IELTS Essay Topic

With a growing population, many people believe that we should focus on producing more genetically modified (GM) foods. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of doing this? 

Essay Response:

Over centuries, the world is experiencing high population growth resulting to a number of people from several countries to have limited access to food. Some people, however, feel that the solution to food shortage is to produce genetically modified (GM) crops. This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of developing genetically engineered plants as solution to scarcity of food.  

To begin with, genetically modified foods have a lot of potential advantages in the areas of increasing harvest to farmer’s. Many farmers in developing countries are still practicing conventional process of growing crops. It is seen that this new methods, many rural poor will  benefit substantially from the following improvements in farm output. For example, this kind of crops grows faster than ordinary plants, therefore, it can definitely increased yields for rural households. In addition, the plants has important environmental benefits as well since it reduced the use of chemical pesticides to control the worms harming the crops. With that, agricultural output will likely to increase and at the same time preventing environmental pollution. 

Despite all those potential advantages, others are still hold an opposing views on the issue against GM crops. Some of their concerns are more related to human’s health. First, genetically modified foods relatively a new process, meaning scientists are not yet clear for the long-term effect whether it is safe or not for human consumption. Second concerns relate to health risks and potential environmental degradations. Antibacterial resistance enters as third concerns, once humans consumed this foods, there is a potential that the person could also produce antibiotic resistance. From safety perspective, GM food has many health concerns about the transfer of organisms from one plant to another that might be harmful to humans. 

In summary, genetically engineered (GM) crops has a potential to address the scarcity of food supplies and achieve food security across all countries. But this systems can also cause long-term consequences in areas of agriculture and the ecosystem. 

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