - and this can create HUGE issues (ie, the small wheat farmer in Saskatchewan sued by Monsanto because some of the seeds blew into his fields and sprouted).

[laiaribes]

I think the video fails to accurately portrait the high levels of agressivity used by the big companies in order to implement policies, acquire land and trample traditional farmers.
Of course that isnt happening in Hawaii. You'd have to go to South America, Asia or Africa to see it...

[DADA-pltm]

Great episode you have managed to take the main issues surrounding GMO and put it into an easy to understand and engaging format, well done!!! I work in public health and I find that we are going through a very similar situation with the covid vaccine.

I have worked on vaccine programs for years and I find that it is really difficult for people to separate the science and usefulness of vaccines from the large pharmaceutical companies that manufacture or develop many of them.

As a health care worker I would be one of the first people to criticize large pharma and its unethical behavior, almost complete take over of our health system and health professionals training etc.... I can totally see why people would want to reject anything developed by a big pharma company even though certain things they develop may be very helpful for our species.

[elizabethstart]

I would be more worried about the Glyphosate in the Cheerios.