Granger high school
Tri-Color Times
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TRICOLORTIMES.COM
March 2015 LVII-5
Genetically modified foods make students anxious By Ada Stott A GMO IS an organism whose genome has been altered by the techniques of genetic engineering so that its DNA contains one or more genes not normally found within. The main company creating these genetically modified foods is Monsanto, and the main crops are corn, soy, and sugar beets. The seeds altered by Monsanto, are done so in a way that they are pesticide resistant. So the farmers can put the pesticide Roundup on their crops to kill any weeds without killing the crops. This lets farmers produce much more food. Agricultural scientists are currently doing testing to try to inject cancer-fighting chemicals and vitamins into plants’ DNA. Some farmers are very pleased about this; they can make a lot more money if they have more produce to sell. But some farmer’s think organic is better, and
the closer to nature humans can stay, the healthier we’ll be. Some consumers think that this can’t be good for humans, but none of the current genetically modified products have been implicated in allergic reactions or any other health care problems in people. While the research on effects is still progressing, many people question the safety of GMOs. “I don’t worry about GMOs, they don’t bother me,” Elijah Revada (9) said. “I don’t sit there and think about things when I’m eating them; it won’t bother me right now if I have future health risks,” he said. Mr. Price, a biology teacher at Granger high thinks that it has two effects. “If we can have food that can feed hundreds and thousands of people, we definitely should. At the same time, there is always concern that genetically modified food will have adverse
affects on us. So you can die of hunger, or you can die of GMOs,” he said. Eighty percent of all food in America is genetically modified. Monsanto claims that the only way to mass-produce food that can feed the 7.1 billion people, is to scientifically alter the seed. Robert Walsh (9) disagrees. “It makes me sick to know this. It feels like we’re eating pesticides, and they’re used to kill bugs,” he said. Ms. Neibaur a freshman academy teacher at Granger High isn’t very pleased about this, as well. “When I think about GMOs, it makes me feel like the whole earth is going to turn into a giant skull, and that makes me really angry,” she said. “Nature shouldn’t be patented. Almost no testing has been done and it’s already in the market.” Mass-producing is a controversial topic though. “At first, mass pro-
ducing food sounds really good. But if you think about it, it’s probably not good for us,” Walsh said. Revada sees another side of this. “I think that Monsanto and those other biotech companies have the right idea. We need a lot of food for all these people. With normal seeds, plants die, or get infected, but with these seeds, you can really produce a lot,” Revada said. Now there is a difference between crossbreeding and genetically modifying. Crossbreeding takes two like plants and breeds them together to make a plant with both qualities. Genetically modifying does this in a way, but takes the genes of things that are very different, in a way that would never happen in nature to give desired qualities in a plant. Sixty-four countries have now passed laws, stating that all genetically modified food needs to continued below
Students weigh in on the testing
By Skye Rouse NOT ONLY do some students think that they are tested too much, but so do some teachers. “We as students are tested way too much. Some teachers expect way too much out of me; I mean I have my after school activities, my homework, and I work. I don’t have that much time to study I keep my grades up, but if we only had one big test at the end of the semester it would let me not be so uptight about my grades,” Mesa Fullmer (9) said. Some people can’t handle the stress of it. It’s just too much. “I think we are tested way too much, I have A.D.D. and it’s really hard to sit down and just concentrate.” “The studying doesn’t bug me at all it’s just I have to study so many subjects all at once and the tests are all on the same day, so it’s just too much and too stressful,” Jaxon Morill (9) said. “I don’t mind all the testing to be honest. I don’t mind it because I know how much it helps me to achieve my goal of having good grades. It does give me bad anxiety sometimes, but I work through it and what needs to be done gets done,” Iker Oregel (9) said. “We have a lot of testing especially in A.P. classes. I have had to stay up all night long so I can study for my tests. It gives you really bad anxiety than you end up being really tired for the test because you haven’t slept all night long. Some testing advice would be make sure you eat right and sleep well because if you don’t it sucks and you can’t concentrate,” June Pham (11) said. Some kids don’t even care because for them, it’s easy breezy. “I think the testing is, fine I really don’t know why kids make such a big deal out of it. I don’t get stressed with the testing I think it’s easy breezy. I think people blow this way out of proportion,” Jessica Gonzalez (9) said.
Ms. Neibaur takes a strong stand against genetically modified organisms in favor of organically grown foods.
have a label to let people know. Revada thinks that they should pass this law in the U.S., “People like to know what they’re eating, and I know that if it’s bad for people, they want to know, especially if they’re on some diet or are trying to cleanse themselves,” Revada said. Walsh thinks that it wouldn’t change anything. “It’s not going to affect anyone’s diet. Just because they see a sticker doesn’t mean that they’re not going to buy it,” Walsh said. Mr. Price agrees with both. “It may affect some people. The tree huggers will say ‘no I don’t want to eat this, the socially conscious people will say ‘no this will harm me’. But the average joe doesn’t care,” he said.
“This sounds like a good law, it lets consumers whether or not they want it,” Mr.Price said. Monsanto’s crops are registered as a pesticide, but sold as a food. “I think this is due to our country not being vocal enough. No one cares about what’s on their plate, they just eat it,” Revada said. “Our country should have more background checks on food. It should go through a process and have legit evidence offered to the public,” Walsh said. The same company that created Agent Orange in the Vietnam War is now in charge of the nation’s food industry. “The science can go both ways, it might be bad, but it has it’s perks. We lose hardly any food,” Revada said. Monsanto’s studies are only
three months long. For this reason, some people think that eating these pesticides is causing future health risks although humans have no current knowledge on this. “I don’t think you can tell because the tests were on mice and their smaller, and have a weaker immune system,” Revada said. But Walsh has a different idea. “The fact that there haven’t been more studies makes me sick. I’m like, ‘Hey guys lets go kill ourselves and go eat GMOs,’ ” Walsh said. As high school students, what’s on the plate isn’t a big deal as far as knowing what it is or where it came from. “We probably don’t care about it, because it’s not what’s cool, we can’t keep enough attention on it,” Revada
said. Walsh thinks that it depends on gender. “We don’t care. Well, guys don’t. Some girls do because they care about their weight. I think they only thing they look at is calories. Not the ingredients or what it’s made of,” Walsh said. For him, it’s whether or not one cares what is used to fuel one’s own individual body. To Revada, this doesn’t affect him, to Ms. Neibaur, well, she is already GMO-free, to Walsh, he might look at some of the labels next time he goes shopping, and to Mr. Price, he thinks that nature will correct itself over time. All in all, GMOs need more research before anything can be said clearly.
Iker Orgel is ready for the tests.
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