Health Effects of Roundup Ready Crops (Research Paper Sample)

Title: Health Effects of Roundup Ready Crops
Learner’s name
Affiliated Institute
Thesis statement
With the invention of new technologies in farming, new methods of controlling weeds in the fields were paramount. In the efforts by Monsanto, to invent an herbicide that would control the weeds, a genetically modified seed was prepared, also termed as the roundup ready crops. Roundup Ready crop is a type of crops which have been made to resist Roundup, which is an herbicide used on the farms to kill weeds (Verschwele, 2010).
Despite the success in obtaining a genetically modified seed that would resist Roundup, the question of the health effects of the crops arose ('TruFlex™ Roundup Ready® Canola MON 88302', 2014). Debates and researches have been ongoing, to determine if the Roundup Ready Crops have health effects associated with them. This essay addresses the evidence available on the health effects of roundup ready crops.
Audience
The audience of this paper is the consumers of the roundup ready crops. The audience may also be any person interested in gaining knowledge on the side effects of the Roundup Ready crops. More importantly, my instructor is also my audience for this paper.
The Health Effects of Roundup Ready Crops
In the last few decades, the research on the health effects of the genetically modified food staffs never drew particular attention. However, in the recent past, researches have been conducted to prove that roundup ready crops had an adverse effect on human health. Consequently, the questions have been raised on whether Monsanto cares about the health of the consumers of its products ('Retraction: GMO debate: inconclusive', 2013). Among others, (Enhs.umn.edu, 2015) described the roundup ready crops as harmful to the human health. The adverse effects of the Roundup Ready crops as identified by the researchers include:-
The roundup ready crops can cause cancer. According to the report published by (Thomas, 2015) on the (IARC) website, the glyphosate was grouped under group (2A) of carcinogenicity. The research indicated that the chemical caused abnormal growth in the human body cells, which eventually causes cancer. The researchers further added that there was evidence that the chemical damaged DNA and chromosomes.
Researchers have indicated that Roundup crops cause food allergy (Enhs.umn.edu, 2015). According to research in U.S, it was observed that food allergy occurred in about 5% of children and 2% of adults who consumed the genetically modified food (Bakshi, A. 2003). This allergy is associated with the entrance of harmless protein into the body, where it stimulates the immune response system, as explained by (Bernstein et al., 2003).
The roundup ready crops have been proven to have increased toxicity. While scientists confirmed that crops contained some low levels of toxins, the genetic modification of the crops cause them to produce higher levels of toxins (Ho, Lim & Cummins, 2004). The consumption of such foodstuffs leads to increase the toxic levels in the human body, causing a number of adverse health effects.
Scientific research has indicated that Roundup crops have little nutritional value (Malatesta, 2009). The insertion of genes into the crops to modify them leads to decline in the nutritional value. Researchers have pointed out that traditional crops have higher nutritional values as opposed to the genetically modified ones (Riley, 2011).
Finally, scientific research has indicated that consumption of Roundup Ready crops leads to antibiotic resistance. As a result of the genes injected into the crops, when human beings consume the crops, they cause the cells to develop resistance to antibiotics (GEO-PIE website).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the roundup ready crops have an adverse effect on the human body. The consumption of the foodstuffs from such crops leads to health problems as evident from the research findings outlined.