The so-called genetically modified food is to add some high-protein or fast-growing genes to normal crops or livestock through genetic engineering to improve their quality or nutritional value. The advent of genetically modified crops and food has brought good news to the liberation of the world's food and clothing problem. So compared with traditional food, does it have an advantage? What are the advantages? Benefit 1: Some genetically modified foods, especially some genetically modified foods in the future, have added some nutrients we need. Many of these nutrients are not synthesized by our bodies, which is of great benefit to us. Benefit 2: Because insect-resistant or disease-resistant transgenic crops can be cultivated and planted with little or no pesticides, pesticide residues are greatly reduced. Is genetically modified food safe? Question 1: "If insects don't eat, can people still eat?" When it comes to food safety, people often say, "Insects can't eat, can people still eat?" In fact, to cause human poisoning, first of all, people need the receptor of toxic protein. Insect-resistant cotton can produce toxic protein. Insects have corresponding receptors, so they will die, while people don't, so it's okay. At present, more genetically modified foods are transformed with insect-resistant protein genes. Protein synthesized by this gene has receptors in insects, but no receptors in human body, and has no influence on human body. Question 2: "Can you grow pig ears by eating pork?"

People may worry, will the genes transferred from the outside world into food work on the human body?

Some people say that' if you eat genetically modified things, you will have the characteristics expressed by genes'. It is a simple truth that we ate so much pork and didn't grow pig ears. Question 3: "Is genetically modified food expensive?"

As a "high-tech" product, the price of genetically modified products sold in shopping malls is not much different from that of traditional products, or even lower? The reason why these products are low in price is that the change of their genetic composition makes their plants resistant to pests and diseases, reduces the spraying of pesticides and improves the yield. The price of such products will naturally be low. We have it in the supermarket. You can go to the supermarket to see the oil. Especially soybean oil. Gene technology is a double-edged sword, which can not only benefit mankind, but also harm mankind. Although genetic engineering has brought a bright future to mankind, its own controversy has to be taken seriously. Compared with conventional food, whether genetically modified food is harmful needs to be evaluated. Experts believe that all genetically modified foods that have been approved for production have undergone safety assessment and can be safely eaten. Of course, after all, people have a short history of eating genetically modified food, so it may be unsafe and need long-term monitoring. The debate about the safety of genetically modified products is mainly manifested in the following two aspects: First, genetically modified organisms may have adverse effects on environmental quality, ecosystem or ecological balance. In nature, by crossing with other organisms through pollination, special genes carried in transgenic crops, such as insecticidal and herbicide-resistant genes, enter another organism, which may bring obvious environmental impact, and its potential threat is no less than nuclear proliferation. The specific performance is: (1) The gene drift of transgenic crops may lead to the generation of super weeds. Transgenic crops hybridize with related wild species, making them super weeds that herbicides can't remove. (2) Transgenic crops may lead to the generation of new pathogens. Exogenous genes introduced into transgenic organisms may hybridize with some bacteria or viruses that infect transgenic organisms, thus recombining new pathogens. According to the experimental results of Dutch scientists, an artificial stomach was designed to simulate the process of human digestion of genetically modified food. It was found that DNA remained in the intestine, and some genetically modified bacteria could transfer their antibiotic resistance genes to bacteria in the artificial stomach. If similar results happen to humans and animals, it is possible to cultivate the most powerful superbacteria that antibiotics cannot kill. Although this kind of opportunity is not great, if there is a disease that poses a serious threat to life and spreads widely, the consequences will be unimaginable. (3) Some crops with insect-resistant or antifungal genes may have effects on other non-target organisms, thus killing beneficial insects and fungi in the environment. Experiments show that insect-resistant transgenic corn has no ability to identify beneficial insects and pests. It poisons pests and damages beneficial insects. Planting insect-resistant crops on a large scale may mean reducing the population of beneficial insects. (4) Genetically modified organisms may threaten biodiversity. The sacred corn has been defiled. Corn is the food and clothing parents of Mexicans, and the local natives affectionately call it "corn mother". But now, they are surprised to find that "the sanctity of Mother Corn has been defiled". Some experts worry that what happened to Mexican "corn mother" may happen to China soybeans. China has not yet approved the commercial production of genetically modified soybeans. However, from transportation to processing, some genetically modified soybeans may be left in the wild or planted privately by farmers. If genetically modified soybeans are planted, once the wild soybeans are polluted, the genetic diversity of soybeans in China may be lost, which may interfere with the stability of the ecosystem. Students may think that there is no corn in China, but there is corn, as long as there is corn. In fact, the loss of genetic diversity is more serious. A single gene and a changing environment can easily lead to extinction. (5) The popularization of genetically modified food will make some wild animals and plants extinct and destroy the stability of the ecosystem. There have never been genetically modified organisms in nature. It belongs to a new alien species. Compared with natural organisms, it has special genes such as insect resistance and herbicide resistance, and has more competitive advantages. Its introduction may destroy the balance of the whole ecosystem and cause incalculable losses. For example, crops with insect-resistant genes will be more resistant to pests and diseases than ordinary crops. In this way, genetically modified crops will replace the original crops, causing species extinction. But this problem is difficult to find in the early stage of the development of genetically modified organisms, and it may take many years to appear. When the problem appeared, it was too late. There have been such examples in history. For example, about a century ago, the introduced mimosa spread rapidly in Australia, greatly crowding out other plants around it. 1959, Britain introduced Nile perch to Lake Victoria for people to fish and entertain. Unexpectedly, decades later, perch destroyed the local ecosystem and local fish suffered extinction. Will genetic engineering bring serious environmental consequences to the earth? Experts believe that this danger exists and is not easy to observe. Genes can flow with the development of technology and the application of human beings, and this "gene flow" will bring "gene pollution". For example, genetically engineered enzymes for digesting lignin are of great value to the paper industry, but once genetically engineered bacteria with this enzyme enter the forest, it will lead to forest destruction. Second, genetically modified organisms may have adverse effects on human health, which may seriously lead to genetic diseases such as cancer. (1) Genetically modified organisms may contain toxicity. Genetically modified food may produce unpredictable biological mutation, and it is possible to synthesize protein which has direct toxicity or potential toxicity to human body; Causing acute and chronic poisoning or carcinogenesis, teratogenesis and mutation. Some protein expressed by genetically modified crops may subtly affect people's immune system, thus causing hidden harm to people's health, but it will take a year, two years or even several years for the problem to emerge. (2) Genetically modified foods may cause allergic reactions. For example, scientists added a certain gene of corn to the genes of walnuts, wheat and shellfish, and protein also added it with the genes, so people who were allergic to corn before may be allergic to these walnuts, wheat and shellfish. In addition, new plant proteins may appear after genetic changes, which may lead to allergies. (3) Genetically modified foods may be resistant to antibiotics. When scientists add a foreign gene to plants or bacteria, this gene will be connected with other genes. After people take this improved food, the food will transfer the drug resistance gene to the pathogenic bacteria in the human body, which will make the human body resistant to drugs. (4) Genetically modified food may change the nutritional composition of food. Some genes have changed the metabolic pathway in organisms, which may lead to changes in the nutritional composition of transgenic organisms and make their nutritional structure unbalanced. American research data show that in soybeans with herbicide-resistant genes, anti-cancer components such as isoflavones are reduced. Tomatoes are not easy to store, but the nutritional value decreases after adding storage-resistant genes. The public has begun to doubt genetically modified organisms. Now, many countries in the world are beginning to oppose genetically modified organisms, especially the European Union. At present, Mexico prohibits the cultivation of genetically modified corn; EU suspends import of genetically modified food; Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other countries require genetically modified foods to have clear labels indicating the content of genetically modified ingredients; Many supermarkets in Britain prohibit the use of genetically modified organisms as raw materials to produce food. Foods labeled "without any genetically modified organisms" are increasingly favored by people. At present, most foods imported from China are genetically modified products. A document issued by the State Environmental Protection Administration of China warned that some foreign companies may use China's imperfect legislation and inconsistent management to use China as a "testing ground for genetically modified organisms". Once genetic pollution is formed, all kinds of mutant plants and mutant organisms appear constantly, what a horrible picture it will be! Even more frightening is that genetic pollution is irreversible. The problem now is that many people in China, including some researchers, have not realized the importance of biosafety.

Because genetically modified products have these negative effects, human beings should be very cautious about genetic modification to avoid unpredictable results. When people change the genetic structure of a plant or animal, can they really ensure the safety of new creatures? We can't be sure whether there will be monsters like "aliens" lurking at the other end of genetic technology. Therefore, when enjoying the surprises brought by new technologies, we should always keep in mind that we should not be corroded by the right to change genes in our hands; What we can do is actually only a very rough and primitive part. For billions of years, nature has accomplished most of the "miracles of life" for us. We can't forget that the human past is full of "man-made tragedies". Now, the first thing we should do is to try our best to avoid the recurrence of the tragedy.